2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1788/2001
of7September2001
layingdowndetailedrulesforimplementingtheprovisionsconcerningthecertificateofinspection
for imports from third countries under Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 onorganic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural
productsandfoodstuffs
(OJ L 243, 13.9.2001, p. 3)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 1113/2002 of 26 June 2002 L 168 31 27.6.2002
►M2Commission Regulation (EC) No 1918/2002 of 25 October 2002 L 289 15 26.10.2002
►M3Commission Regulation (EC) No 746/2004 of 22 April 2004 L 122 10 26.4.2004
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1788/2001
of7September2001
laying down detailed rules for implementing the provisions
concerning the certificate of inspection for imports from thirdcountries under Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications
referring theretoonagriculturalproductsandfoodstuffs
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 of 24 June
1991 on organic production of agricultural productsand indications
referring thereto on agricultural productsand foods tuffs (1), aslas t
amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 436/2001 (2), and in
particular Article 11(3)(b) and (4) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)It is necessary to determine a procedure in order to coordinate at
Community level certain controlson productsimported fromthird countriesin view of thes e productsbeing marketed withindicationsreferring to the organic production method.
(2)For products imported under the procedure established in Article11(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, the content of the certi-
ficate of inspection is foreseen in that Article. For products
imported under the procedure established in Article 11(6) ofRegulation (EEC) No 2092/91, there is no such provision. It istherefore necessary to extend the use of that certificate toproductsimported under Article 11(6) in order to ens ure thatthese products were manufactured according to production rules
equivalent to those laid down in Article 6 of Regulation (EEC)
No 2092/91 and were subject to inspection measures of equiva-lent effectiveness to those referred to in Articles 8 and 9, andsuch inspection measures were permanently and effectivelyapplied in the third country concerned.
(3)Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3457/92 (3) established a
certificate of inspection for products imported from third coun-triesaccording to the provis ionslaid down in Article 11(1) of
Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. For reasons of clarity the said
Regulation (EEC) No 3457/92 will be replaced by thisRegula-tion.
(4)This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to the inspectionsystem in Articles 8 and 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91and in Annex III, SectionsB and C, thereto.
(5)ThisRegulation s hall apply without prejudice to the Communitycustoms provisions and any other provisions governing importa-tion of productsreferred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No2092/91 for marketing in the Community.
(6)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordancewith the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 14 ofRegulation (EEC) No 2092/91,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. ThisRegulation definesdetailed ruleswith regard to the certifi-
cate of inspection required pursuant to Article 11(1)(b) and (3) ofRegulation (EEC) No 2092/91 and with regard to the submission of2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 198, 22.7.1991, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 63, 3.3.2001, p. 16.
(3) OJ L 350, 1.12.1992, p. 56.
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such certificate for imports undertaken in accordance with the provi-
sions of Article 11(6) of the same Regulation.
2. ThisRegulation s hall not apply to productswhich:
— are not intended for release for free circulation in the Community in
unaltered state or after processing,
— are admitted free of import dutiesin accordance with Council
Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 (1) setting up a Community system of
reliefs from customs duty. However, the Regulation shall apply toproductsadmitted free of import dutiesin accordance with Articles39 and 43 of Regulation (EEC) No 918/83.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation:
1. ‘certificate of inspection’: shall mean the certificate of inspection
that covers a consignment and is foreseen by Article 11(1)(b) ofRegulation (EEC) No 2092/91 and by Article 3, Article 4 andAnnex I of thisRegulation;
2. ‘consignment’: shall mean a quantity of products under one or more
Combined Nomenclature Codes, covered by a single certificate of
inspection, conveyed by the same means of transport and coming
from the same third country;
3. ‘verification of the consignment’: shall mean the verification by the
relevant Member States' authorities of the certificate of inspection tosatisfy Article 4(2), and, where these authorities consider appro-priate, of the productsin relation to the requirementsof Regulation
(EEC) No 2092/91;
4. ‘release for free circulation in the Community’: shall mean the
clearance given by the customs authorities to allow a consignment
free movement within the Community;
5. ‘relevant Member States' authorities’: shall mean the customs autho-
ritiesor other authorities , defined by the Member State.
Article 3
Article 11(1)(b), regarding the requirements of issuing the certificate of
inspection and Article 11(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, shallapply for release for free circulation in the Community of products
referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, whether these
productsare imported in order to be marketed purs uant to Article 11(1)or (6) of that Regulation.
Article 4
1. The release for free circulation in the Community of a consign-
ment of productsreferred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No2092/91 shall be conditional on:
(a) the submission of an original certificate of inspection to the rele-
vant Member State'sauthority, and
(b) on the verification of the consignment by the relevant Member
State's authority and the endorsement of the certificate of inspec-tion in accordance with paragraph 11.
2. The original certificate of inspection shall be established in accor-
dance with paragraphs3 to 10 hereunder and the model and the notesof Annex I.
3. The certificate of inspection shall be issued by:
(a) the authority or body in the third country mentioned for the third
country concerned in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC)No 94/92 (
2), or2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 105, 23.4.1983, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 11, 17.1.1992, p. 14.
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(b) the authority or body which has been accepted for issuing the certi-
ficate of inspection under the procedure laid down in Article 11(6)of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.
4. The authority or body issuing the certificate of inspection shall:
(a) only issue the certificate of inspection and endorse the declaration
in box 15, after it hascarried out a documentary check on the bas isof all relevant inspection documents, including in particular the
production plan for the productsconcerned, trans port documents
and commercial documents, and after the authority or body haseither made a physical check of the consignment concerned beforeit isexpedited from the third country of dis patch, or hasreceivedan explicit declaration of the exporter declaring that the consign-ment concerned hasbeen produced and/or prepared in accordance
with the provisions which are implemented by the authority or
body concerned in respect of the import and marketing in theEuropean Community of productsreferred to in Article 1 of Regu-lation (EEC) No 2092/91 in accordance with Article 11(1) or (6) ofthat Regulation;
(b) give a serial number to each issued certificate and keep a register
of the delivered certificates.
5. The certificate of inspection shall be drawn up in one of the offi-
cial languagesof the Community and filled in, except for the s tampsand signatures, either entirely in capital letters or entirely in typescript.
The certificate of inspection shall preferably be in one of the official
languages of the Member State of destination. Where necessary, the
relevant Member State's authorities may request a translation of the
certificate of inspection in one of its official languages.
Uncertified alterations or erasures shall invalidate the certificate.6. The certificate of inspection shall be made in one single original.
The first consignee or, where relevant, the importer may make a copy
for the purpose of informing the inspection authority or body in accor-dance with Section C, point 3, of Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No2092/91. Any such copy shall carry the indication ‘COPY’ or ‘DUPLI-CATE’ printed or stamped thereon.
7. The certificate of inspection in paragraph 3(b) shall, at the time it
iss ubmitted in accordance with paragraph 1, include in box 16 thedeclaration of the competent authority in the Member State whichgranted the authorisation according to the procedure in Article 11(6)of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.
8. The competent authority in the Member State which granted the
authorisation may delegate the competence for the declaration in box16 to the inspection authority or body inspecting the importer in accor-dance with Articles8 and 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, or to theauthoritiesdefined asthe Member State'srelevant authorities .
9. The declaration in box 16 isnot required:
(a) when the importer presents an original document, issued by the
competent authority of the Member State which granted the author-isation in accordance with Article 11(6) of Regulation (EEC) No2092/91, and demonstrating that the consignment is covered by
that authorisation, or
(b) when the Member State'sauthority, which granted the authoris ation
in Article 11(6), has given satisfactory evidence that the consign-
ment iscovered by that authoris ation, directly to the authority in
charge of the verification of the consignment. This procedure ofdirect information isoptional for the Member State which grantedthe authorisation.
10. The document giving the evidence required for in subparagraphs
9(a) and (b), shall include:
— the reference number of the import authorisation and the date of
expiration of the authorisation,2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 4
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— the name and address of the importer,
— the third country of origin,
— the details of the issuing body or authority, and, where different, the
detailsof the ins pection body or authority in the third country,
— the namesof the productsconcerned.
11. At the verification of a consignment of products referred to in
Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, the original certificate ofinspection shall be endorsed by the relevant Member State's authoritiesin box 17 and returned to the person who submitted the certificate.
12.►
M2The first consignee shall, at the reception of the consign-
ment, complete box 18 of the original of the certificate of inspection, tocertify that the reception of the consignment has been carried out inaccordance with Section C, point 6 of Annex III to Regulation (EEC)No 2092/91. ◄
The first consignee will then send the original of the certificate to the
importer mentioned in box 11 of the certificate, for the purpose of therequirement of Article 11(3)(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91,unless the certificate has to further accompany the consignment for a
preparation referred to in Article 5(1) of the present Regulation.
Article 5
1.►
M2Where a consignment coming from a third country is
assigned to customs warehousing or inward processing in the form of
a system of suspension as foreseen in Council Regulation (EEC) No2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (
1), and subject to
one or more preparationsasdefined in Article 4(3) of Regulation(EEC) No 2092/91, the consignment must be subject, before the first
preparation iscarried out, to the meas uresreferred to in Article 4(1)
of the present Regulation. ◄
The preparation can include operations such as:
— packaging or re-packaging, or
— labelling concerning the presentation of the organic production
method.
After this preparation, the endorsed original of the certificate of inspec-
tion shall accompany the consignment, and shall be presented to therelevant Member State's authority, which shall verify the consignmentin view of itsreleas e for free circulation.
After this procedure, the original of the certificate of inspection is,
where relevant, returned to the importer of the consignment, mentioned
in box 11 of the certificate to fulfil the requirement of Article 11(3)(a)of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.
2. Where, under a suspensive customs procedure pursuant to
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, a consignment coming from a
third country isintended to be s ubmitted in a Member State, before itsrelease for free circulation in the Community, to a splitting intodifferent batches, the consignment must be subject, before this splittingiscarried out, to the meas uresreferred to in Article 4(1).
For each of the batches which results from the splitting, an extract of
the certificate of inspection shall be submitted to the relevant MemberState'sauthority, in accordance with the model and the notesof AnnexII. The extract of the certificate of inspection shall be endorsed by the
relevant Member States' authorities in box 14.
A copy of each endorsed extract of the certificate of inspection shall be
kept together with the original certificate of inspection by the personidentified asthe original importer of the cons ignment and mentioned2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 5
(1) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1.▼M2
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in box 11 of the certificate of inspection. Such copy shall carry the
indication ‘COPY’ or ‘DUPLICATE’ printed or stamped thereon.
After the splitting, the endorsed original of each extract of the certifi-
cate of inspection shall accompany the batch concerned, and shall bepresented to the relevant Member State's authority, which shall verifythe concerned batch in view of itsreleas e for free circulation.
The consignee of a batch shall, at the reception thereof complete the
original of the extract of the certificate of inspection in box 15, in orderto certify that the reception of the batch hasbeen carried out in accor-dance with Section B, point 5, of Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No2092/91.
The consignee of a batch shall keep the extract of the certificate of
inspection at the disposal of the inspection body and/or inspectionauthority for not less than two years.
3. The preparation and splitting operations referred to in paragraphs
1 and 2 shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant provisionsof Articles8 and 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, the GeneralProvisions set out in Annex III to that Regulation and the SpecificProvisions set out in Sections B and C of that Annex, and in particular
points3 and 6 of Section C. The operationss hall be carried out in
accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.
Article 6
Without prejudice to any measures or actions taken in accordance with
Article 9(9) and/or 10a of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91, the release
for free circulation in the Community of productsnot complying withthe requirementsof that Regulation s hall be conditional on the removalof referencesto the organic production method from the labelling,advertising and accompanying documents.
Article 7
The relevant Member State'sauthoritiesand the authoritiesin the
Member States responsible for the implementation of Regulation(EEC) No 2092/91, aswell asthe ins pection authoritiesand ins pectionbodies, shall assist each other in applying this Regulation.
Before 1 April 2002 Member Statess hall inform each other and the
Commission on the authorities they have defined in the context of
Article 2(5), aswell ason the delegationsthey have given for the
implementation of Article 4(8) and on the procedures, if any, followedunder Article 4(9)(b). Thisinformation s hall be updated by MemberStatesasand when changesoccur.
For the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the date of information referredto in the second paragraph shall be 1 May 2004.
Article 8
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3457/92 shall be repealed as from
►
M11 November 2002 ◄.
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities and it
shall apply from ►M11 November 2002 ◄.2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 6
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ThisRegulation s hall be binding in itsentirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 7
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ANNEX I
Model of the certificate of inspection for import of products from organic
productionintotheEuropeanCommunity
The model of the certificate isdetermined with regard to:
— the text,
— the format, on one single sheet,— the layout and the dimensions of the boxes.2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 8
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ANNEX II
Modeloftheextractofthecertificate ofinspection
The model of the extract isdetermined with regard to:
— the text,
— the format,— the layout and the dimensions of the boxes.2001R1788 — EN — 01.05.2004 — 003.001 — 12
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