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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2251/92
of 29 July 1992
on quality inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables
(OJ L 219, 4.8.1992, p. 9)
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 327, 13.11.1992, p. 63 (2251/92)
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COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2251/92
of 29 July 1992
on quality inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 of 18 May
1972 on the common organization of the market in fruit and veget-ables(
1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1754/92 (2), and in
particular Articles 3 (5), 8, 10 (1) and 12 (3) thereof,
Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 stipulates that conformity
checks must be carried out by sampling to ensure that fruit and veget-ables for which quality standards have been laid down effectivelycomply with those standards; whereas all the existing provisionsconcerning inspections should be grouped in a single Regulation;whereas Commission Regulations No 80/63/EEC of 31 July 1963 onquality inspection of fruit and vegetables imported from third coun-tries(
3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3078/89 (4), No
93/67/EEC of 3 May 1967 laying down initial provisions on qualitycontrol of fruit and vegetables marketed within the Community (
5), as
last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2122/86 (6), (EEC) No 2638/69
of 24 December 1969 laying down additional provisions on qualitycontrol of fruit and vegetables marketed within the Community (
7) and
(EEC) No 496/70 of 17 March 1970 laying down initial provisions onquality control of fruit and vegetables exported to third countries(
8)
should therefore be repealed;
Whereas a single inspection method with well-defined components must
be applicable at all marketing stages, regardless of the marketing chan-nels followed by fruit and vegetables produced in the Community andsubject to conformity inspection; whereas any lot of the goods inquestion could potentially be inspected; whreas whereas the conditionson which goods are to be rejected must be specified;
Whereas the competent body or bodies designated by the Member State
are responsible for carrying out conformity inspections and must, as arule, carry out the said inspections; whereas, however, in the interests ofefficiency and in order to take account of the different situations to befound in the different Member States, provision should be made, subjectto certain conditions, for authority to be transferred to approved privatebodies or for centralized inspection centres to be used or for operatorsto be granted exemption provided they offer the necessary guarantees;
Whereas implementation of the inspection arrangements, including
exemptions from inspection, requires that all operators and importers inthe marketing chain be known; whereas, therefore, provision should bemade for a register for this purpose, whereas the carrying out ofinspection operations requires that information on the said operations bemade available to the competent authorities; whereas, however, exemp-tion from inspection must automatically entail exemption from thisrequirement;
Whereas the Community rules apply to imports from third countries;
whereas imports must therefore comply with Community quality stan-dards or equivalent standards and the Community inspection methodmust be applied to them; whereas certain third countries may have the
(1) OJ No L 118, 20. 5. 1972, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 180, 1. 7. 1992, p. 23.
(3) OJ No 121, 3. 8. 1963, p. 2137/63.
(4) OJ No L 294, 13. 10. 1989, p. 18.
(5) OJ No 90, 10. 5. 1967, p. 1765/67.
(6) OJ No L 185, 8. 7. 1986, p. 11.
(7) OJ No L 327, 30. 12. 1969, p. 33.
(8) OJ No L 62, 18. 3. 1970, p. 11.
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products which they export to the Community inspected by their ownauthorities, on the spot or on arrival, provided that they satisfactorilyguarantee that the standards have been complied with; whereas in theinterests of good administrative and commercial practice, provisionshould therefore be made for the approval, at their request, of theinspection authorities of the exporting third countries concerned, wherethey meet certain requirements;
Whereas care should be taken that Community and imported products
which are not required to meet the standards and are intended forprocessing are not disposed of on the market in products for consump-tion in the fresh state; whereas, to that end, such products should beaccompanied by a processing certificate certifying their end-use andenabling that use to be checked;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance
with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fruit and Veget-ables,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Member States shall carry out conformity checks as laid down in
Articles 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72, in accordancewith the provisions of this Regulation.
Article 2
The following definitions shall apply for the purposes of this Regula-
tion:
(a) ‘conformity check' means any physical check or administrative
formality carried out, following the method and procedure laiddown in this Regulation, in order to ascertain whether fruit andvegetables meet the common quality standards, by specialist offi-cials of the competent agencies appointed the Member States;
(b) ‘identity check'means any check that products are correctly speci-
fied in the accompanying documents or certificates;
(c) ‘competent agency'means the agency or agencies designated by a
Member State to carry out the conformity checks referred to inArticle 1;
(d) ‘inspector'means a suitably trained official duly authorized by the
competent agency to carry out conformity checks;
(e) ‘goods'means the quantity of products to be sold by a given trader
which is present when inspection is carried out. Such goods may beidentified by a document and may consist of one or more types ofproduct and one or more lots;
(f) ‘lot'means a quantity of products that when inspected is presented
as uniform as regards:
— identity of packer and/or consignor,
— country of origin,— type of product,— quality class,— variety or commercial type (where appropriate),— packaging and presentation,— size (where appropriate);
(g) ‘package' means individually packaged part of a lot, including
contents;
(h) ‘trader'means any natural or legal person presenting goods origin-
ating in Community or in free circulation within the Community,with a view to their marketing in the Community’s territory and/orexport to third countries;
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(i) ‘importer'means any natural or legal person presenting goods from
third countries for entry into the customs territory of theCommunity;
(j) ‘packing station' means any place where sorting, sizing, packing,
marking and, where applicable, cold storage of produce takesplace;
(k) ‘border inspection post'means any inspection post, covering a port
or airport or a road or railway line, that performs inspections onentry into the customs territory of the Community. It must bedesigned and provide facilities so that such inspection andcommunication with parties presenting goods and with other borderinspection posts in the Community can be carried out in thequickest and most efficient manner possible;
(l) ‘sampling' means temporary removal of a certain quantity of
produce (‘sample') when a conformity check is made;
(m) ‘primary sample' means package removed from a lot; for bulk
produce, quantity removed at one place in a lot;
(n) ‘bulk sample'means a number of primary samples representative of
a lot and sufficient in quantity to permit assessment of it ba allcriteria;
(o) ‘reduced sample'means a representative quantity taken from a bulk
sample, of sufficient size to permit assessment of it by certaincriteria; a number of reduced samples may be taken from a bulksample.
CHAPTER I
Method of inspection
Article 3
1. A conformity check shall be carried out by assessment of a bulk
sample taken at random from different places in the lot selected forinspection and assumed to be representative of that lot.
2. The inspector shall indicate the lot(s) and packages in the lot that
he wishes to examine or, for bulk produce, the places in the lot fromwhere the samples are to be taken. The trader or importer responsiblefor the goods or his representative must present the samples requestedand provide all the information needed for identification of the goods orof the lots of which they consist. If reduced samples are needed so thata more thorough check can be made, the inspector shall select themfrom the bulk sample.
3. Lots shall be identified by means of the indications or marks laid
down under Council Directive 89/396/EEC (
1).
If goods are made up of a number of lots, the inspector must check the
identity of each of the lots in order to determine to what extent theytally with the information given in the accompanying documents ordeclarations.
However, in the event of difficulty in differentiating lots, all lots that
are uniform as to type of produce, traders or importers concerned,country of origin, quality class and, where appropriate, variety, size orcommercial type, may be treated as a single lot.
4. The checks on the lot shall comprise in particular:
— an assessment of packaging and the presentation, using primary
samples, to ascertain whether packaging has been carried out prop-erly using clean material of the correct specification and that thepresentation is correct,
(1) OJ No L 186, 30. 6. 1989, p. 21.
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Number of packages in lotNumber of packages to be taken
(primary samples)— a check that the marking is correct, using samples,
— a check that the products themselves are in conformity: the inspector
shall decide on the size of the bulk sample he needs for assessmentof the lot.
If, on the basis of his checks, the inspector is unable to take a decision,
he may make a second inspection in order to obtain a result consistingof the average yielded by the two inspections.
5. The produce to be inspected must be completely removed from its
packaging. For prepackaged products the inspector may howeverdispense with this if the type and nature of the packaging are such thatthe contents can be checked without unwrapping. Uniformity, minimumrequirements and quality and size classification must be checked fromthe bulk sample. If defects are found the inspector shall determine theirpercentage according to the number of items or the weight of producenot meeting the standard.
6. If the inspection operations are liable to affect the quality of the
products, the inspector must check for internal defects using reducedsamples, of a size limited to the minimum quantity necessary to assessthe lot. Where such internal defects are found or suspected, the size ofthe reduced sample may not be more than 10 % of that of the bulksample initially made up for inspection.
7. For assessing ripeness the inspector may use the instruments and
methods specified for the purpose in the common quality standards.
In the case of apples, the competent body may refer to a colorimetric
scale and/or apply a starch regression test (iodine test) in order to verifythat the requirement laid down in the quality standards for apples andpears under the first indent of the last subparagraph of Title II A of theAnnex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 920/89 (
1) is met.
8. Where inspections are carried out at a stage other than consign-
ment, the inspector shall take into account the fact that transport, evenunder conditions appropriate to the nature of the product, may result ina slight loss of the freshness and turgidity displayed at the time ofconsignment, except for products in the Extra class.
9. On completion of inspection, the inspector shall take a decision on
the basis of the results of the check made as specified in paragraph 4.
If he finds that the lot satisfies the Community provisions in force for
the product, he shall issue the inspection certificate provided for inAnnex I. If not, he shall notify the trader and/or importer or hisrepresentative in writing of the defects. Where the latter decides to bringthe goods into conformity, the inspector shall issue a certificate once hefinds that this has been done.
10. In the event of a decision that the goods are not in conformity, a
new sample should relate to at least the following minimum quant-ities(
2):
Packed produce
up to 100 5
101 to 300 7
301 to 500 9
501 to 1 000 10
more than 1 000 15(minimum)
(1) OJ No L 97, 11. 4. 1989, p. 19.
(2) These quantities shall not apply at the retail stage.
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Weight of lot in kg or number of
units in lotWeights in kg of primary samples or
number of units to be taken (1)Bulk produce
►C1up to 200 ◄ 10
201 to 500 20
501 to 1 000 30
1 001 to 5000 60
more than 5000 100 (minimum)
(1) For large fruit and vegetables (more than 2 kg per dem), the primary samples must
consist of a minimum of five items.
11. If a Member State wishes to try a method of sampling other than
that provided for in paragraph 10, the Commission may decide to allowthat method to be applied in the Member State in question subject toconditions which the Commission shall determine. In such cases, theCommission shall inform the other Member States.
12. Where the goods are not brought into conformity, the inspector
shall make out a statement specifying the criteria not fulfilled and shalltake action to ensure that the goods in question are not marketed forconsumption as fresh produce.
To this end, the inspector shall issue a document certifying that the
goods have not been marketed for consumption as fresh produce andshall specify the measures adopted to ensure compliance with thisprohibition.
13. On completion of an inspection the bulk sample shall be returned
to the trader and/or importer or his representative.
The competent agency shall be under no obligation to restore those
parts of the bulk sample destroyed during inspection.
CHAPTER II
Conformity checks of fruit and vegetables produced in the
Community
Article 4
1. Fruit and vegetables produced in the Community and intended for
consumption in the fresh state on the internal market or for export shallbe subject to conformity checking, either at the packing/loading stationand, if unavoidable, during the process of consignment, or at a desig-nated inspection centre and at destination at the wholesale selling pointor in distribution centres.
2. With a view to carrying out inspections as referred to in this
Article, traders or their representatives shall make available to thecompetent agency all necessary information. Such information shallinclude identification of the produce and details of the place and theperiod during which the consignment(s) are to be dispatched, and of thedestination.
Traders meeting the conditions laid down in Article 6 (1) shall be
exempt from this requirement.
3. Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 and 2, Member States may exempt
from notification and inspection goods weighing 500 kg per product orless.
4. The inspection certificate referred to in Article 3 (9) shall be
issued in cases where fruit and vegetables are to be exported.
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Article 5
1. Member States shall designate the competent agency or agencies
responsible for conformity checking. Such agencies may however dele-gate their powers wholly or in part to private agencies or instruct suchagencies to carry out the checks. Approval shall be for a three-yearperiod following an invitation to tender by the Member State addressedto private agencies with:
(a) inspectors who have followed a training course approved by the
competent agency;
(b) equipment and installations to make the checks and analyses that
inspection will require;
(c) suitable communications facilities.
2. The competent agency shall check periodically on the execution,
the number and efficiency of inspections made by approved agencies.
It shall withdraw approval if it finds anomalies or irregularities casting
doubt on the due execution and efficiency of inspections or if therequirements are no longer met.
Approval may be renewed for a further period of three years.3. Approved agencies shall:
(a) provide all facilities required for making inspections and all infor-
mation requested for the purposes of checks by the competentagency;
(b) forward, before 31 January of each year, a list of the traders on
whose goods it has carried out inspections during the previous yearand a report giving details of its inspection work and the resultsobtained.
Article 6
1. The competent agency of a Member State may exempt traders
from inspection of goods at the time of consignment and shall issue anexemption certificate to that effect, if the traders in question can guar-antee uniform quality of the produce they are marketing and have:
(a) inspection staff who have received training approved by the
competent agency;
(b) suitable equipment for preparing and packing produce;
(c) precooling equipment, if the products which they market require
this before transport;
(d) a register recording all operations carried out.
Exemptions shall be granted for a period of one year and shall be
renewable.
2. The competent agency shall regularly check the quality of the
produce consigned by exempted traders.
It shall withdraw an exemption from inspection if it finds anomalies or
irregularities casting doubt on the conformity of the product or if therequirements listed in paragraph 1 are no longer met.
Exempted traders shall grant the competent agency all facilities neces-
sary for its verification checks.
3. Exempted traders shall affix a label (in accordance with the
specimen in Annex III) on each package consigned, bearing their regis-tration number as referred to in Article 11 (3).
Article 7
Inspection centres
Member States may provide for conformity checks to be carried out by
the competent agency at inspection centres designated by the competentauthority.
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Inspection centres must have suitable reception facilities for the
purposes of carrying out inspections, comprising, in particular:
— suitable vehicle bays allowing samples to be taken at a number of
places in the load,
— refrigerated areas for packages unloaded from vehicles,— suitable communications facilities,— equipment and installations to make the checks and analyses that
inspection will require.
Inspections must be carried out with all speed, in accordance with the
method specified in Article 3.
CHAPTER III
Conformity checks of fruit and vegetables for importation into the
Community
Article 8
1. Before being admitted into Community territory, fruit and veget-
ables from third countries intended to be consumed fresh and for whichthere are common quality standards shall be subject to a conformitycheck to determine whether the goods meet the common quality stan-dards or at least equivalent standards in the case of third countries otherthan European third countries or non-European third countries in theMediterranean region.
2. The Commission shall establish a correlation table between the
quality classes provided for in the standards applied in the countries inquestion and those provided for in the common quality standards.
Article 9
1. Where the official inspection authorities of third countries have
been previously approved, goods shall be subject to conformitychecking before being exported to the Community.
The list of approve official authorities shall be adopted in accordance
with the procedure laid down in Article 33 of Regulation (EEC) No1035/72. This list shall be supplemented or amended by the Commis-sion.
2. The approval referred to in paragraph 1 shall be granted to the
official authorities of third countries which so request, and on whoseterritory the common quality standards or standards which are at leastequivalent, in accordance with Article 8 (1), are met for productsexported to the Community.
The official authority must be an officially recognized conformity
checking agency which provides satisfactory guarantees, and has at itsdisposal the necessary staff, equipment and facilities to enable thechecks in question to be carried out.
Information about the establishment and transmission of requests for
approval shall be made public by way of a Commission noticepublished periodically in the Official Journal of the European
Communities , C series.
3. Approval shall be granted for a period of three years and shall be
renewable following a thorough check and in particular on-the-spotverification to ensure proper application of the provisions of paragraph2.
Such approval shall be withdrawn at any time by the Commission if it is
found that goods coming from the third country concerned do not meetthe standards laid down.
4. Goods coming from third countries in which the official authority
has been approved as laid down in paragraph 3 shall be accompanied byan inspection certificate as provided for in Annex I issued by thatauthority attesting that the said produce conforms to the quality standardfor the quality class within which it falls. The certificate shall bedeemed to show that the produce complied with the standard at the time
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of export. The competent agencies of the Member States shall regularly
verify the conformity of products from third countries. The period ofvalidity of the inspection certificate shall be fixed by the officialauthority so as to ensure conformity while taking account of the type ofproduce.
If the inspection certificate is no longer valid, paragraph 5shall apply.5. In the case of goods coming from third countries whose official
inspection authorities have not been approved, or in the case of goodsfrom third countries whose official authorities have been approved butwhich, on importation, are not accompanied by an inspection certificateas provided for in Annex I, the customs authorities shall authorize theirrelease for free circulation in the customs territory of the Communityonly if the goods have been inspected in accordance with Article 3.
In cases where the competent agencies have not inspected certain goods,
they shall either affix their stamp to the notification referred to inparagraph 8 and forward the notification to the customs authorities orinform the customs authorities in some other way.
The competent agency may decide not to carry out the abovementioned
checks where the goods is to be exported subsequently to a thirdcountry.
6. Paragraphs 4 and 5shall be implemented without prejudice to spot
checks carried out at border inspection posts and checks on arrival atwholesale locations or distribution centres.
7. Where, in the case of goods leaving a warehouse after storage or
of goods not to be put into free circulation in the territory of theMember State that carried out the check specified in Article 8 (1), a lotis split up, the inspector in charge shall:
— retain the original certificate(s),
— provide the importer or first purchaser with the same number of
authenticated copies of the original certificate as the portions intowhich the lot has been split.
8. The importer or his representative must notify the competent
agency of the Member State in good time of the border inspection postat which the goods will be presented for inspection, specifying thenature and volume of the products, the number of lots and the expecteddate of arrival.
CHAPTER IV
Inspection of produce for processing
Article 10
1. Community products due to be processed outside the region in
which they are produced shall be accompanied by a ‘processing certifi-cate'as provided for in Annex II, issued by the competent inspectionauthority, which shall immediately send a copy of the certificate to theinspection authority operating in the region in which the produce is tobe processed.
2. Imported products due to be processed in the Community shall be
accompanied, prior to being put into free circulation, by a ‘processingcertificate'as provided for in Annex II, issued by the competent importinspection authority, which shall immediately send a copy of the certifi-cate to the inspection authority operating in the region in which theproduce is to be processed.
3. After processing, the processor shall return the certificate to the
inspection authority of the region in which processing has been carriedout.
4. Inspection may be carried out on the spot and a check made on the
accounting documents of the undertaking concerned.
The central offices of the inspection authority issuing the processing
certificate shall be notified of any irregularity which might be detected.
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CHAPTER V
Final provisions
Article 11
1. The inspection authority of a Member State on whose territory a
lot from another Member State is found not to meet the requirementsbecause of defects or deterioration which could have been detected atthe time of packaging shall notify cases of non-conformity discoveredup to the wholesale marketing stage within 24 hours to the centraloffices of the inspection authorities of the other Member States likely tobe concerned.
2. Where, on importation from a third country, a lot is found not to
meet the requirements because of defects or deterioration which couldhave been detected at the time of packaging, the inspection agencies ofthe Member State concerned shall, within 24 hours, notify the Commis-sion and the central offices of the inspection authorities of the otherMember States likely to be concerned, which shall then pass on thisinformation as necessary in their territory.
3. The Member States shall draw up a register of traders and impor-
ters of fruit and vegetables and shall assign each a registration number.
4.
The Commission shall publish in the Official Journal of the European
Communities , C series, a list of:
— the central offices of inspection authorities,
— inspection centres,— approved agencies,
in each Member State, and of
— the approved official inspection authorities in third countries.
A list of exempted traders shall be published in the government and/or
trade press in each Member State.
Article 12
Commission Regulations No 80/63/EEC, No 93/67/EEC, (EEC) No
496/70 and (EEC) No 2638/69 are hereby repealed with effect from 1January 1993.
Article 13
The Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply from 1 January 1993.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.
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ANNEXI

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ANNEXII

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ANNEXIII