COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/83

of 27 January 2021

amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 as regards the performance of official controls and other official activities by specifically authorised natural persons and the period of application of temporary measures

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No 1/2005 and (EC) No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council Decision 92/438/EEC (Official Controls Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 141(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2017/625 lays down rules for, inter alia, the performance of official controls and of other official activities by the competent authorities of Member States. It also empowers the Commission to adopt, by means of an implementing act, appropriate temporary measures necessary to contain risks to human, animal and plant health and animal welfare, if it has evidence of a serious disruption in a Member State’s control system.

(2) In order to address the specific circumstances due to the ongoing crisis related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 (2) allows Member States to apply temporary measures in relation to official controls and other official activities.

(3) Member States have informed the Commission that, in view of the crisis linked to COVID-19, certain serious disruptions in the functioning of their control systems, difficulties to perform official controls and other official activities on official certificates and official attestations with respect to movements of animals and goods into the Union and within the Union and difficulties to organise physical meetings with operators and their staff in the context of official controls will persist beyond 1 February 2021.

(4) Member States have also informed the Commission of other disruptions related to the capacity to deploy suitable staff, as required by Regulation (EU) 2017/625, in the context of official controls and other official activities.

(5) In order to address these serious disruptions, which are likely to persist in the coming months, and to facilitate the planning and the performance of official controls and other official activities during the crisis linked to COVID-19, the possibility to entrust specifically authorised natural persons with official controls and other official activities, as previously laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 until 1 August 2020, should be reintroduced and the period of application of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 should be prolonged until 1 July 2021.

(6) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 is amended as follows: (1) the following Article 3 is inserted: ‘Article 3 Official controls and other official activities may exceptionally be performed by one or more natural persons specifically authorised by the competent authority on the basis of their qualifications, training and practical experience, who are in contact with the competent authority by any available means of communication, and who are required to follow the instructions of the competent authority for the performance of such official controls and other official activities. Such persons shall act impartially, and they shall be free from any conflict of interest as regards the official controls and other official activities performed by them.’; (2) in the second paragraph of Article 6, the date ‘1 February 2021’ is replaced by the date ‘1 July 2021’.

Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 2 February 2021.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 27 January 2021. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 of 30 March 2020 on temporary measures to contain risks to human, animal and plant health and animal welfare during certain serious disruptions of Member States’ control systems due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (OJ L 98, 31.3.2020, p. 30).