COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND TO THE COUNCIL Mid-term evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material, amending Council Directives 98/56/EC, 2000/29/EC and 2008/90/EC, Regulations (EC) No 178/2002, (EC) No 882/2004 and (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Decisions 66/399/EEC, 76/894/EEC and 2009/470/EC
Date: 2017-09-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission
Subjects: EU expenditure, animal feedingstuffs, animal welfare, disease prevention, distribution of EU funding, food safety, general budget (EU), health control, plant health control, veterinary inspection

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.9.2017  SWD(2017) 315 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND TO THE COUNCIL Mid-term evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down provisions for the management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare, and relating to plant health and plant reproductive material, amending Council Directives 98/56/EC, 2000/29/EC and 2008/90/EC, Regulations (EC) No 178/2002, (EC) No 882/2004 and (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Decisions 66/399/EEC, 76/894/EEC and 2009/470/EC {COM(2017) 546 final} {SWD(2017) 314 final} {SWD(2017) 316 final}  
 
 
Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 
(hereinafter:  CFF  Regulation)  lays  down  provisions  for  the  management  of  expenditure 
relating  to  the  food  chain,  animal  health  and  animal  welfare,  plant  health  and  plant 
reproductive material.  

Article 42 of the CFF Regulation provides that the Commission shall establish and present to 
the European Parliament and to the Council a mid-term evaluation report on whether, in terms 
of their results and impacts, the animal health and plant health measures (Chapters I and II of 
Title  II)  and  the  European  Union  Reference  laboratories  and  Better  Training  for  Safer  Food 
activities  (Articles  30  and  31  of  Chapter  III)  achieve  the  objectives  set  out  in  the  Regulation 
itself  (Article  2(1)),  as  regards  the  efficiency  of  the  use  of  resources  and  its  added  value,  at 
Union level. 

The  CFF  Regulation  involves  an  average  annual  spending  of  EUR  270,3  million,  with  a 
maximum ceiling for expenditure of EUR 1 891 936 000 over the 7-year period 2014-2020.  

The  present  Staff  Working  Document  (SWD)  summarises  the  outcome  of  the  mid-term 
evaluation  exercise,  which  included  an  external  study  complemented  by  the  internal 
assessment performed by the Commission. The evaluation fully covers the implementation of 
the  above-referred  measures  in  the  28  EU  Member  States  for  2014,  2015  and,  partially,  for 
2016,  dependant  on  preliminary  data  available.  The  SWD  provides  a  qualitative  and 
quantitative overview of those measures and assesses them against the five evaluation criteria 
set  by  the  Better  Regulation1  policies  in  the  European  Commission:  relevance,  European 
added value, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence. 

Based  on  the  analysis  performed,  it  can  be  concluded  that  the  CFF  Regulation  is  highly 
relevant in the area of food chain: ensuring a high status of human, animal and plant health, it 
helps to protect more than 500 million of European consumers and facilitates the functioning 
of  agri-food  supply  chains.  The  majority  of  the  activities  covered  by  the  CFF  Regulation 
proved to be effective in achieving the CFF objectives, and showed progress in the indicators 
used to monitor the CFF measures implemented. Also the outcome of the consultation process 
revealed a large appreciation of the EU financial contribution in those areas. Overall, the use 
of CFF financial resources is efficient and consistent with the results achieved. Particularly, in 
the  veterinary  area,  the  improvement  of  the  animal  health  status  is  accompanied  by  a 
progressive and significant reduction of the financial resources needed. The CFF Regulation 
has  shown  to  be  largely  coherent  with  other  EU  and  national  policies  in  the  area  of  food 
safety.  Primary  agriculture  coherence  is  reflected  in  the  complementarity  of  the  CFF 
regulation  and  Common  Agriculture  Policies.  The  measures  co-financed  by  the  CFF 
Regulation strongly contribute to creating EU added value. Member States benefit from the 
prioritised and targeted implementation of EU co-funded activities, especially for emergency, 
eradication,  control  and  monitoring  measures  for  animal  diseases  and  plant  pest  throughout 
the Union.  

1 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/better-regulation-why-and-how_en 

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Overall, the mid-term evaluation revealed that the CFF Regulation is functioning well within 
its  policy  context.  All  activities  receiving  EU  financial  support  in  this  area  have  proven  to 
serve the CFF objectives, namely the improvement of human, animal and plant health, as well 
as  the  overall  Commission’s  priorities,  including  the  functioning  of  an  effective  internal 
market and the support to trade with non-EU countries. 

The EU financial provisions on food safety, animal and plant health have been recognised as 
uniform  and  consistent  in  their  application  and  enforcement  in  all  EU  Member  States.  This 
ensures in turn that both citizens and businesses are confident that this financial framework is 
fair and effective in promoting high safety standards in a key sector of the EU economy. The 
activities  funded  under  the  CFF  Regulation  contribute  to  an  EU  which  is  safe  and  secure, 
prosperous and sustainable, social, and stronger on the global scene. 

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