Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1900 of 22 September 2025 establishing the annual programme of controls for 2026 to be carried out by Commission experts in the Member States to verify the application of Union agri-food chain legislation
Date: 2025-09-22
Institutions: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission
Subjects: animal feedingstuffs, animal welfare, eco-label, food inspection, genetically modified organism, information system, labelling, market approval, plant health control, veterinary inspection








L_202501900EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
L series













2025/1900


23.9.2025







            COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2025/1900
of 22 September 2025
         
establishing the annual programme of controls for 2026 to be carried out by Commission experts in the Member States to verify the application of Union agri-food chain legislation


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 118(1), point (a), thereof,

Whereas:







(1)


The responsibility to enforce Union agri-food chain legislation lies with Member States, whose competent authorities monitor and verify, through the organisation of official controls, that relevant Union requirements are effectively complied with and enforced. Parallel to this monitoring and verification, Article 116 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires Commission experts to perform controls, including audits, in Member States to verify the application of Union legislation. These Commission controls should be performed in the areas of food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, plant health, plant protection products, genetically modified organisms, animal by-products, organic products and in the functioning of national control systems and competent authorities which operate them, taking into account synergies with control arrangements under the common agricultural policy (CAP).












(2)


The Commission has assembled an annual programme of controls for 2026. These controls should be carried out by the Commission’s experts in Member States to verify the application of the legislation in the above areas. The Commission used different criteria during the prioritisation process, inter alia, identification of risk to consumers, animals or plants, past performance of the Member States in the area, production volume, information from relevant sources (for example, the European Food Safety Authority) and from the components of the information management system for official controls (IMSOC).












(3)


This annual programme of controls contributes to the Commission’s priority area of ‘Food security, water and nature’ (2). It also contributes to the monitoring of the CAP in accordance with the rules on cross-compliance set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3). The controls set out in the programme enable the Commission to fulfil its legal obligations to oversee the application of Union law by verifying that official controls in Member States in the relevant areas are compliant with Union legislation.












(4)


This annual programme of controls should take into account the categories of listed diseases established in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 (5).












(5)


In accordance with Article 38(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), Article 118 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 is not to apply to controls, including audits, of geographical indications.












(6)


Given that this Commission Implementing Decision concerns the annual programme of controls for 2026, which applies as of 1 January 2026, the date of application of this Implementing Decision should be deferred to coincide with that date,





HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:



Article 1
The annual programme of controls for 2026 to be carried out by Commission experts in the Member States as provided for in Article 116(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 is set out in the Annex to this Implementing Decision.


Article 2
This Implementing Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2026.




Done at Brussels, 22 September 2025.


For the Commission


The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            





(1)  
            OJ L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/625/oj.

(2)  
            Political Guidelines 2024-2029, page 21.

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December 2021 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (OJ L 435, 6.12.2021, p. 187, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/2116/oj).

(4)  Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/429/oj).

(5)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 of 3 December 2018 on the application of certain disease prevention and control rules to categories of listed diseases and establishing a list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases (OJ L 308, 4.12.2018, p. 21, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2018/1882/oj).

(6)  Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, as well as traditional specialities guaranteed and optional quality terms for agricultural products, amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013, (EU) No 2019/787 and (EU) 2019/1753 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 (OJ L, 2024/1143, 23.4.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1143/oj).




ANNEX
Annual programme of controls for 2026







Area


Priority area


Focus in 2026





Food & food safety




Food of animal origin



Safety of meat products and meat preparations
Safety of fish and fishery products





Food contact materials



Food contact material containing recycled plastic





Residues in live animals and food of animal origin



Chemical safety – residues of pharmacologically active substances, pesticides and contaminants





Feed & feed safety




Feed safety



Medicated feed (One Health)





Animal health




Category A diseases under Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882



African swine fever
Highly pathogenic avian influenza
Sheep and goat pox





Category B and C diseases under Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882



Monitoring system for category B and C diseases





Preparedness & prevention



Contingency planning
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (One Health)
Vector-borne diseases (One Health)





Animal welfare




On farm



Poultry





Transport



Sea transport





Plant health




Plant pest outbreaks



Plant pest outbreaks presenting a significant threat





Preparedness and prevention



Surveys and contingency planning





PPPs & SUD




Plant protection products (PPPs) and Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD)



Authorisation, marketing and use of PPPs
Sustainable use of pesticides





Food quality




Organic farming



Organic farming





Entry into the Union of animals and goods from third countries




Official controls on animals and goods



Animals and goods





General aspects within the agri-food chain




Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)



GMOs in feed





Any emergency situations, emerging problems and new developments



Emergency situations, emerging problems and new developments







ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/1900/oj
ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)