(1)

Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 provides for the possibility to adopt appropriate Union emergency measures for food and feed imported from a third country in order to protect public health, animal health or the environment, where it is evident that the food and feed concerned is likely to constitute a serious risk to human health and animal health and that such risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member States individually. Those Union emergency measures may consist of imposing special conditions of import for the products concerned.

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 (3) provides for an increased level of official controls on imports of the feed and food of non-animal origin listed in Annex I thereof. Vine leaves from Turkey and Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam are included in that Annex and are therefore subject to an increased level of official controls.

(3)

The results from the official controls carried out by the Member States in the framework of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009, data resulting from notifications received through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, as established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, audit reports by the Commission, reports received from third countries and exchanges of information between the Commission, Member States and the European Food Safety Authority show a continuous high frequency of non-compliance of vine leaves from Turkey with the maximum residue levels of pesticides set out in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). No improvement of the situation could therefore be observed even after increasing the frequency of controls at Union borders.

(4)

The results from the official controls carried out by the Member States in the framework of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 show a high frequency of non-compliance of Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam with the maximum residue levels of pesticides set out in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. Moreover, an audit carried out by the Commission in Vietnam in March 2017 to evaluate controls of pesticides in food of plant origin intended for export to the European Union found that there is no official effective pesticide control system for food exported to the Union and that the authorities cannot ensure compliance of Vietnamese products with maximum residue levels for pesticide residues.

(5)

This provides evidence that the import of vine leaves from Turkey and of Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam is likely to constitute a serious risk to health and that such risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by the measures currently in place. It is therefore necessary to establish special conditions of import for vine leaves from Turkey and Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam.

(6)

Curry leaves from India are currently subject to the special conditions of import set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014 (5). Special conditions of import for this product should be maintained, in light of the data resulting from notifications received through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed and of the results from the official controls carried out by the Member States in the framework of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014, which show a continuous high frequency of non-compliance.

(7)

It is therefore appropriate to require that curry leaves from India, vines leaves from Turkey and Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam be subject to official controls before export to the Union, including sampling and analysis, so as to ensure that those products comply with the relevant legal requirements. All consignments of such products should be accompanied by a health certificate stating that the products have been sampled in accordance with Commission Directive 2002/63/EC (6).

(8)

In order to ensure an efficient organisation and a degree of uniformity at the Union level of the controls at import with regard to the presence of pesticides residues in and on curry leaves from India, vines leaves from Turkey and Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam, it is appropriate to provide in this Regulation for control procedures which are at least equivalent to those provided for in Regulation (EC) No 669/2009.

(9)

In order to take into account the specific nature of non-compliance with documentary requirements, it is appropriate to lay down rules on the action to be taken where the consignment is not accompanied by both the results of sampling and analysis and the health certificate or where those results or that health certificate do not comply with the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

(10)

Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 requires competent authorities to notify the Commission and other Member States of border rejections. As regards pesticides, it is appropriate to clarify that where the competent authorities reject a consignment of food listed in this Regulation, such notification should be made where a maximum residue level set out in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 has not been complied with, irrespective of whether the acute reference dose has been exceeded.

(11)

In order to collect data for continuous risk evaluation in relation to the goods covered by this Regulation and adapt existing measures as necessary, it is appropriate to require Member States to submit to the Commission biannually a report on all analytical results of official controls carried out under this Regulation. Certain Member States register the common entry document pertaining to certain feed and food of non-animal origin on a voluntary basis in the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) established by Commission Decisions 2003/24/EC (7) and 2004/292/EC (8), thus providing the Commission with information on the number of consignments imported and the results of the checks provided for in this Regulation. That reporting obligation should therefore be deemed to be satisfied where Member States register in TRACES the common entry documents issued in accordance with this Regulation.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Regulation should be reviewed before 31 October 2019 in order to assess whether they are still necessary.

(13)

Adequate financial resources should be available for organising official controls in accordance with this Regulation. Hence, costs resulting from such official controls should be borne by the food business operators responsible for the consignments.

(14)

For the sake of transparency and consistency of the applicable rules, all specific conditions governing the import of curry leaves from India, of vine leaves from Turkey and of Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam with regard to the presence of pesticide residues should be set out in this Regulation. Therefore the entries for vine leaves from Turkey and for Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam should be removed from Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014 concerning curry leaves from India should be repealed.

(15)

In order to give operators sufficient time to adapt to the requirements set out in this Regulation, this Regulation should apply from 8 December 2018. In the interest of legal certainty, it is appropriate to provide that Member States should authorise during a transitional period the import of consignments of vine leaves from Turkey, of Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Vietnam and of curry leaves from India which left their country of origin or the country of consignment if that country is different from the country of origin, prior to 8 December 2018 provided that those consignments fulfil the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 in force on 7 December 2018 and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 885/2014 respectively.

(16)

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

(a)

in the entries for Turkey, the entry referring to ‘Vine leaves’ is deleted.

(b)

in the entries for Vietnam, the entry referring to ‘Pitahaya (dragon fruit)’ is deleted.