(1)

Regulation (EU) 2017/625 lays down rules for the performance of official controls and other official activities by the competent authorities of the Member States for verifying compliance with Union legislation in the area of food and food safety. Article 109 of that Regulation provides for an obligation for Member States to ensure that official controls are performed by the competent authorities on the basis of a multi-annual national control plan (‘MANCP’). Regulation (EU) 2017/625 furthermore specifies the general content of the MANCP, requires Member States to provide in their MANCP official controls on contaminants in food and, in this regard, empowers the Commission to lay down specific additional content of the MANCP and specific additional arrangements for its preparation, as well as a uniform minimum frequency of official controls, having regard to the hazards and risks related to substances referred to in Article 19(1) of that Regulation.

(2)

Regulation (EU) 2017/625 repealed Council Directive 96/23/EC (2), which provided measures to monitor certain substances, including contaminants, in live animals and products of animal origin and specifically set requirements for Member States’ monitoring plans for the detection of residues or substances within its scope. However, Regulation (EU) 2017/625 does not incorporate all the measures contained in that Directive or in the acts adopted by the Commission on its basis. Therefore, in order to ensure a smooth transition, Regulation (EU) 2017/625 provided that competent authorities were to continue to perform the official controls in accordance with the Annexes to Directive 96/23/EC until 14 December 2022 or until the date of application of the corresponding rules to be adopted by the Commission. This Regulation, together with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/931 (3), aims therefore at ensuring continuity of the rules of Directive 96/23/EC concerning the content of the MANCP and its preparation, as well as the minimum frequency of official controls, as regards contaminants in food, within the framework of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(3)

In light of the specific provisions for official controls of food of animal origin entering the Union from third countries set out by Article 47 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, it is appropriate to require Member States to include in their MANCPs two different plans for the control of contaminants in food, one for such food of animal origin entering the Union and another one for any other food placed on the Union market.

(4)

The plan for food of animal origin entering the Union should include the official controls on all such food intended to be placed on the Union market, but also official controls on fishery products which are to be carried out on vessels when these call at a port in a Member State, in accordance with Article 68 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/627 (4), since those vessels are to be considered as similar to border control points, irrespective of flag.

(5)

The plan for food placed on the Union market should concern any other food, namely, each Member State’s domestic food production, food introduced from other Member States, and food of non-animal origin entering the Union. It should also concern composite products within the meaning of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 (5), even those entering the Union from third countries since some of those products do not have to be controlled at border control points in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(6)

In addition to the rules on the combinations of contaminants or contaminant groups and commodity groups of the samples to be taken by Member States and the sampling strategy including criteria that they are to use for defining the content of their plans and the performance of the related official controls laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/931, minimum control frequencies should be laid down in this Regulation for each of the plans, in order to ensure that controls are carried out in all products at least to a certain extent throughout the Union. However, in order to ensure proportionality, those minimum annual control frequencies should be set, depending on the products, by reference to Member States’ production data and to Member States’ population size, but with a reasonable minimum amount, and to number of imported consignments. For the same reason, and, in particular, in order to avoid excessive burden and costs, it is appropriate to allow Member States to not perform official controls on certain contaminant/commodity combinations annually, provided that the MANCPs justifies this choice. As regards, in particular, imported consignments, food products imported from third countries listed in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2129 (6), with which the Union has concluded agreements of equivalence for physical checks, should not be counted against the number of imported consignments as Member States must carry out their controls at a frequency rate, as provided in those agreements.

(7)

In order to ensure a comprehensive content of the MANCPs on the presence of contaminants in food, the information that Member States are to include in their MANCPs regarding the choices they have made in their plans should be defined.

(8)

For ensuring a uniform implementation of this Regulation, it is appropriate to require Member States to submit their control plans for evaluation to the Commission on annual basis and to provide a procedure for that evaluation.

(9)

Data collected by the Member States through official controls on the presence of contaminants in food must also be transmitted to the European Food Safety Authority (‘EFSA’) in accordance with Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). In order to allow for the monitoring of recent occurrence data, all Member States should submit data on a regular basis and by the same date.

(10)

Article 150(1) of the Regulation (EU) 2017/625 lays down a transitional period obliging Member States to perform official controls in accordance with Directive 96/23/EC until 14 December 2022. Article 19(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 provides that official controls to verify compliance with the rules on food and food safety as well as feed and feed safety shall include official controls on relevant substances including substances to be used in food contact materials, contaminants, non-authorised, prohibited and undesirable substances whose use or presence on crops or animals or to produce or process food or feed may result in residues of those substances in food or feed. However, since the last monitoring plans adopted by Member States under Directive 96/23/EC will apply to the year 2022, and thus beyond 14 December 2022, it is appropriate that this Regulation applies from 1 January 2023.

(11)

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