(1)

Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 provides for the possibility to adopt appropriate Union emergency measures for feed and food imported from a third country in order to protect human health, animal health and the environment, where the risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member States individually.

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 of 24 July 2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the increased level of official controls on imports of certain feed and food of non-animal origin and amending Decision 2006/504/EC (3), establishes an increased level of official controls on imports of certain feed and food of non-animal origin.

(3)

Amongst other, an increased frequency of official controls on import has been established for more than two years on groundnuts from India as regards aflatoxins, curry leaves from India as regards pesticide residues, groundnuts from Ghana as regards aflatoxins and watermelon seeds from Nigeria as regards aflatoxins and for nearly two years on okras from India as regards pesticide residues.

(4)

The results from the of increased frequency of controls show a continuous high frequency of non-compliance with maximum levels of aflatoxins and maximum residue levels of pesticide residues established in Union legislation and several times very high levels were observed. These results provide evidence that the import of these foods and feeds constitute a risk for animal and human health. No improvement of the situation could be observed after this period of increased frequency of controls at Union borders. Furthermore, no concrete and satisfactory action plan to remediate the shortcomings and deficiencies in the production and control systems was received from the Indian, Nigerian and Ghanaian authorities, despite the explicit request from the European Commission.

(5)

To protect human and animal health in the Union, it is necessary to provide for additional guarantees in relation to those food and feed from India, Ghana and Nigeria. All consignments of groundnuts from India and Ghana, watermelon seeds from Nigeria and curry leaves and okras from India should therefore be accompanied by a certificate stating that the products have been sampled and analysed for the presence of, according to the case, aflatoxins or pesticide residues and have been found compliant with Union legislation.

(6)

For the protection of public and animal health compound feed and food containing to a significant amount the feed and food covered by this Regulation should also be included in the scope of the Regulation.

(7)

The sampling and the analysis of consignments should be performed in accordance with the relevant Union legislation. The maximum levels of aflatoxins in food are established by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 of 19 December 2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs (4) and in feed by Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 May 2002 on undesirable substances in animal feed (5). The maximum residue levels for pesticide residues are established by Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC (6). The provisions on sampling and analysis for the control of aflatoxins in food are established by Commission Regulation (EC) No 401/2006 of 23 February 2006 laying down the methods of sampling and analysis for the offcial control of the levels of mycotoxins in foodstuffs (7) and in feed by Commission Regulation (EC) No 152/2009 of 27 January 2009 laying down the methods of sampling and analysis for the official control of feed (8). The provisions on sampling for the official control of pesticide residues are established by Commission Directive 2002/63/EC of 11 July 2002 establishing Community methods of sampling for the official control of pesticide residues in and on products of plant and animal origin and repealing Directive 79/700/EEC (9).

(8)

In order to ensure an efficient organisation and ensure a degree of uniformity at the Union level of the controls at import, it is appropriate to provide in this Regulation measures which are equivalent to the existing measures as provided for in Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 for the physical control on pesticide residues on curry leaves and okra from India and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1152/2009 of 27 November 2009 imposing special conditions governing the import of certain foodstuffs from certain third countries due to contamination risk by aflatoxins and repealing Decision 2006/504/EC (10) for the control of aflatoxins in groundnuts from India and Ghana and watermelon seeds from Nigeria.

(9)

In order to ensure an efficient organisation of the official controls, it is furthermore appropriate that the ‘first point of introduction’ referred to in Regulation (EC) No 1152/2009 is replaced by ‘designated point of entry’ as defined in Regulation (EC) No 669/2009.

(10)

With a view to minimise negative effects on trade and to enable the competent authorities of India, Ghana and Nigeria to set up an appropriate control system, it is appropriate to provide that the requirement of a health certificate only applies to consignments of products covered by this Regulation which have left the country of origin after a certain date. It is important for the protection of human and animal health to keep this period as short as possible.

(11)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

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the number of consignments imported;

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the number of consignments subjected to sampling for analysis;

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the results of the checks as provided for in Article 8(2) and (3).

1.

In Article 2, the following point (b) is deleted:

and replaced by:

2.

In Article 5, first and second paragraph, Article 7(2) and (3) and in Annex II, under General, Box I.4, Box I.9, Box II.5, Box II.6, Box II.8, Box II.9 and Box III.1 the term ‘first point of introduction’ is replaced by ‘DPE’.