(1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 (2) supplements Regulation (EU) 2017/625 as regards the conditions for the entry into the Union of consignments of certain animals and goods intended for human consumption from third countries or regions thereof, in order to ensure that they comply with the applicable requirements established in the rules on food safety referred to in Article 1(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 or with requirements recognised to be at least equivalent. Those conditions include the identification of the animals and goods intended for human consumption which can only enter the Union from third countries or regions listed in accordance with Article 126(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(2)

Commission Regulations (EC) No 798/2008 (3), (EC) No 119/2009 (4), (EU) No 206/2010 (5) and (EU) No 605/2010 (6), which are repealed as from 21 April 2021 by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692 (7), and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/626 (8), which is repealed as from 21 April 2021 by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 (9), lay down the lists of third countries or regions thereof authorised for the entry into the Union of certain animals and goods. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405, which applies from 21 April 2021, replaces the lists concerning food safety requirements in Commission Regulations (EC) No 798/2008, (EC) No 119/2009, (EU) No 206/2010 and (EU) No 605/2010, as well as in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/626.

(3)

Belarus is included in the list of third countries from which entry into the Union is permitted of fishery products other than bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods set out in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/626, and has a residue monitoring plan for aquaculture approved in accordance with Article 1 of Commission Decision 2011/163/EU (10). There is therefore appropriate evidence and guarantees to ensure that Belarus fulfils the requirements of points (a) to (f) of Article 4 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 for the entry into the Union of fishery products, including those from aquaculture, other than bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods. The remark ‘only wild catch’ currently associated with Belarus in the list set out in Annex IX to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 should be removed in order to authorise the entry into the Union of fishery products from aquaculture from that third country.

(4)

Regulations (EC) No 798/2008, (EC) No 119/2009, (EU) No 206/2010 and (EU) No 605/2010 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/626 were amended as regards the entries of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey in the lists of third countries or regions thereof authorised for the entry into the Union of certain animals and goods intended for human consumption by Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/2205 (11), (EU) 2020/2206 (12), (EU) 2020/2204 (13), (EU) 2020/2207 (14) and (EU) 2020/2209 (15), respectively.

(5)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 did not include the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey in those lists. That Implementing Regulation should therefore be amended to include those entries.

(6)

The United Kingdom has provided appropriate evidence and guarantees to ensure that the animals and goods authorised for entry into the Union from the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey comply with the requirements laid down in points (a) to (e) of Article 4 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625.

(7)

Point (f) of Article 4 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 provides that the existence, implementation and communication of a residues control programme approved by the Commission, when applicable, is a further requirement for the inclusion of third countries or regions thereof in the list referred to in Article 126(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. The list of third countries whose residue monitoring plans have been approved is set out in the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU, which has been amended as regards the approval of residue monitoring plans submitted by the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/2218 (16).

(8)

Taking into account the evidence and guarantees provided by the United Kingdom, that third country and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey should be included in Annex I, Annexes IV to XIII, and Annex XVI to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405, without prejudice to the application of Union law to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland in accordance with Article 5(4) of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community in conjunction with Annex 2 to that Protocol. A re-assessment of compliance with the requirements laid down in points (a) to (f) of Article 4 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 is not necessary.

(9)

Annex I, Annexes IV to XIII, and Annex XVI to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(10)

As Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 applies from 21 April 2021, this Regulation should apply from the same date.

(11)

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