COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) …/...
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amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325 as regards the recognition of certain control authorities and control bodies for the purpose of importing organic products into the Union
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 1 , and in particular Article 57(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325 2 sets out the list of control authorities and control bodies recognised for the purpose of equivalence and competent to carry out controls and issue certificates in third countries. In the light of new information and requests received by the Commission since the adoption of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325, certain changes should be made to that list.
(2)The Commission has received and examined a request from ‘Certificadora Mexicana de productos y procesos ecológicos S.C.’ to withdraw its recognition for product category A for the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and El Salvador due to the lack of operators.
(3)The Commission has received and examined a request from ‘EKO-CONTROL SK s.r.o.’ to withdraw its recognition for all third countries for which it is recognised.
(4)‘LETIS S.A.’ failed to provide in its annual report and following subsequent requests by the Commission, updated information on the assessment report issued by its accreditation body in accordance with Article 33(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 3 concerning unprocessed aquaculture products and algae for which it is recognised.
(5)Furthermore, ‘LETIS S.A.’ did not communicate to the Commission all information related to its technical dossier.
(6)‘LETIS S.A.’ has also failed to take adequate corrective measures in response to instances of non-compliance with, and infringements of, the organic production rules observed by the Commission. The non-compliance and infringements observed include: (i) the existence of several OFIS notifications involving ‘LETIS S.A.’; and (ii) inadequate follow-up investigations by ‘LETIS S.A.’ of those OFIS notifications.
(7)Finally, following the remote audit of ‘LETIS S.A.’ carried out by the Commission from 1 to 12 February 2021, ‘LETIS S.A.’ failed to demonstrate that it implemented effective and reinforced control measures and took the necessary corrective actions to remedy the shortcomings identified by the Commission during the audit. This creates a risk for the consumer to be misled about the true nature of the products certified by ‘LETIS S.A.’.
(8)For each of the four reasons set out in recitals (4) - (7) above, and in accordance with Article 4(1) point (d)(ii), (iii), (v) and (vii), of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1342 4 , ‘LETIS S.A.’ should be withdrawn from the list of control authorities and control bodies set out in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325.
(9)Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2325 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(10)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Organic Production Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1