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Food Safety

Financing of Official Controls and Other Official Activities

Introduction

Mandatory fees for certain official controls. List of cost elements to take into account in the calculation of fees. Greater transparency.

The Regulation retains the general requirement according to which Member States must ensure that adequate financial resources are available to provide the staff and other resources necessary for the Competent Authority to perform official controls and other official activities.

Mandatory fees or charges are levied on operators for certain official controls.

  • official controls carried out in slaughterhouses, cutting plants, game-processing plants, on milk production and on the production and placing on the market of fishery and aquaculture products;
  • official controls at border control posts (or at control points other than border control posts where permitted) on animals and goods referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 47(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (animals, products of animal origin, germinal products, animal by-products, composite products, hay and straw, plants, plants products and other objects);
  • official controls at border control posts (or at control points other than border control posts where permitted) on animals and goods subject to measures or conditions for their entry into the Union referred to in points (d), (e) and (f) of Article 47(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625;
  • official controls at the request of the operator to verify the conditions for the approval of feed premises (feed mills);
  • official controls not originally planned, necessary to follow-up non-compliance.

Calculation methods

A) To calculate the amount of fees for the controls at point a) and b) above, Competent Authorities have the option to choose one of the following methods:

  1. fees established at a flat-rate on the basis of the costs borne by the Competent Authorities over a given period of time, and applied to all operators irrespective of whether any official control activity is carried out at any particular operator's premises during the reference period. Member States are required to take into account the impact that the size and type of the business concerned and the relevant risk associated to these businesses;
  2. fees calculated on the basis of the costs of each individual control and applied specifically to the operators subject to the control;
  3. fees based on the amounts provided by the Regulation (EU) 2017/625 (detailed in the annex IV). Those amounts no longer constitute minimum fees as provided under the current regime of Regulation (EC) 882/2004.

B) For the official controls on consignments referred to in Article 47(1)(d)(e) and (f), the Competent Authorities recover the actual cost of controls.

Cost elements

The Regulation clarifies which cost elements Competent Authorities need to take into account when calculating the fees. It also requires Member States to consult relevant stakeholders on the general methods used to calculate the fees or charges.
When determining the fees, Competent Authorities shall take into account the salary, social security, pension and insurance costs of support and administrative staff (as well as of staff physically performing official controls); the same applies to the costs of services charged to Competent Authorities by delegated bodies for the official controls delegated to them.

Transparency

New transparency provisions require Member States to make public:

  • the method and data used to establish fees;
  • the fee amount charged to each category of operators and for each category of official controls or other official activities;
  • breakdown of costs;
  • identity of authorities or bodies responsible for collecting fees.

The increased transparency is instrumental to enhance the accountability of the Competent Authorities to consumers and businesses, and to promote greater consistency in the application of fees across the EU.

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