Today, the European Commission announced a reinforcement of controls on food, animal and plant products entering the EU. At the conclusion of an Implementation Dialogue on import controls with stakeholders, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare,  Olivér Várhelyi, set out various measures to strengthen controls at EU borders and in third countries. These measures will ensure that EU citizens continue to benefit from the highest levels of food safety, while EU producers have a level playing field vis-à-vis their global competitors.

The measures announced today, responding to our clear commitment in the Vision for Agriculture and Food to significantly increase and strengthen our controls, are:

  • A 50% increase in the number of audits carried out on non-EU countries over the next two years, while maintaining the level of control in EU countries; 
  • A 33% increase in audits of European Border Control Posts, to verify that Member States are carrying out border inspections in line with EU requirements;
  • Closer monitoring of non-compliant commodities and countries, with frequency of checks increased as required;
  • Commission support to Member States carrying out these additional checks;
  • Establishment of a dedicated EU Task Force to make import controls more efficient, which will focus in particular on pesticide residues, food and feed safety and animal welfare and will consider coordinated EU monitoring action on specific imported products;
  • Training for around 500 national authority staff on official controls, via a dedicated EU programme;
  • Updated rules on allowing imports of products with traces of particularly hazardous pesticides that are banned in the EU, in line with recently updated international standards

Background

One of the EUs key priorities is the health of its citizens. This includes ensuring safe food, whether it is produced in the EU or abroad. The EU has some of the strictest food safety, animal health and plant health rules in the world, protecting European citizens, our agriculture and environment. With these, we stop harmful pests and diseases at our borders that could otherwise threaten production, food security and consumer confidence.

Any live animals, food and feed, plants and plant products entering the Union territory must comply with EUs Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, as well as with certain animal welfare requirements. These requirements are not negotiable and apply to all our trade partners. To verify that imports comply with the EU standards, a robust system of official controls of the agri-food chain exists. Member States carry out checks at the borders on animals, goods of animal origin (including food of animal origin, animal by-products and germinal products), plants, plant products, certain food and feed of non-animal origin, and certain food contact materials. The Commission carries out audits on third countries, to ensure that their official supervision of production and control standards are in line with those required by the EU.