1.This Regulation lays down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin.
2.It shall apply only in respect of activities and persons to which Regulation (EC) No .../2004(1) applies.
3.The performance of official controls pursuant to this Regulation shall be without prejudice to food business operators' primary legal responsibility for ensuring food safety, as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority, and laying down procedures in matters of food safety(2), and any civil or criminal liability arising from the breach of their obligations.
1.For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
(a)"official control" means any form of control that the competent authority performs for the verification of compliance with food law, including animal health and animal welfare rules;
(b)"verification" means checking, by examination and the provision of objective evidence, whether specified requirements have been fulfilled;
(c)"competent authority" means the central authority of a Member State competent to carry out veterinary checks or any authority to which it has delegated that competence;
(d)"audit" means a systematic and independent examination to determine whether activities and related results comply with planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve objectives;
(e)"inspection" means the examination of establishments, of animals and food, and the processing thereof, of food businesses, and their management and production systems, including documents, finished product testing and feeding practices, and of the origin and destination of production inputs and outputs, in order to verify compliance with the legal requirements in all cases;
(f)"official veterinarian" means a veterinarian qualified, in accordance with this Regulation, to act in such a capacity and appointed by the competent authority;
(g)"approved veterinarian" means a veterinarian designated by the competent authority to carry out specific official controls on holdings on its behalf;
(h)"official auxiliary" means a person qualified, in accordance with this Regulation, to act in such a capacity, appointed by the competent authority and working under the authority and responsibility of an official veterinarian; and
(i)"health mark" means a mark indicating that, when it was applied, official controls had been carried out in accordance with this Regulation.
2.The definitions laid down in the following Regulations shall also apply as appropriate:
(a)Regulation (EC) No 178/2002;
(b)the definitions of “animal by-products”, “TSEs” (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) and “specified risk material” laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 October 2002 laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption(3);
(c)Regulation (EC) No .../2004(4), except for the definition of “competent authority”; and
(d)Regulation (EC) No .../2004(5).
Note for the OJ: insert number of Regulation laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin (see recital 1, 2nd Regulation).
OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1642/2003 (OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p.4).
OJ L 273, 10.10.2002, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 813/2003 (OJ L 117, 13.5.2003, p. 22).
Note for the Official Journal: insert number of Regulation on the hygiene of foodstuffs (see recital 1, 1st Regulation).
Note for the Official Journal: insert number of Regulation laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin (see recital 1, 2nd Regulation).