CHAPTER IIIU.K.CONTROL PROGRAMMES

Article 5U.K.National control programmes

1.To achieve the Community targets provided for in Article 4, Member States shall establish national control programmes for each zoonosis and zoonotic agent listed in Annex I. National control programmes shall have regard to the geographical distribution of zoonoses within each Member State and to the financial implications for primary producers and feed and food business operators of establishing effective controls.

2.National control programmes shall be continuous and cover a period of at least three consecutive years.

3.National control programmes shall:

(a)provide for the detection of zoonoses and zoonotic agents in accordance with the requirements and minimum sampling rules laid down in Annex II;

(b)define the respective responsibilities of competent authorities and food and feed business operators;

(c)specify the control measures to be taken following the detection of zoonoses and zoonotic agents, in particular to protect public health, including implementation of the specific measures laid down in Annex II;

(d)allow for the progress under their provisions to be evaluated and for those programmes to be reviewed, in particular in the light of results obtained from the detection of zoonoses and zoonotic agents.

4.National control programmes shall cover at least the following stages of the food chain:

(a)feed production;

(b)primary production of animals;

(c)processing and preparation of food of animal origin.

5.National control programmes shall contain, where relevant, the provisions laid down in relation to testing methods and criteria against which the results of these tests shall be assessed, for testing animals and hatching eggs despatched within the national territory, as part of the official controls provided for in Annex II, part A.

[F16. The requirements and minimum sampling rules laid down in Annex II may be amended, adapted or supplemented by the Commission, after taking account in particular of the criteria listed in Article 4(6)(c). Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 14(3).]

7.Within six months of the establishment of the Community targets provided for in Article 4, Member States shall submit their national control programmes to the Commission and set out the measures to be implemented.

[F2For Bulgaria and Romania, where the date of submission of the national control programmes for other Member States has already passed, the date of submission shall be the date of accession.]

Article 6U.K.Approval of the national control programmes

1.After a Member State submits a national control programme in accordance with Article 5, the Commission shall have two months within which to request any further relevant and necessary information from that Member State. The Member State shall provide such further information within two months of receiving such a request. The Commission shall, within two months of receiving such further information or, if it did not request further information, within six months of the submission of the control programme, establish whether it complies with relevant rules, including this Regulation in particular.

2.When the Commission has established the conformity of a national control programme, or at the request of the Member State that submitted it, the programme shall be considered without undue delay with a view to approval in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14(2).

3.Amendments to a programme previously approved pursuant to paragraph 2 may be approved, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14(2), to take account of the evolution in the situation in the Member State concerned, in particular in the light of the results referred to in Article 5(3)(d).

Article 7U.K.Food and feed business operators' control programmes

1.Food and feed business operators, or organisations representing such operators, may establish control programmes, covering, as far as possible, all stages of production, processing and distribution.

2.If they wish their control programmes to form part of a national control programme, food and feed business operators, or their representative organisations, shall submit their control programmes, and any amendments thereto, to the competent authority of the Member State in which they are located for approval. If the operations concerned take place in different Member States, the programmes shall be approved separately for each Member State.

3.The competent authority may approve control programmes submitted pursuant to paragraph 2 only if it is satisfied that the control programmes comply with the relevant requirements set out in Annex II and with the objectives of the relevant national control programme.

4.Member States shall maintain up-to-date lists of approved control programmes of food and feed business operators or their representative organisations. The lists shall be made available to the Commission upon request.

5.Food and feed business operators or their representative organisations shall communicate regularly the results of their control programmes to the competent authorities.