1.Commission experts may, within the scope of this Regulation, perform controls in Member States in order, as appropriate, to:
(a)verify the application of the rules provided for in this Regulation;
(b)verify enforcement practices and the functioning of official control systems and of the competent authorities which operate them;
(c)investigate and collect information:
on important or recurring problems concerning the application or enforcement of the rules provided for in this Regulation;
on emerging problems or new developments in relation to particular practices of operators.
2.The controls provided for in paragraph 1 shall be organised in cooperation with the competent authorities of the Member States.
3.The controls provided for in paragraph 1 may include on the-spot verifications performed in cooperation with the competent authorities performing official controls.
4.Member States' experts may assist the Commission experts. Member States' experts accompanying Commission experts shall be given the same rights of access as those Commission experts.
1.The Commission shall:
(a)prepare a draft report on the findings and on the recommendations addressing the shortcomings identified by its experts during the controls provided for in Article 53(1);
(b)send to the Member State where those controls were performed a copy of the draft report referred to in point (a) for its comments;
(c)take the comments of the Member State referred to in point (b) of this paragraph into account in preparing the final report on the findings resulting from the controls provided for in Article 53(1) performed by its experts in that Member State;
(d)make publicly available the final report referred to in point (c) and the comments of the Member State referred to in point (b).
2.Where appropriate, the Commission may, in its final report referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article, recommend corrective or preventive action to be taken by the Member States to address the specific or systemic shortcomings identified during the Commission controls performed in accordance with Article 53(1).
1.Member States shall:
(a)at the request of the Commission experts, provide the necessary technical assistance and the available documentation and other technical support to enable those experts to perform the controls referred to in Article 53(1) efficiently and effectively;
(b)provide necessary assistance to ensure that Commission experts have access to all premises, including parts thereof, and to other places, to equipment and to information, including computerised information management systems, as well as, where appropriate, to breeding animals and the germinal products thereof, necessary to perform the controls referred to in Article 53(1).
2.Member States shall take appropriate follow-up action in the light of the recommendations set out in the final report referred to in Article 54(1)(c) in order to ensure compliance with the rules provided for in this Regulation.
1.Where the Commission has evidence of a serious disruption in the control system of a Member State and where such disruption may result in a widespread infringement of the rules provided for in this Regulation, it shall adopt implementing acts, laying down one or more of the following:
(a)special conditions for, or a prohibition on, trade in the breeding animals or the germinal products thereof concerned by the disruption in the official control system;
(b)any other appropriate temporary measures.
Those implementing acts shall cease to apply once that disruption has been eliminated.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(2).
2.The measures provided for in paragraph 1 shall be adopted only where the Commission has requested that the Member State concerned correct the situation with an appropriate time limit and the Member State has failed to do so.
3.The Commission shall monitor the situation referred to in paragraph 1 and shall adopt implementing acts, amending or repealing the measures adopted, depending on the way in which the situation develops. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(2).
1.Commission experts may perform controls in a third country in order, as appropriate, to:
(a)verify the compliance or equivalence of the third country's legislation and systems with the requirements laid down in this Regulation;
(b)verify the capacity of the third country's control system to ensure that consignments of breeding animals and the germinal products thereof entering into the Union comply with relevant requirements in Chapter VIII of this Regulation;
(c)collect information and data to elucidate the causes of recurring or emerging problems in relation to breeding animals and their germinal products from the third country entering into the Union.
2.The Commission controls referred to in paragraph 1 shall have particular regard to:
(a)the zootechnical and genealogical legislation of the third country concerning breeding animals and their germinal products;
(b)the organisation of the competent authorities of the third country, their powers and independence, the supervision to which they are subject and the authority they have to enforce the applicable legislation effectively;
(c)the training of the staff in the third country responsible for the performance of the controls on, or the supervision of, breeding bodies;
(d)the resources that are available to the competent authorities of the third country;
(e)the existence and operation of documented control procedures and control systems based on priorities;
(f)the extent and operation of controls performed by the competent authorities of the third country on breeding animals and their germinal products arriving from other third countries;
(g)the assurances which the third country is able to give regarding compliance with, or equivalence to, the requirements laid down in this Regulation.
1.The frequency of the controls in a third country referred to in Article 57(1) shall be determined on the basis of:
(a)the principles and objectives of the rules provided for in this Regulation;
(b)the volume and nature of breeding animals and the germinal products thereof entering the Union from that third country;
(c)the results of controls referred to in Article 57(1) that have already been performed;
(d)the results of official controls on breeding animals and the germinal products thereof entering the Union from the third country and of any other official controls performed by the competent authorities of Member States;
(e)any other information that the Commission deems to be appropriate.
2.In order to facilitate the efficiency and effectiveness of the controls provided for in Article 57(1), the Commission may, prior to performing such controls, request that the third country concerned provides:
(a)the information referred to in Article 34(2) or in Article 35(2)(a);
(b)where appropriate and necessary, the written records on the controls performed by the competent authorities of that third country.
3.The Commission may appoint experts from the Member States to assist its own experts during the controls referred to in Article 57(1).
The Commission shall report on the findings of each control performed in accordance with Articles 57 and 58.
Those reports shall, where appropriate, contain recommendations. The Commission shall make those reports publicly available.
1.Where there is evidence that widespread serious non-compliance with the rules provided for in this Regulation is taking place in a third country, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts concerning one or more of the following:
(a)prohibiting the entry into the Union, as breeding animals, or the germinal products thereof, of animals, or their semen, oocytes or embryos originating from that third country;
(b)prohibiting the entry in breeding books maintained by breed societies or the registration in breeding registers maintained by breeding operations of breeding animals, and the offspring produced from the germinal products thereof, originating from that third country.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(2).
In addition to, or instead of those implementing acts, the Commission may do one or more of the following:
(a)delete that third country or the breeding bodies of that third country from the list provided for in Article 34(1);
(b)take any other appropriate measures.
2.The implementing acts and other measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall identify breeding animals and their germinal products by their codes in the Combined Nomenclature.
3.When adopting the implementing acts and other measures referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall take account of:
(a)the information collected in accordance with Article 58(2);
(b)any other information that the third country concerned by the non-compliance referred to in paragraph 1 has provided;
(c)where necessary, the results of controls referred to in Article 57(1).
4.The Commission shall monitor the non-compliance referred to in paragraph 1 and shall, in accordance with the same procedure as for their adoption, amend or repeal the measures adopted, depending on how the situation develops.