TITLE VIUNION ACTIVITIES

CHAPTER IIITraining of staff of the competent authorities and of other authorities

Article 130Training and exchange of staff

1

The Commission may organise training activities for the staff of the competent authorities and, where appropriate, for staff of other authorities of the Member States involved in investigations of possible infringements of this Regulation and of the rules referred to in Article 1(2).

The Commission shall organise those activities in cooperation with the Member States concerned.

2

The training activities referred to in paragraph 1 shall facilitate the development of a harmonised approach to official controls and other official activities in Member States. They shall include, as appropriate, training on:

a

this Regulation and the rules referred to in Article 1(2);

b

control methods and techniques relevant for the official controls and for the other official activities of the competent authorities;

c

production, processing and marketing methods and techniques.

3

The training activities referred to in paragraph 1 may be open to staff of the competent authorities of third countries and may be organised outside the Union.

4

Competent authorities shall ensure that the knowledge acquired through the training activities referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is disseminated as necessary and appropriately used in the staff training activities referred to in Article 5(4).

Training activities aimed at disseminating such knowledge shall be included in the training programmes referred to in Article 5(4).

5

The Commission may organise, in cooperation with the Member States, programmes for the exchange of staff of the competent authorities performing official controls or other official activities between two or more Member States.

Such exchange may take place through the temporary secondment of staff of the competent authorities from one Member State to the other or through the exchange of such staff between the relevant competent authorities.

6

The Commission may, by means of implementing acts, lay down rules on the organisation of the training activities referred to in paragraph 1, and of the programmes referred to in paragraph 5, of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 145(2).