Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

TITLE IV ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION

Article 102 General rules

1. The competent authorities in the Member States concerned shall provide each other with administrative assistance in accordance with Articles 104 to 107, in order to ensure the correct application of the rules referred to in Article 1(2) in cases which have relevance in more than one Member State.

2. Administrative assistance shall include, where appropriate, and, by agreement between the competent authorities concerned, participation by the competent authorities of a Member State in on-the-spot official controls that the competent authorities of another Member State perform.

3. This Title shall be without prejudice to national law:

(a) applicable to the release of documents and information that are the object of, or related to, judicial investigations and court proceedings, including criminal investigations; and

(b) aimed at the protection of natural or legal persons’ commercial interests.

4. Member States shall take measures to facilitate the transmission, from other law enforcement authorities, public prosecutors and judicial authorities, to the competent authorities, of information on possible non-compliance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2) which is relevant for the application of this Title and which may constitute:

(a) a risk to human, animal or plant health, or to animal welfare, or, as regards GMOs and plant protection products, also to the environment; or

(b) a possible violation of the rules referred to in Article 1(2) perpetrated through fraudulent or deceptive practices.

5. All communications between competent authorities in accordance with Articles 104 to 107 shall be in writing, on paper or in electronic form.

6. In order to streamline and simplify communication exchanges, the Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, establish a standard format for:

(a) the requests for assistance provided for in Article 104(1); and

(b) the communication of common and recurrent notifications and responses.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 145(2).

Article 103 Liaison bodies

1. Each Member State shall designate one or more liaison bodies acting as contact points responsible for facilitating the exchange of communications between competent authorities in accordance with Articles 104 to 107.

2. The designation of liaison bodies shall not preclude direct contacts, exchange of information or cooperation between the staff of competent authorities in different Member States.

3. Member States shall communicate to the Commission and other Member States the contact details of their liaison bodies designated in accordance with paragraph 1, and any subsequent modification of those details.

4. The Commission shall publish and update on its website the list of liaison bodies communicated to it by the Member States in accordance with paragraph 3.

5. All requests for assistance pursuant to Article 104(1), and notifications and communications pursuant to Articles 105, 106 and 107 shall be transmitted by a liaison body to its correspondent in the Member State to which the request or the notification is addressed.

6. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, establish the specifications of the technical tools and the procedures for communication between liaison bodies designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 145(2).

Article 104 Assistance on request

1. Where the competent authorities in a Member State consider that, for the performance of official controls or for the effective follow-up to such controls in their territory, they require data or information from the competent authorities of another Member State, they shall issue a reasoned request for administrative assistance to the competent authorities of that Member State. The requested competent authorities shall:

(a) acknowledge receipt of the request without delay;

(b) where the requesting competent authority so specifies, indicate within ten working days from the date of receipt of the request, the estimated time necessary to provide an informed response to the request; and

(c) perform official controls or investigations necessary to provide the requesting competent authorities without delay with all necessary information and documents to enable them to take informed decisions and verify compliance with Union rules within their jurisdiction.

2. Documents may be transmitted in their original form or copies may be provided.

3. By agreement between the requesting competent authorities and the requested competent authorities, staff designated by the former may be present during the official controls and investigations referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 performed by the requested competent authorities.

In such cases the staff of the requesting competent authorities shall:

(a) at all times be able to produce written authority stating their identity and their official capacity;

(b) be granted access by the operator to the same premises and documents as the staff of the requested competent authorities, through their intermediary, and for the sole purpose of the administrative enquiry being carried out; and

(c) not, on their own initiative, exercise the powers of enquiry conferred on officials of the requested competent authorities.

Article 105 Assistance without request in the event of non-compliance

1. When the competent authorities in a Member State become aware of a case of non-compliance, and if such non-compliance may have implications for another Member State, they shall notify such information to the competent authorities of that other Member State without being requested to do so and without undue delay.

2. The competent authorities notified in accordance with paragraph 1 shall:

(a) acknowledge receipt of the notification without undue delay;

(b) where the notifying competent authority so specifies, indicate within ten working days from the date of receipt of the notification:

(i)

what investigations they intend to carry out; or

(ii)

the reasons why they consider that no investigations are necessary; and

(c) where investigations referred to in point (b) are considered necessary, investigate the matter and inform the notifying competent authorities without delay of the results and, where appropriate, of any measures taken.

Article 106 Assistance in the event of non-compliance creating a risk or a repeated or potentially serious infringement

1. Where, during official controls performed on animals or goods originating in another Member State, the competent authorities establish that such animals or goods do not comply with the rules referred to in Article 1(2) in such a way as to create a risk to human, animal or plant health, animal welfare or, as regards GMOs and plant protection products, also to the environment, or to constitute a potentially serious infringement of those rules, they shall, without delay, notify the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch and of any other concerned Member State in order to enable those competent authorities to undertake appropriate investigations.

2. The notified competent authorities shall without delay:

(a) acknowledge receipt of the notification;

(b) where the notifying competent authority so specifies, indicate what investigations they intend to carry out; and

(c) investigate the matter, take all necessary measures and inform the notifying competent authorities of the nature of the investigations and official controls performed, of the decisions taken and of the reasons for such decisions.

3. If the notifying competent authorities have reason to believe that the investigations performed or the measures taken by the notified competent authorities do not adequately address the non-compliance established, they shall request the notified competent authorities to complement the official controls performed or the measures taken. In such cases the competent authorities from the two Member States shall:

(a) seek an agreed approach with the aim of appropriately addressing the non-compliance, including through joint official controls and investigations performed in accordance with Article 104(3); and

(b) inform the Commission without delay where they are not able to agree on appropriate measures.

4. When official controls performed on animals or goods originating in another Member State show repeated cases of non-compliance as referred to in paragraph 1, the competent authorities of the Member State of destination shall inform the Commission and the competent authorities of the other Member States without delay.

Article 107 Assistance on the basis of information provided by third countries

1. When competent authorities receive information from a third country indicating non-compliance with rules referred to in Article 1(2) or a risk to human, animal or plant health, animal welfare or, as regards GMOs and plant protection products, also to the environment, they shall, without delay:

(a) notify such information to the competent authorities in other concerned Member States; and

(b) communicate such information to the Commission where it is or may be relevant at Union level.

2. Information obtained through official controls and investigations performed in accordance with this Regulation may be communicated to the third country referred to in paragraph 1, provided that:

(a) the competent authorities which have provided the information consent to such communication;

(b) the third country has undertaken to provide the assistance necessary to gather evidence of practices that are or appear to be non-compliant with Union rules or that pose a risk to humans, animals or plants or the environment; and

(c) relevant Union and national rules applicable to the communication of personal data to third countries are complied with.

Article 108 Coordinated assistance and follow-up by the Commission

1. Where the competent authorities in the Member States concerned are unable to agree on appropriate action to address the non-compliance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2), the Commission shall coordinate without delay the measures and actions undertaken by competent authorities in accordance with this Title where information available to the Commission either:

(a) reports activities that are, or appear to be, non-compliant with the rules referred to in Article 1(2), and such activities have, or might have, ramifications in more than one Member State; or

(b) indicates that the same, or similar, activities that are, or appear to be, non-compliant with the rules referred to in Article 1(2) might be taking place in more than one Member State.

2. In the cases referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission may:

(a) in collaboration with the Member State concerned, send an inspection team to perform an on-the-spot official control;

(b) request, by means of implementing acts, that the competent authorities in the Member State of dispatch and, where appropriate, in other Member States concerned, appropriately intensify official controls and report to it on the measures taken by them;

(c) take any other appropriate measure in accordance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2).

3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 144 to supplement this Regulation by establishing rules for the rapid exchange of information in the cases referred to in paragraph 1.