Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2430 of 17 August 2023 laying down rules concerning checks on conformity to marketing standards for the fruit and vegetables sector, certain processed fruit and vegetable products and the bananas sector

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (1), and in particular Article 90a(6), first subparagraph, point (c), and Article 91, first paragraph, points (b), (f) and (g), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 establishes a common organisation of agricultural markets, which includes, among others, the fruit and vegetables sector, processed fruit and vegetable products sector and bananas sector. It also empowers the Commission to adopt implementing acts in respect to checks of conformity to marketing standards and related notifications.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 (2) provides for marketing standards and checks on conformity to marketing standards for all fresh fruit and vegetables and requirements for notifications. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1333/2011 (3) lays down marketing standards, rules on the verification of compliance with marketing standards and requirements for notifications in the bananas sector.

(3) In the interest of clarity, it is appropriate to incorporate all the rules concerning checks on conformity to marketing standards and requirements for notifications of non-conformity for the products and sectors covered by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 (4) in a single new Regulation, taking into account the experience acquired in the application of the existing specific Regulations. In addition, Implementing Regulations (EU) No 543/2011 and (EU) No 1333/2011 are repealed by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429.

(4) For the purposes of the selective checks based on a risk analysis as provided for in Article 90a(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, it is necessary to lay down detailed rules on such checks. In particular, the role of the risk analysis when selecting products for checks should be detailed.

(5) Each Member State should designate the inspection bodies responsible for carrying out conformity checks at each stage of marketing. A single competent authority should be responsible for contacts with and coordination between all designated inspection bodies.

(6) Since knowledge of traders and their main characteristics is an indispensable tool in Member States’ analysis, it is essential to set up a database on traders of fruit and vegetables and bananas in each Member State. In order to ensure that all actors in the marketing chain are covered and for the sake of legal certainty, a detailed definition of ‘trader’ should be laid down.

(7) Conformity checks should be carried out by sampling and should concentrate on traders most likely to have goods which do not comply with the marketing standards. Taking into account the characteristics of their national markets, Member States should lay down rules prioritising checks on particular categories of traders. For the sake of transparency, those rules should be notified to the Commission.

(8) Where conformity checks identify possible fraudulent or deceptive practices in respect of the marketing standards, competent authorities should take appropriate action in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) and exchange fraud notifications in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1715 (6).

(9) Member States should ensure that exports of fruits and vegetables to third countries conform to the marketing standards. Member States should certify conformity with the Geneva Understanding on standardisation of fresh fruit and vegetables and dry and dried fruit, concluded within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and with the Scheme for the application of international standards for fruit and vegetables of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

(10) Imports of fruit and vegetables from third countries should conform to the marketing standards or to standards equivalent to them. Conformity checks should therefore be carried out before those goods enter the customs territory of the Union, except in the case of small lots which the inspection bodies consider to be low risk. It should be provided that in certain third countries which provide satisfactory guarantees of conformity, pre-export checks may be carried out by the inspection bodies of those third countries. Where that option is applied, Member States should regularly verify the effectiveness and quality of the pre-export checks carried out by third country inspection bodies.

(11) Fruit and vegetables checked for conformity to the marketing standards should be subject to the same type of check at all stages of marketing. To this end, the inspection methods of the OECD also recommended by the UNECE should be applied. Specific arrangements should, however, be laid down for checks at the retail sale stage.

(12) In order to ensure the coherence between the marketing standards and their checks, this Regulation should enter into force on, and apply from, the same day as Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429.

(13) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation lays down rules on:

(a) checks on conformity to marketing standards for the sectors and products referred to in Article 1 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 at all marketing stages; and

(b) the requirements for notifications of non-conformity following conformity checks.

CHAPTER II

CHECKS ON CONFORMITY TO MARKETING STANDARDS

SECTION 1

General provisions

Article 2

Coordinating authorities and inspection bodies

(a) a single competent authority responsible for coordination and contacts in the areas covered by this Regulation, hereinafter called ‘the coordinating authority’; and

(b) an inspection body or bodies responsible for the application of this Regulation, hereinafter called ‘the inspection bodies’.

The Member States shall notify the Commission of:

(a) the name and postal and email addresses of the coordinating authority they have designated pursuant to paragraph 1, point (a);

(b) the name and postal and email addresses of the inspection bodies they have designated pursuant to paragraph 1, point (b);

(c) the exact description of the respective spheres of activity of the inspection bodies they have designated.

Article 3

Trader database

For this purpose, Member States may use any other database or databases already established for other purposes.

(b) actually carries out any of the activities referred to in point (a) as regards the sectors and products subject to marketing standards.

The activities referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), shall cover:

(a) distance selling whether by internet or otherwise;

(b) such activities carried out by the natural or legal person for itself or on behalf of a third party;

(c) activities carried out in the Union and/or by export to third countries and/or import from third countries.

(a) traders whose activities cover products listed in Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 or products that are exempt from the obligation to comply with the marketing standards pursuant to Article 5 of the same regulation;

(b) natural or legal persons whose activities are limited to the transport of goods;

(c) traders whose activities are limited to the sale at the retail stage.

(a) the registration number, name and address and the indication of the relevant sectors or products in which it operates among the ones referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) information needed for its classification in one of the risk categories referred to in Article 5(3), in particular, position in the marketing chain and information concerning the importance of the firm;

(c) information concerning findings made during previous checks of each trader;

(d) any other information considered necessary for checks such as information concerning the existence of a quality assurance system or self-check system related to the conformity to the marketing standards;

(e) the indication whether or not the trader has been approved in accordance with Article 4.

Member States shall update the trader database where necessary, taking into account in particular the information collected during conformity checks.

Article 4

Approved traders

(a) sign the certificate of conformity as referred to in Article 7;

(b) use, in the labelling of each package at the stage of dispatch, the specimen set out in Annex I for fresh fruit and vegetables and bananas produced in the Union; or

(c) use the certificate of exemption set out in Annex II for bananas produced in third countries.

Member States may restrict the authorisations referred to in the first subparagraph to one or two of the sectors and products referred to in Article 1 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429.

The certificate of exemption referred to in the first subparagraph, point (c), shall apply to the whole of the Union market for bananas unloaded in the Member State which granted the exemption.

(a) have inspection staff who have received training or have relevant experience;

(b) have suitable equipment for preparing, packing and checking produce;

(c) commit themselves to carry out a conformity check on the goods they dispatch and have a register recording all checks carried out;

(d) allow checks by coordinating authorities.

SECTION 2

Conformity checks carried out by the Member States

Article 5

Conformity checks

The criteria to assess the risk may include:

(a) the existence of a certificate of conformity referred to in Article 7 of this Regulation issued by a competent authority;

(b) the existence of a certificate of conformity issued by a competent authority of a third country where the conformity checks have been approved pursuant to Article 8 of this Regulation;

(c) the nature of the product, the period of production, the price of the product, the weather, the packing and handling operations, the storage conditions, the country of origin, the means of transport or the volume of the lot;

(d) the size of the traders, their position in the marketing chain, the volume or value marketed by them, their product range, the delivery area or the type of business carried out such as storage, sorting, packing or sale;

(e) findings made during previous checks including the number and type of defects found, the usual quality of products marketed, the level of technical equipment used;

(f) the reliability of traders’ quality assurance systems or self-checking systems related to the conformity to marketing standards;

(g) the place where the check is carried out, in particular if it is the point of first entry into the Union, or the place where the products are being packed or loaded;

(h) any other information that might indicate a risk of non-compliance.

Member States shall lay down in advance:

(a) the criteria for assessing the risk of non-conformity of lots;

(b) the minimum proportions of traders or lots and/or quantities which will be subject to a conformity check, on the basis of a risk analysis for each risk category.

For products subject to the general marketing standard, based on a risk analysis, Member States may choose not to carry out selective checks.

Article 6

Acceptance of declarations by customs

(a) the goods are accompanied by a certificate of conformity as referred to in Article 7 or, in the case of bananas, by the certificate of exemption set out in Annex II; or

(b) the competent inspection body has informed the customs authority that it has issued a certificate of conformity for the lots concerned; or

(c) the competent inspection body has informed the customs authority that it has not issued a certificate of conformity for the lots concerned because they did not need to be checked in the light of the risk analysis referred to in Article 5(1).

The acceptance of declarations referred to in the first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to any conformity checks the Member State may carry out pursuant to Article 5.

Article 7

Certificate of conformity and certificate of exemption