Conference on the New Official Controls Regulation: A new horizon for Public Health
Post: Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition
Date: 06 octubre 2017
Section: Agencia española de Consumo, Seguridad alimentaria y Nutrición
The Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition, in collaboration with the Foro Interalimentario (Food Industry Forum), has organised a conference on the new Official Controls Regulation to be held on 30 October at the Ernest Lluch Conference Hall at the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.
On 7 April 2017, Regulation (EC) 2017/625 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products was published.
The scope of application of the new Regulation has been extended and will now include plant protection and animal by-products, introducing a more harmonised and coherent approach to official controls and the relevant measures of application along the agri-food chain. It contains a series of Commission authorisations for delegated and implementing acts which will provide the necessary legal resources for adjusting the controls to the requirements of a constantly changing agri-food chain environment. Another new area is the management of fraudulent practices in the agri-food chain. To strengthen this, it includes the requirement that the Competent Authorities take into account the likelihood of fraudulent or deceptive practices on deciding the appropriate frequency of the controls.
The new Regulation also strengthens the rules relating to the administrative assistance and cooperation of Member States, to enable competent authorities to take effective and proportionate action to pursue cross-border violations.
Both businesses and the competent authorities will benefit from a simplified framework which incorporates the official control regulations in one single Regulation, maintaining the approach based on the risk of the controls, thereby obtaining a higher degree of consumer protection.
The purpose of this conference is to make all the stakeholders, including the competent authorities, consumers and representatives of the food sector, aware of the main new areas incorporated into the Regulation and of the principal challenges and opportunities arising after it comes into effect, expected for the most part on 14 December 2019.
Admission to the conference is free of charge, although it is limited to the capacity of the “Ernest Lluch” Conference Hall.