Commission Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 as regards the increased level of official controls on imports of certain feed and food of non-animal origin and amending Decision 2006/504/EC has been adopted in July 2009 to allow known or emerging risks in feed and food of non-animal origin to be countered more effectively.

The Regulation requires Member States to step up controls on certain imports of feed and food of non-animal origin, which are listed in Annex I to the Regulation.

Member States are required to Designated Points of Entry (DPEs), which comply with the minimum requirements laid down in the Regulation (logistics, staff, access to appropriate laboratory capacity etc) through which consignments of those products must enter the territory of the EU.

The enhanced control mechanism means that systematic (100%) checks on documents accompanying the consignments, as well as physical checks, including laboratory analysis, at a frequency related to the risk identified.

The Regulation also lays down for the first time the list of products that are subject to stepped-up import controls. The imported products listed are products, which merit an increased level of attention and control at borders, on the basis of information from various sources (RASFF notifications, reports from the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), from Member States and from third countries).

The list in question will be reviewed regularly, in order to ensure that it corresponds with the most recent information available. In that context, a key information source will be the reporting requirement laid down in the Regulation, according to which Member States are asked to provide the Commission with detailed information on controls carried out and on unfavourable results from laboratory tests.

Implementation of the new control requirements will start on 25 January 2010.

Following the publication of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 and in the interest of clarity, further minor and technical clarifications were needed with reference to certain articles, CN codes and the notes for guidance for the common entry document. However, these changes did not alter substantially the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 669/2009. Therefore Commission Regulation (EU) No 212/2010 amending Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the increased level of official controls on imports of certain feed and food of non-animal origin was adopted. The amendment is applicable as of 25 January 2010.