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European Commission published Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1843 on transitional measures for the application of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the accreditation of official laboratories carrying out official testing for Trichinella.
Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides for significant changes to the rules and procedures for official controls. It applies from 1 January 2006. However, the application of a number of those rules and procedures with immediate effect from that date would have presented practical difficulties in certain cases. Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 requires laboratories carrying out an analysis of samples taken during official controls to be accredited in accordance with certain European standards referred to therein. However, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 702/2013 lays down certain transitional measures, including a derogation from that requirement for laboratories in order to permit a smooth transition to the full implementation of the new rules and procedures.
Difficulties continue to exist in relation to the accreditation of in-house slaughterhouse laboratories. On 6 May 2013, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on official control and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health, plant reproductive material, plant protection products. That proposal provides for the repeal of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 and provides for a possible derogation on accreditation of official laboratories whose sole activity is the detection of Trichinella in meat. Accordingly, this Regulation should provide for further transitional measures pending the adoption of that new Regulation by the European Parliament and by the Council. Provision should therefore be made for a further transitional period during which the relevant transitional measures currently laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 702/2013 should continue to apply. This Regulation lays down transitional measures for the application of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 for a transitional period from 1 January 2017 until 31 December 2020.
By way of derogation from Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004, the competent authority may designate a laboratory carrying out official testing for Trichinella and located in a slaughterhouse or a game handling establishment provided that, although not accredited in accordance with the European standard, the laboratory provides the competent authority with satisfactory guarantees that quality control schemes for the analyses of samples it conducts for the purpose of official controls are in place.
Wednesay October 19, 2016/ EC/ European Union.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
