On the sidelines of the European Union’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council (Agrifish) meeting on 26 January, a task force was set up to strengthen food and feed safety controls on imports into the EU. “The aim – reads a statement from the European Commission – is to maintain and strengthen the EU’s ability to ensure that imported goods comply with European standards”.
The working group will also focus on coordinated monitoring actions at EU level on specific categories of imported products and aims to contribute to “further harmonisation of import controls across the EU by developing recommendations for joint actions and identifying cases where additional administrative or regulatory measures will be necessary to strengthen controls”.
The establishment of the task force follows discussions on the implementation of import controls that began last December, when the Commission announced that it would be stepping up its efforts in this area.