S.L. 437.51 Art. 4On-spot inspections.

(1) The competent authority shall carry out on-the-spot inspections, which may be carried out in conjunction with any other inspections provided for by Community legislation. Those inspections shall each year cover at least 10% of holdings situated in Malta. That minimum rate of control shall be increased immediately where it is established that Community legislation regarding identification has not been complied with.

(2) By way of derogation from sub-rule (1), where a Member State has in place a fully operational database in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 which provides effective crosschecking facilities, a rate of 5% may be envisaged.

(3) The selection of holdings to be inspected by the competent authority shall be made on the basis of risk analysis.

(4) The risk analysis for each holding shall take into account, in particular, the following:

(a) the number of animals on the holding, including details of all the animals present and animals identified on the holding;

(b) public and animal health considerations, and in particular the existence of previous outbreaks of disease;

(c) the amount of annual bovine premium claimed and, or paid to the holding, compared with the amount paid the previous year;

(d) significant changes in comparison with situations in previous years;

(e) results of checks conducted in earlier years, in particular:

(i) the proper keeping of the holding register, as provided for by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2629/97;

(ii) the proper keeping of passports of the animals present in the holding, as provided for by Regulation (EC) No 2629/97;

(f) proper communication of the data to the competent authority;

(g) other criteria to be defined by the competent authority.

(5) Each inspection shall be the subject of a report standardised at national level setting out the results of the controls and any unsatisfactory findings, the reason for the control and the persons present. The keeper or his representative shall be given the opportunity to sign the report and, as appropriate, to give his observations on its content.

(6) Copies of the reports referred to in sub-rule (5) shall, where they reveal infringements of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000, be sent without delay to the competent authorities responsible for the implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2419/2001.