DG Health and Consumers, European Commission (2011)

EU law sets standards designed to ensure safe food and protect animal and plant health. Compliance with the various requirements is checked through inspections carried out at the EU’s borders and across the food chain, from farm gate to abattoir, through to supermarkets and restaurants. Ensuring adequate inspection financing and a fair distribution of the burden of paying for them are longstanding problems. Cost recovery levels for Member States vary widely and authorities across the EU offer different interpretations of the regulation governing the fees set on certain inspections.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers asked GHK to identify the likely impact of a set of proposals to change EU law to address these problems. Through a combination of case study research and stakeholder consultations we examined the likely scale and distribution of impacts of the suggested reforms, and assessed the extent to which they are likely to improve the overall financial sustainability of the system.