Our member states have national authorities in place that control and oversee their food safety systems. They have to ensure that their controls are in compliance with agreements, with legislation, that we have made at the EU level.
With respect to imports of more sensitive products, such as veterinary products, they have to enter the EU via border inspection posts and are there controlled by inspectors at our borders. These border inspection posts are directly overseen by the European Commission.
Member states do have their own control authorities, control bodies, but within the commission, within DG Santé, we have a dedicated inspectorate that performs audits in the member states to check and evaluate whether they comply with our EU rules. These controls result in reports either with or not with recommendations, which recommendations have to be followed up by the national authorities. These reports, their recommendations, and the corrective actions that are put in place by the member states are published.
I have one more remark, and then maybe Hans wants to add something. What I said in my presentation is that the primary responsibility lies with the industry. The industry has to have internal control systems in place and have an analysis of critical control points, which our Canadian colleagues know very well. They have to do the first checks. They have to ensure that the food they produce is safe, and then there are the authorities at the national level and then at the EU level to oversee whether products meet our requirements.