/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens

Report on best practice in Member States to implement EU legislation in the least burdensome way

Questionnaire

Origin of best practice example
MemberState / Germany
Region, community, if applicable / Germany
Responsible authority / Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernaehrung (BLE)
[Federal Office for Agriculture and Food]
53168 Bonn
Description of best practice example
(including, if possible, the following information)
- title of the initiative / QUAKON –The Official Web Portal for conformity checks related to marketing standards in Germany.
- substantive area / Facilitation of inspection and customs clearance related to the marketing standards for fruit and vegetables as well as other agricultural products and their inspection at import and re-export.
- objective(s) / QUAKON facilitates and simplifies communication between operators (importers, exporters, carriers etc.) and the national authority responsible for conformity checks. Thus the customs clearance process is accelerated and administrative burden for operators and national authorities is clearly reduced.
- related EU law / Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation).
Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector as regards marketing standards.
- related national / regional / local law if applicable / The competence for inspection is assigned to the BLE through national law: Regulation on EC-standards for fruit and vegetables as of 9 October 1971(Federal Law Gazette Part I, No. 103 of20 October 1971, page. 1637)
- detailed description
of best practice and its effects incl. (to the extent possible): / QUAKON – the web portal for conformity checks – facilitates the conduct of conformity checks for fruit and vegetables as well as other agricultural products – for both operators and inspection authority – and thus accelerates custom clearance at import and export.
main elements, /
  1. Web based notification system.
  2. Centralised database.
  3. Tools of business intelligence for risk analysis and statistics.
  4. Electronic interface to customs authorities (to be developed)

effect on beneficiaries (who, how many, how often etc.), / Trade
Who: importers, exporters, carriers
How many: 100 importers, exporters and carriers (the carriers strongly concentrate a large number of importers)
How often: 135,000 lots/year fruit & vegetables notified for inspection in 2010 (= 370/day)
Inspection authority
Who: BLE
How many: 51 inspectors in 2008/2009 and 40 inspectors in 2010
How often: 35.000 lots/year fruit & vegetables notified for inspection in 2008 and 135,000 lots/year in 2010. While the number of notifications did increase 4fold, the number of lots selected for inspection based on a risk analysis was rather stable or slightly increased (11,779 lots in 2008 and 13,097 lots in 2010).
improvements to former practice, / By 1 July 2009 the number of species of fruit and vegetables covered by a marketing standard (the general marketing standard or one of the 10 specific marketing standards) was increased from 36 (before that date) to more than 100. At the same time the systematic inspection at import and export was transferred to selective checks based on risk analysis. These changes required a modern information management system – which was developed and implemented with QUAKON.
  1. Before: Operators (importers/exporters) had to notify their consignments physically (physical presentation in the office of the inspection authority or by fax). This notification is necessary pursuant to article 10 para. 4 of Reg. (EC) No 1580/2007.
    Today: Operators notify electronically and can use previous notifications as blueprints to facilitate any subsequent notifications.
  2. Before: Operators had to address their notification to the competent local office of the inspection authority.
    Today: Operators notify to the web address and are then contacted by the competent local office.
  3. Before: A waiver (decision, not to inspect the lot because of low risk of non conformity) had to be issued physically with stamp and signature.This waiver or a conformity certificate is necessary pursuant to article 12 para. 1 of Reg. (EC) No 1580/2007.
    Today: A waiver is distributed electronically. Thus, the whole procedure, especially customs clearance is accelerated and needs less physical presence of an inspector for a “non-inspection”.
  4. Before: The notifications were saved in local databases of the inspection authority.
    Today: The notifications are saved in a central database of the inspection authority.
  5. Before: The decision for inspection including risk analysis and statistics were carried out locally.
    Today: The decision for inspection including risk analysis and statistics is centralised and thus provides more flexibility for inspectors and their work input.

date of implementation, / 01.07.2009
duration of procedure, / Time for development: 3 months for the first stage of expansion (active since 1.7.2009), 3 months (net) for full development; 1 month (net) for improved communication system between customs and inspection authority.
costs of procedure,
e-government elements, / -Web based information management (receiving notifications from operators, sending results of inspection electronically)
-Risk analysis based on central database and using tools of business intelligence
quantifications of cost reductions where possible / Since 1 July 2009, the staff of the inspection authority was reduced by 11 inspectors from 51 to 40 inspectors.
- any other information you would like to add / The figures given in this table refer to fruit and vegetables. Anyway, QUAKON is used for other agricultural products covered by marketing standards such as processed fruit and vegetables (i.e. dried grapes Reg. 1666/99), bananas (Reg. (EC) No 2257/94), hops (Reg. (EC) No. 1850/2006), eggs (Reg. (EC) No 1234/2007), fishery products (Reg. (EC) No. 2406/94) as well as the rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 as regards informing consumers about fishery and aquaculture products (Reg. (EC) No. 2065/2001) – at import and re-export.
For further information
Contact person / Dr. Ulrike Bickelmann
Bundesanstalt fuer Landwirtschaft und Ernaehrung
53168 Bonn
Tel.: +49-228-6845-3357

Website / and
(Kontrolle und Zulassung – Qualitätskontrolle)