Strengthen the official sanitary controls along the entire food chain and improve traceability and labelling of food products

ROADMAP PROGRESS

The 2025 GARI focuses on the capacity to operate official controls. In Albania, its Food Authority needs to strengthen inspection statistics, data management and transparency in line with the Official Controls Regulation; a multiannual domestic control plan and validated screening methods are not in place, and a system for the collection, storage and processing of animal by-products remains absent. Bosnia and Herzegovina lacks a central database for animals and official controls and accredited domestic reference laboratories for notifiable diseases, and surveillance of notifiable diseases is not carried out regularly. In Kosovo*, an epidemiological unit has yet to be established, and a five-year disease monitoring and control plan is still missing, while the Food and Veterinary Agency completed the obligatory proficiency testing schemes with EU reference laboratories as part of laboratory accreditation. In Montenegro, the veterinary information system became operational, although farm registration and animal identification are not yet in place. In North Macedonia, a new law on official controls has not been adopted, rabies vaccination campaigns were not carried out, and the collection, verification and analysis of data remain insufficient. Serbia adopted the Law on Official Controls in December 2025, operates a risk-based information system for phytosanitary inspection, and aligned maximum levels for certain contaminants and maximum residue levels for pesticides with the current EU rules in 2025.

Note: Action 45 of the first Green Agenda Action Plan (2021–2030) is retained in the Revised Action Plan (2025–2030) as Action 30, maintaining the focus on strengthening official controls along the food chain and improving the traceability and labelling of food products.