RASFF The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed Annual Report 2020
2020 was another year of change for the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). Regulation (EU) 2019/1715 had entered into force mid December 2019, implementing the Information Management System for Official Control (IMSOC) 1. For RASFF it meant merging the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation (AAC) network with the RASFF network into a whole new entity: the Alert and Cooperation Network
(ACN).
This integration with AAC allows combining investigations on non-compliances in RASFF notifications or easily escalating non-compliance notifications to RASFF notifications. The fundamental difference between non-compliance and RASFF notifications takes its origin in their different legal basis: Regulation 178/2002 (“General Food Law”) for RASFF versus Regulation 2017/625 (“Official Controls Regulation”) for AAC.
A non-compliance notification is made by a network member who seeks assistance from another member in its investigation and shares the notification for that purpose with that member. The notifying member can ask specific questions to that member. While all the above is possible for RASFF notifications as well, a RASFF notification requires “escalation”. Further to its validation by the European Commission, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1715, the notification becomes available to all network members.
Source of information: European Union – RASFF The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed Annual Report 2020