Contrary to European legislation, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) ruled in favor of the private company that seized key state functions of Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint. This is claimed by the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation /ACF/, which once again drew public attention to what they consider an unlawful court decision.
The decision is in favor of Eurolab 2011 Ltd., related to the scandal at Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint. The ACF reminds that the name of the private company became notorious two years ago when it became clear that it had de facto seized from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) the functions of carrying out phytosanitary control at the border crossing. Since April 2022, the BFSA has been trying to regain control of the border crossing point, and Eurolab 2011 has been challenging this in various courts.
According to ACF Director Boyko Stankushev, this is unacceptable:
„After an illegal decision on the case from July last year, a few days ago the SAC again ruled against the law, hindering the BFSA’s attempts to protect the interests of citizens after years of inaction.“
The decision concerns an order of the Executive Director of BFSA, issued in August 2022, according to which inspections of official phytosanitary, veterinary and medical control and control of products of non-animal origin and related loading and unloading activities and laboratory analyses will be carried out only by BABH staff and with agency equipment.
ACF legal expert Lora Georgieva commented on the topic:
„The order aims to stop a vicious practice, established for years at Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint namely a private company, which has no such powers and at the same time is a representative of food importers, to actually have control over the quality and food safety control carried out by BFSA.“
The genesis told by ACF:
In February 2012, in violation of the law, the BFSA leased six buildings on the territory of Kapitan Andreevo to the newly established company Stop Group Ltd. (now called Interпред Eurologistic Ltd). ACF analyzed these contracts in detail in an October 2022 opinion. The buildings are public state property intended for official quality and food safety control. The law expressly prohibits their assignment to third parties and their use for other purposes. However, the tenant company uses them for ‘preparation’ for physical inspections of the cargo and for the location of a laboratory, and BFSA staff are allowed to carry out official controls in these buildings, but with the mediation of the private company’s employees.
From February 2012 to April 2022, the official food control is carried out in the illegally rented buildings, and the analyzes of phytosanitary control samples – only and only in private laboratory „Eurolab“, located in one of these buildings. In addition to laboratory analysis fees, the company also collects significant fees for the unloading and loading of the goods subject to control. The tolerated unclear why practice is in direct conflict with Regulation (EU) 625/2017 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the Law on the Management of the Agri-Food Chain, according to which the BFSA is the competent state authority for the implementation of thorough, effective and consistent official safety control of foods.
„We can only guess what was the quality of the control over food products imported for years from countries outside the European Union,“, Georgieva said. „In this line of thought, the order of the executive director of the BFSA is motivated by the need for urgent measures related to food safety.“
„Eurolab 2011“ challenged the order before the Administrative Court – Sofia-city, which found the appeal unfounded. The case went to the Supreme Administrative Court, where a panel of judges, chaired by Lyubomir Gaydov, with members EmanОil Mitev and Emil Dimitrov, ruled in favour of the private company, which some media have linked to Christoforos Amanatidis – Taki, who was wanted in the past on suspicion of drug distribution.
„While the Administrative Court – Sofia-city has examined the case on its merits, carried out a detailed analysis of the applicable Bulgarian and European legislation and issued a decision which – as it should be – is fully in line with the spirit and letter of the law, the SACs decided in favour of Eurolab only on procedural grounds,“ Georgieva said. „Mandatory European norms have been ignored, as well as texts of Bulgarian legislation that clearly regulate the powers of BFSA.“ According to Regulation (EU) 625/2017 of the European Parliament and of the Council, BFSA is the body responsible for ensuring effective official controls and the actions to carry out such controls, such as sampling, loading and unloading, should only be carried out by agency staff and equipment, unless BABH itself decides to delegate part of its duties to third parties. Operators such as Eurolab 2011 do not have any independent rights, on the contrary, they have obligations to comply with the rules imposed by the official control bodies (in this case BFSA) for the implementation of these controls.
As ACF detailed in an opinion, the SAC ruled on three cases in the case, which were heard by nearly identical panels of judges in a record three days during the court recess. It is questionable how the cases were initiated, assigned and decided on the same dates, even though the appeals in which they were initiated were filed with the court on different dates over a period of more than 20 days.
In addition to the allocation of cases, which most likely did not occur randomly, the analysis of the judgments handed down also shows significant inconsistencies with the legislation in force. The Court upheld an appeal under Article 250 of the Code of Civil Procedure in the absence of the legal prerequisites for upholding it. On August 4, 2022, the Court of Appeals of the Republic of Moldova issued a decision in the matter of the appeal. The ACF appealed to the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council, which, however, found no irregularities in the work of the SAC.
„The Kapitan Andreevo case fuels the critical attitude towards our accession as a full member of the Schengen area and explains why, according to some analysts, Bulgaria meets the definition of a conquered country. Any delay in ending such vicious practices has unintended consequences for citizens’ health and national security, and with its decisions the SAC rather hinders BFSA from protecting the public interest,“, Stankushev said.
