The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus (1) for transferring items from and to a transport line (100), more particularly a transport line moving at high speed. The invention comprises the steps of picking a first item (10a) from a transport line (100) and placing a second item (10b) onto said transport line, preferably at an immediately subsequent time, into the gap left by said first item that has just been picked. The invention is applied in particular, but not exclusively, in the field of item packaging, for instance in bottling systems. More particularly, the invention can be used for transferring items to be checked from a transport line to an inspection station, and for transferring back items that have been checked and deemed satisfactory from said inspection station to said transport line.