COMMISSION DECISION of 29 May 1998 concerning the animal health conditions and veterinary certification for imports of live animals of bovine and porcine species from certain European countries (notified under document number C(1998) 1450) (Text with EEA relevance) (98/372/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Council Directive 72/462/EEC, of 12 December 1972, on health and veterinary inspection problems on importation of bovine, ovine and caprine animals and swine, fresh meat or meat products from third countries (1), as last amended by Directive 97/79/EC (2), and in particular Articles 6, 8 and 11,
Whereas the animal health conditions and veterinary certification for import of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species from Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, Slovak Republic and Czech Republic, were established by Commission Decisions 92/322/EEC (3), 92/323/EEC (4), 92/325/EEC (5), 92/402/EEC (6), 93/181/EEC (7), 93/182/EEC (8), 93/183/EEC (9), 93/184/EEC (10), 94/321/EC (11), 96/185/EC (12), 96/186/EC (13) respectively;
Whereas, with a view to the internal market, numerous health measures have been established in the framework of trade inside the Community; whereas the realisation of this objective necessitates, in parallel, an adaptation of the health conditions required for importation of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species from certain European countries;
Whereas this adaptation must take into account the different epidemiological situations in the European countries concerned, and indeed in the different parts of their territories; whereas, given the existence of similar health situations between the various parts of those countries, it is necessary to take account of this fact in establishing a new system of health guarantees;
Whereas, as a result, it is appropriate to establish different health certificates in accordance with the conditions required for the importation of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species from those different categories of countries or parts of countries;
Whereas, in order to clarify and simplify the Community legislation it is necessary to group together the health conditions required for imports of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species from certain European countries and to repeal the decisions in force for those countries;
Whereas the animal health situation of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Russia does not allow the conditions for the imports of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species to be established;
Whereas each responsible veterinary authority of the concerned countries must confirm that their country or parts of their country have during the last 24 months been free from foot-and-mouth disease and during the last 12 months been free from rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia encephalomyelitis (Teschen disease), swine vesicular disease and vesicular exanthema; whereas no vaccinations have been carried out against any of those diseases during the past 12 months;
Whereas, in addition, the responsible veterinary authorities of the concerned countries must undertake to notify the European Commission and the Member States, by telex or fax, within 24 hours of the confirmation of the occurrence of any of the abovementioned diseases or of the adoption of vaccination against any of them or, within an appropriate period, of any proposed changes in their import rules concerning bovine animals or swine or the semen or embryos thereof; whereas certain authorities have also undertaken to notify the Commission periodically with updated information on monitoring and disease control plans for the abovementioned diseases in particular classical swine fever;
Whereas the imports of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species are not allowed in so far as a programme of control of residues in the exporting non-member country has not been approved by the European Commission;
Whereas the guarantees provided by the exporting country as regards bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis must be equivalent to that of herds in the European Community having the status of 'Officially Free`;
Whereas animal health conditions and veterinary certification must be adapted according to the animal health situation of the third country concerned;
Whereas certain conditions for certificates drawn up by the official veterinarian of the non-member country are laid down in Directive 72/462/EEC;
Whereas Directive 96/93/EC (14) lays down standards of certification which are necessary for valid certification and to prevent fraud; whereas it is appropriate to ensure that the rules and principles applied by non-member country certifying officers provide guarantees which are at least equivalent to those laid down in this Directive;
Whereas the responsible veterinary authorities of the concerned countries have undertaken to supervise officially the issue of certificates arising from this Decision and to ensure that all relevant certificates, declarations and statements on which export certification may have been based remain on official file for at least 12 months following the dispatch of the animals to which they refer;
Whereas the responsible veterinary authorities of the concerned countries have undertaken not to permit the issue of the certificates described in the Annexes to this Decision in respect of animals which have been imported unless such animals were imported in accordance with veterinary conditions at least as strict as the relevant requirements of Directive 72/462/EEC, including any subsidiary decisions;
Whereas the responsible veterinary authorities of the concerned countries have undertaken to fulfil the requirements of Commission Decision 91/189/EEC (15) in order to authorise assembly centres for the animals covered by the present Decision;
Whereas considering that a new certification regime is hereby established, a period of time should be provided for its implementation;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Veterinary Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Decision to definitions contained in Directive 72/462/EEC shall be applied as necessary.
Article 2
1. Member States shall authorise the importation of the categories of live animals set out in Annex II and coming from the territories laid down in Annex I, only if they comply with the guarantees laid down in the health certificate, drawn up in conformity with Annex III.
2. Member States shall make the introduction onto their territory of bovine or porcine animals from the country of origin only if they comply with the supplementary guarantees required in Annex II and described in Annex IV. These supplementary guarantees must be provided by the exporting country in section VI of each model of the certificate laid down in Annex III.
3. Member States shall authorise the importation from the concerned exporting countries of the domestic animals of the bovine or porcine species indicated in paragraph 1 which have been imported into the concerned exporting country only if such animals were imported from the Community or from a non-member country included in the list annexed to Council Decision 79/542/EEC (16), in so far as it covers domestic animals of these species and only if the importation was made in accordance with veterinary conditions at least as strict as the requirements of Chapter II of Directive 72/462/EEC, including any subsidiary Decisions.
4. Member States shall require that animals which are submitted to tests in application of this Decision are kept continuously isolated, under conditions approved by an official veterinarian of the country of origin, from all cloven-hooved animals not intended for export to the Community or not of equivalent health status to such animals from the time of the first of such tests to the time of loading.
5. Member States shall permit the entry onto their territory from the non-member country of origin of bovine animals only if such animals:
(a) come from herds declared by the veterinary authorities of the non-member country of origin to be enzootic bovine leukosis free as defined in Annex V to this Decision and have been subjected, within 30 days before export and with negative result, to an individual test for enzootic leukosis carried out according to the protocol in Annex I to Decision 91/189/EEC;
or
(b) are intended for meat production, are not more than 30 months of age, come from herds which are included in a national programme for the eradication of enzootic bovine leukosis and in which there has been no evidence whatever of that disease for at least two years and are permanently marked as described in Annex VI to this Decision,
or
(c) come from herds which are included in a national programme for the eradication of enzootic bovine leukosis, are consigned directly to a slaughterhouse and are slaughtered within five working days of their arrival there.
In the case of the animals referred to in (b) and (c) above, Member States shall ensure, by inspection, that such animals are clearly identified, shall supervise them until slaughter and shall take all measures to prevent contamination of indigenous herds.
6. Member States shall make the introduction onto their territory of pigs from the country of origin subject to a guarantee that they have not been vaccinated against classical swine fever and, in the case of pigs intended for breeding or production, a guarantee that they have shown a negative result to a test for the antibody produced by the virus of classical swinefever.
7. Member States shall not authorise the imports of domestic animals of the bovine and porcine species other than those as indicated in this Article.
Article 3
Pending the entry into force of any measures adopted by the Community for the eradication, prevention or control of a contagious or infectious bovine or porcine disease other than rabies, tubercuosis, brucellosis, foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, enzootic bovine leukosis, porcine enteroviral encephalomyelitis (Teschen disease), classical swine fever, African swine fever or swine vesicular disease, Member States may apply in respect of animals imported from the country of origin such additional health conditions as they apply to other animals within the framework of a national programme, submitted to and approved by the Commission, for the eradication, prevention or control of such disease.
Article 4
Member States shall authorise the importation of live animals of the bovine, porcine species subject to the following conditions:
(a) the certificate shall consist of a single sheet or, where more than one page is required, shall be in such a form that any two or more pages are part of an integrated whole and indivisible; each certificate shall bear a code number on each page. This number shall be issued by the central competent authority. The health certificate shall be signed by an official veterinarian designated by the central competent authority and countersigned and numbered by a senior veterinary official specially appointed by the chief veterinary officer to sign export certificates. The signature and the stamp of the certificate must be in a different colour to that of the printing;
(b) the original completed veterinary shall be drawn up in the official language of the Member State of destination and the Member State in which the import inspection at the border inspection post is carried out;
(c) the original completed veterinary certificate shall be presented with the animals at the border inspection post.
Article 5
This Decision will be reassessed as required by the changing animal health situation in the Community and in the European countries concerned from which the imports are permitted.
Article 6
This Decision shall come into effect on 15 June 1998.
Article 7
Decisions 92/322/EEC, 92/323/EEC, 92/325/EEC, 92/402/EEC, 93/181/EEC, 93/182/EEC, 93/183/EEC, 93/184/EEC, 94/321/EC, 96/185/EC and 96/186/EC are repealed on the date referred to in Article 6.
Article 8
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 29 May 1998.