Commission Regulation (EC) No 1326/2001
of 29 June 2001
laying down transitional measures to permit the changeover to the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) No 999/2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and amending Annexes VII and XI to that Regulation
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies(1), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1248/2001(2), and in particular Article 23 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Articles 7, 9 and 15 to 18 of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 lay down rules concerning animal feeding, and impose further restrictions for products of ruminant origin and marketing of live animals and products of animal origin. Their requirements vary depending on the classification of the BSE status of the Member States or third countries concerned. The classification for the determination of BSE status is to be decided according to the criteria laid down in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001. To date no decisions have been taken to place any Member State or third country in a category based on the new provisions under Article 5. The provisions of the Regulation would take effect in their entirety from 1 July 2001, unless transitional measures have been adopted on the basis of Article 23. In absence of decisions on classification Articles 7, 9 and 15 to 18 cannot be applied: transitional measures are therefore necessary.
(2) Transitional measures for certain rules based on classification, namely those concerning specified risk material, are already foreseen by Article 22, which provides that they shall apply at least until 1 January 2002 and shall cease to apply immediately following the date of adoption of a decision on classification in accordance with Article 5, on which date Article 8, concerning specified risk material, shall apply. In the interest of clarity the same rules for the changeover from the transitional rules to the rules of the Regulation should apply to the other Articles based on classification.
(3) The transmissible spongiform encephalopathy-related Community rules on prohibitions concerning animal feeding, in force immediately prior to the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, are laid down in Council Decision 2000/766/EC(3), concerning certain protection measures with regard to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of animal protein and Commission Decision 2001/9/EC(4), as amended by Decision 2001/165/EC(5), concerning control measures required for the implementation of Decision 2000/766/EC. Decision 2000/766/EC, suspends the feeding, with few exceptions, of processed animal proteins to all farmed animals until 30 June 2001. The Council concluded on 24 April 2001 that the period of application of the Decision should be extended. This latter Decision shall therefore be amended accordingly as a transitional measure. Any further amendments will depend on a decision on the classification of Member States as well as the efficacy of control measures put in place by individual Member States.
(4) The transmissible spongiform encephalopathy-related Community rules on placing on the market and export of live bovine animals and of certain products of bovine animal origin, in force immediately prior to the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, are laid down in, or have been adopted pursuant to, Commission Decision 92/290/EEC of 14 May 1992 concerning certain protection measures relating to bovine embryos in respect of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom(6), Council Decision 98/256/EC of 16 March 1998 concerning emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, amending Decision 94/474/EC and repealing Decision 96/239/EC(7), Commission Decision 98/351/EC of 29 May 1998 setting the date on which dispatch from Northern Ireland of bovine products under the Export Certified Herds Scheme may commence by virtue of Article 6(5) of Council Decision 98/256/EC(8), Commission Decision 1999/514/EC of 23 July 1999 setting the date on which dispatch from the United Kingdom of bovine products under the date-based export scheme may commence by virtue of Article 6(5) of Council Decision 98/256/EC(9), Commission Decision 2000/345/EC of 22 May 2000 setting the date on which dispatch from Portugal to Germany of certain products for the purpose of incineration may commence by virtue of Article 3(6) of Decision 98/653/EC(10), Commission Decision 2000/371/EC of 6 June 2000 setting the date on which dispatch of fighting bulls from Portugal to France may commence by virtue of Article 3(7) of Decision 98/653/EC(11), Commission Decision 2000/372/EC of 6 June 2000 setting the date on which dispatch of fighting bulls from Portugal to Spain may commence by virtue of Article 3(7) of Decision 98/653/EC(12) and Commission Decision 200/376/EC of 18 April 2001 concerning measures made necessary by the occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Portugal and implementing a date-based export scheme(13). These Decisions shall therefore remain in force during the transitional period.
(5) The transmissible spongiform encephalopathy related Community rules on specified risk material, in force immediately prior to the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, are laid down in, or have been adopted pursuant to, Commission Decision 2000/418/EC of 29 June 2000 regulating the use of material presenting risks as regards transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Decision 94/474/EC(14), as last amended by Decision 2001/384/EC(15). This Decision has been amended with respect to bovine vertebral column, mechanically recovered meat and the import from third countries, after the adoption by the Council, on 12 February 2001, of its Common Position (EC) No 8/2001 with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies(16). Annex XI to that Regulation sets out the rules on specified risk material which apply during the transitional period. Section A of that Annex should therefore be updated to include the specified risk material provisions adopted since the adoption by Council of its Common Position.
(6) Until classification decisions have been made for third countries, and as a precaution, it is appropriate to provide that the minimal protection measures foreseen by Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 for imports from all third countries which are not considered BSE-free should apply to alI imports of live bovine animals, embryos and ova. Furthermore, the removal of specified risk material from products destined for food and feed is the single most important public health protection measure. It is therefore appropriate to extend, as a transitional measure, the list of products covered by restrictions on import pursuant to Decision 2000/418/EC, to include all products containing bovine, ovine or caprine material covered by Community health certificates. However, those third countries that benefit from a derogation for Decision 2000/418/EC should also benefit from a derogation from this transitional measure. In order to respect international obligations under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, in particular the notification procedures, the provisions relating to import should not apply until 1 October 2001.
(7) Annex VII to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 sets out the detailed rules for the measures to be implemented following confirmation of the presence of a TSE. These rules should be updated to reflect the detailed technical eradication provisions applied by the Member States, taking into account the opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) on BSE related culling in cattle of 15 September 2000. The SSC concluded in this opinion that "already (entire) herd culling is having some effect both in terms of eliminating otherwise not identified cases and in terms of preventing future cases to appear. However, (...) largely the same effect can be reached by culling all animals born and/or raised in the same herds as the confirmed case within approximately 12 months before and after the date of birth of the index case (birth-cohort culling)." The SSC recommended the culling of at least the birth cohort whenever a domestic BSE case appears, irrespective of the prevailing epidemiological situation. It is therefore appropriate to amend the detailed eradication provisions accordingly by making the culling of the entire herd optional depending upon the prevailing local situation.
(8) In the interest of clarity Commission Decision 94/474/EC of 27 July 1994 concerning certain protection measures relating to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and repealing Decisions 89/469/EEC and 90/200/EEC(17), Commission Decision 94/381/EC of 27 June 1994 concerning certain protection measures with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the feeding of mammalian derived protein(18), and Decision 2000/418/EC regulating the use of material presenting risks as regards transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Decision 94/474/EC, should be repealed.
(9) The Standing Veterinary Committee has not given an opinion; the Commission has therefore proposed these measures to the Council on 15 June 2001 in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, the Council being required to act within three months.
(10) However, the Council has neither adopted the measures, nor opposed the proposal, and has concluded on the 19 June 2001 that it would not change its position within that period.
(11) Under such circumstances which should take account of the urgency to implement these measures, the European parliament being informed in accordance with the provisions of Council Decision 1999/468/EC(19), and without prejudice to Article 8 of that Decision, these measures should now lie adopted by the Commission without undue delay,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
By way of transitional measure derogating from Regulation (EC) No 999/2001:
1. the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 listed in Annex I to this Regulation shall not apply to a Member State or third country until the entry into force of the decision determining the BSE status of that Member State or third country, adopted pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001. Annex XI, section D, shall apply to the Member State or third country concerned until that date. No such decision shall enter into force before 1 January 2002;
2. Article 7(2), (3) and (4) shall not apply to a Member State until the coming into force of the decision determining the BSE status of that Member State, and until the Community provisions on animal feeding relevant to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are effectively enforced there. Annex XI, section C, shall apply to that Member State until Article 7(2), (3) and (4) become applicable there.
Article 2
1. In Article 4 of Decision 2000/766/EC, the second and third paragraphs, are hereby deleted.
2. Decisions 94/381/EC, 94/474/EC and 2000/418/EC are repealed.
Article 3
Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 is amended as follows:
1. The text in Annex VII is replaced by the text in Annex II to this Regulation.
2. The text in Annex XI, section A, is replaced by the text in Annex III to this Regulation.
3. The text in Annex XI is completed with the text in Annex IV to this Regulation.
Article 4
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 July 2001.
However, the provisions of Annex XI, section A, point 5, fourth to seventh, ninth and tenth indents, and section D, point 2 and 3, to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, as amended by the present Regulation, shall apply from 1 October 2001.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 29 June 2001.