2000D0585 — EN — 01.01.2005 — 012.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B COMMISSION DECISION of 7 September 2000 drawing up a list of third countries from which Member States authorise imports of rabbit meat and certain wild and farmed game meat, and laying down the animal and public health and the veterinary certification conditions for such imports (notified under document number C(2000) 2492) (Text with EEA relevance) (2000/585/EC) (OJ L 251, 6.10.2000, p.1)

Amended by:





Amended by:









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COMMISSION DECISION

of 7 September 2000

drawing up a list of third countries from which Member States authorise imports of rabbit meat and certain wild and farmed game meat, and laying down the animal and public health and the veterinary certification conditions for such imports

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(notified under document number C(2000) 2492)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2000/585/EC)







THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 91/494/EEC of 26 June 1991 on animal health conditions governing intra-Community trade in and imports from third countries of fresh poultry meat ( 1 ), as amended by Directive 1999/89/EC ( 2 ), and in particular Articles 11, 12 and 14 thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 92/118/EEC of 17 December 1992 laying down animal health and public health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of products not subject to the said requirements laid down in specific Community rules referred to in Annex A, Chapter I, to Directive 89/662/EEC and, as regards pathogens, to Directive 90/425/EEC ( 3 ), as last amended by Directive 97/79/EC ( 4 ), and in particular Article 10 thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 92/45/EEC of 16 June 1992 on public health and animal health problems relating to the killing of wild game and the placing on the market of wild game meat ( 5 ), as last amended by Directive 97/79/EC, and particular Article 16(2)(c) and (3) thereof, Whereas: (1) Commission Decision 97/217/EC ( 6 ) as last amended by Decision 2000/161/EC ( 7 ), establishes groups of third countries which are able to utilise the veterinary certification for imports of wild game meat, farmed game meat and rabbit meat from third countries. (2) Commission Decision 97/218/EC ( 8 ) lays down animal and public health conditions and veterinary certification for imports of wild game meat (excluding meat of wild swine) from third countries. (3) Commission Decision 97/219/EC ( 9 ) as last amended by Decision 2000/162/EC ( 10 ) lays down animal and public health conditions and veterinary certification for imports of farmed game meat and rabbit meat from third countries. (4) Commission Decision 97/220/EC ( 11 ) lays down animal and public health conditions and veterinary certification for imports of meat of wild swine from third countries. (5) In order to facilitate the consultation and the transparency of the European Union legislation and to update the animal and public health conditions and veterinary certification for import of wild and farmed game meat and rabbit meat from third countries, it is considered necessary to create a single decision; therefore, Commission Decisions 97/217/EC, 97/218/EC, 97/219/EC and 97/220/EC must be repealed. (6) Considering that a new certification regime must be implemented for the exporting countries concerned, a period of time should be provided for its implementation. (7) This Decision shall be reviewed in the light of developments in the animal health status of the territories of origin and, in particular, in the frame of the application of agreements between the Community and third countries concerning the matters covered by this Decision, notably as concerns Article 5 of the Agreement between the European Community and the Government of Canada on sanitary measures to protect public and animal health in respect of trade in live animals and animal products and Article 6 of the Agreement between the European Community and the United States of America on sanitary measures to protect public and animal health in trade in live animals and animal products. (8) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Veterinary Committee, Whereas: HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:







Article 1

For the purpose ot this Decision ‘farmed game birds’ means quail, pigeons, pheasants, partridges and any other game birds. It excludes fowl, turkeys, guinea fowls, ducks, geese and ratites.

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Article 2

Member States shall only authorise imports of the following meat:

— meat of wild game birds that do not contain offal, except in the case of unplucked and uneviscerated game birds,

— meat of farmed game birds,

— meat of wild leporidae, defined as rabbits and hares, that do not contain offal, except in the case of unskinned and uneviscerated leporidae,

— meat of farmed rabbits,

— meat of wild land mammals, other than ungulates and leporidae, that do not contain offal.

Such meat shall come from third countries or parts of third countries listed in Annex I, and it shall comply with the conditions laid down in the veterinary certificate established in accordance with the relevant model health certificate set out in Annex III, as provided for in Annex II.

The specific requirements referred to in Annex II and set out in Annex IV must be fulfilled by the exporting third country and so certified by completing Section V of each health certificate in accordance with the model set out in Annex III.

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Article 2a

Member States shall ensure that consignments of rabbit and game meat for human consumption introduced into the territory of the Community and which are destined for a third country either by transit immediately or after storage in accordance with Articles 12 (4) or 13 of Directive 97/78/EC, and not intended for importation into the EC shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) they shall come from the territory of a third country or a part thereof listed in Annex I to this Decision for the import of fresh meat of that species.

(b) they shall meet the specific animal health guarantees and conditions for the species concerned set out in Annex II and in the corresponding model animal health certificate drawn up under Annex III.

(c) they shall be accompanied by an animal health certificate established in accordance with the model K laid down in Annex III, signed by an official veterinarian of the competent veterinary services of the third country concerned.

(d) they are certified as acceptable for transit or storage (as appropriate) on the Common Veterinary Entry Document by the Official Veterinarian of the Border Inspection Post of introduction.

Article 2b

1. By way of derogation from Article 2a Member States shall authorise the transit by road or by rail through the Community, between designated Community border inspection posts listed in Annex to Decision 2001/881/EC, of consignments coming from and destined to Russia directly or via another third country provided that the following conditions are met:

(a) the consignment shall be sealed with a serially numbered seal at the border inspection post of entry to the EC by the veterinary services of the competent authority;

(b) the documents accompanying the consignment and referred to in Article 7 of Directive 97/78/EC shall be stamped ‘ONLY FOR TRANSIT TO RUSSIA VIA THE EC’ on each page by the official veterinarian of the competent authority responsible for the BIP;

(c) the procedural requirements provided for in Article 11 of Directive 97/78/EC shall be complied with;

(d) the consignment is certified as acceptable for transit on the Common Veterinary Entry Document by the Official Veterinarian of the Border Inspection Post of introduction.

2. unloading or storage, as defined in Article12 (4) or Article 13 of Directive 97/78/EC, on EC territory of such consignments shall not be allowed.

3. regular audits shall be made by the competent authority to ensure that the number of consignments and the quantities of products leaving the EC territory matches the number and quantities entering.

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Article 3

This Decision shall come into effect 60 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 4

1. Commission Decisions 97/217/EC, 97/218/EC, 97/219/EC and 97/220/EC are repealed on the same date the present Decision will come into force, as mentioned in Article 3.

2. Member States shall authorise the importation of fresh meat covered by the present Decision, produced and certified according to the requirements of Commission Decisions 97/217/EC, 97/218/EC, 97/219/EC and 97/220/EC during the 35 days following the date mentioned in Article 3.

Article 5

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

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ANNEX I







Description of territories of third countries authorised to export to the Community Country Code of territory Version Description of the territory Brazil BR-1 — As described in Annex I to Commission Decision 94/984/EC (1) (as last amended) Any country appearing in the first column of Annex II ISO code as indicated in the first column of Annex II The whole country (1) OJ L 378, 31.12.1994, p. 11.









ANNEX II







Animal and public health conditions appearing in the model of veterinary certificate to be requested Country Code of territory Game birds Leporidae (rabbit and hare) Wild land mammals other than leporidae and ungulates Wild Farmed Wild Domestic rabbit MC (1) SC (2) MC (1) SC (2) MC (1) SC (2) MC (1) SC (2) BM (1) BB (2) AR Argentina AR D 8 I C H — AU Australia AU — — C H E BG Bulgaria BG D I C H — BR Brazil BR — — C H — BR-1 D 8 I C H — CA Canada CA D 8 I C H E CH Switzerland CH D I C H — CL Chile CL D 8 I C H — ▼A1 ▼M10 GL Greenland GR D — C H E HR Croatia HR D I C H — ▼A1 ▼M10 IL Israel IL D 8 I C H — ▼A1 ▼M10 NZ New Zealand NZ D 8 I C H E ▼A1 ▼M10 RO Romania RO D I C H E RU Russia RU — — C H E ▼A1 ▼M10 TH Thailand TH D 8 I C H — TN Tunisia TN D 8 I C H — US United States US D 8 I C H — Any other third country appearing in the list drawn up in Part 1 of Annex II to Decision 79/542/EEC, as last amended. — — C H — (1) MC: model of certificate to be completed. The letters (C, H, E) appearing in the table refer to the model of certificate, as described in Annex III to this Decision, to be used for each category of meat. A dash ‘—’ indicates that imports of the meat are not authorised. (2) SC: specific conditions. The numbers appearing in the table refer to the specific conditions to be provided by the exporting country, as described in Annex IV to this Decision. They must be inserted by the exporting country in Section V of the relevant model of certificate set down in Annex III to this Decision.

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ANNEX III

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ANNEX IV

SPECIFIC CONDITIONS TO BE PROVIDED BY THE EXPORTING TERRITORY WHEN REQUIRED IN ANNEX II IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 2(2)

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3. The deboned farmed game meat described above has, during all stages of its production, deboning and storage been kept strictly separate from meat not conforming to the requirements laid down in the decisions of European Community currently in force as regards export of meat to a Member State (with the exception of meat packed in boxes or cartons and kept in special storage areas).

4. Taking into account the special climatic conditions, point IV.3(a) of the present certificate model D is not applicable

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6. The farmed game bird flock from which the meat originates: (a) has not been vaccinated with vaccines prepared from a Newcastle disease virus master seed which shows a higher pathogenicity than lentogenic strains of the virus; (b) has undergone at slaughter, on the basis of a random sample of cloacal swabs from at least 60 birds from each flock concerned, a virus isolation test for Newcastle disease, carried out in an official laboratory, in which no avian paramyxoviruses with an Intravenous Pathogenicity Index (IVPI) of more than 0,4 were found; (c) has not been in contact during the 30 days preceding slaughter with poultry or game birds which do not fulfil the conditions mentioned under points 1 and 2.

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8. The animals have been plucked and eviscerated ( 12 )/The animals are unplucked and uneviscerated but they will be transported by aeroplane (12) .

9. The animals have been skinned and eviscerated (12) /The animals are unskinned and eviscerated but they will be transported by aeroplane (12) .