COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2020/2167

of 17 December 2020

amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 concerning certain safeguard measures in relation to chronic wasting disease by extending its period of application

(notified under document C(2020) 8802)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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), and in particular Article 4(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 lays down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in the Union. It applies to the production and placing on the market of live animals and products of animal origin and in certain specific cases to exports thereof. It also provides, inter alia, for the adoption of safeguard measures in the event of outbreaks of TSEs.

(2) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 (2) lays down temporary safeguard measures in relation to chronic wasting disease (CWD). It was adopted following the detection of six cases of CWD in cervids in Norway in 2016: four in reindeers and two in moose. That was the first time that CWD had been detected in Europe and the first natural cases in reindeer in the world.

(3) Between January 2017 and September 2020, Norway informed the Commission and the Member States of sixteen additional cases of CWD in wild reindeers, five additional cases of CWD in wild moose, and one case of CWD in a red deer. In 2018, Finland detected the first case of CWD in the Union and an additional one in November 2020. Sweden detected three cases in 2019 and an additional one in September 2020. All cases of CWD detected in Finland and Sweden were found in wild moose.

(4) Point A of Part III of Chapter A of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides for a three-year monitoring programme for CWD, covering a period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. However, the collection of data will partly continue throughout 2021 in accordance with the technical specifications of the monitoring programme, with a view to, eventually, gathering a larger dataset. As a result, the scientific assessment of the results of the monitoring programme, which will be necessary to develop future policy options on CWD, is not expected to be available until 2022.

(5) On 11 November 2019, the European Food Safety Authority published a Scientific Opinion on Update on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) III (3) (EFSA Opinion). However, more time is necessary to consider how the conclusions and recommendations set out in the EFSA Opinion should be reflected in Union rules.

(6) Taking into account the detection of new cases of CWD in Norway, Finland and Sweden, and pending the outcome of the three-year monitoring programme for CWD, and pending the scientific assessment of the results of the monitoring programme which is expected in 2022, and considering that additional time is needed to reflect on the EFSA Opinion, the period of application of Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 should be extended until 31 December 2022.

(7) Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 In Article 4 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918, the date ‘31 December 2020’ is replaced by the date ‘31 December 2022’.

Article 2 This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 17 December 2020. For the Commission Stella KYRIAKIDES Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 147, 31.5.2001, p. 1.

(2) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1918 of 28 October 2016 concerning certain safeguard measures in relation to chronic wasting disease (OJ L 296, 1.11.2016, p. 21).

(3) https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5863