COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2018/1882

of 3 December 2018

on the application of certain disease prevention and control rules to categories of listed diseases and establishing a list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (‘Animal Health Law’) (1), and in particular Articles 8(2) and 9(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2016/429 lays down rules for the prevention and control of diseases which are transmissible to animals or humans, including rules for the prioritisation and categorisation of listed diseases that are of concern at Union level. Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 provides that disease-specific rules for the prevention and control of diseases apply to the listed diseases, as referred to in that Article and in Annex II to that Regulation. Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 was amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1629 (2), and those amendments apply from 21 April 2021.

(2) Rules for the prevention and control of listed diseases should only apply to species and groups of species which can transmit such listed diseases, by virtue of either being susceptible to them or by acting as vectors.

(3) Listed diseases require different types of management measures, as set out in the disease prevention and control rules provided for in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and having regard to the potential seriousness of their impact on public or animal health, the economy, society or on the environment. Those measures range from basic responsibilities and obligations, such as reporting and the notification of the occurrence or suspicion of a listed disease and eradication programmes, to in–depth Union–wide disease-specific surveillance and eradication measures, as well as measures related to the movement of animals and products of animal origin in the Union and their entry into the Union.

(4) Certain criteria are laid down in Articles 8(2) and (3) and 9(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and in Annex IV thereto, for the purpose of listing specific species or groups of species subject to the disease prevention and control rules laid down in that Regulation, as well as the methods of applying the disease prevention and control rules to the listed diseases.

(5) The Commission, with the assistance of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and with the benefit of scientific knowledge provided by the EU Animal Health Reference Laboratories, carried out a systematic assessment of listed diseases which require Union intervention. It also took into account available information from the World Organisation for Animal Health.

(6) The systematic assessment by the Commission also took into account various factors, such as the species susceptible to certain listed diseases, disease reservoirs and disease vectors, and whether or not the listed disease is currently present in the Union, and how the listed disease is transmitted between animals, and from animals to humans, and its potential impact on animal and human health, including its morbidity and mortality rates. The systematic assessment also considered the wider impact of these listed diseases, such as their impact on the economy, society, animal welfare, the environment and biodiversity.

(7) For the purposes of the systematic assessment, EFSA delivered scientific opinions on infection with Brucella abortus, B. melitensis and B. suis (3), infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (M. bovis, M. caprae and M. tuberculosis) (4), infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) (5), anthrax (6), surra (Trypanosoma evansi) (7), Ebola virus disease (8), paratuberculosis (9), Japanese encephalitis (10), West Nile fever (11), infection with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC (Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia) (12), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis/infectious pustular vulvovaginitis (13), bovine viral diarrhoea (14), bovine genital campylobacteriosis (15), trichomonosis (16), enzootic bovine leukosis (17), contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (18), ovine epididymitis (Brucella ovis) (19), Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (20), equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western) (21), infection with Aujeszky's disease virus (22), infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (23), avian mycoplasmosis (Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. meleagridis) (24), infection with Salmonella Pullorum, S. Gallinarum and S. arizonae (25), infection with low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (26), infestation with Varroa spp. (Varroosis) (27), infection with Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (28) and Koi herpes virus disease (29) in accordance with Article 8(3) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Annex IV thereto, and it followed the method set out in its Scientific Opinion, adopted on 5 April 2017, on an ad hoc method for the assessment on listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (30).

(8) As Regulation (EU) 2016/429 applies from 21 April 2021, the measures provided for in this Regulation should also apply from that date.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: (1) ‘category A disease’: means a listed disease that does not normally occur in the Union and for which immediate eradication measures must be taken as soon as it is detected, as referred to in Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429; (2) ‘category B disease’: means a listed disease which must be controlled in all Member States with the goal of eradicating it throughout the Union, as referred to in Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429; (3) ‘category C disease’: means a listed disease which is of relevance to some Member States and for which measures are needed to prevent it from spreading to parts of the Union that are officially disease-free or that have eradication programmes for the listed disease concerned, as referred to in Article 9(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429; (4) ‘category D disease’: means a listed disease for which measures are needed to prevent it from spreading on account of its entry into the Union or movements between Member States, as referred to in Article 9(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429; (5) ‘category E disease’: means a listed disease for which there is a need for surveillance within the Union, as referred to in Article 9(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429.

Article 2 The disease prevention and control rules for listed diseases referred to in Article 9(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 shall apply to the categories of listed diseases for the listed species and groups of listed species referred to in the table set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 3 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 21 April 2021.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 3 December 2018. For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1.

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1629 of 25 July 2018 amending the list of diseases set out in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (‘Animal Health Law’) (OJ L 272, 31.10.2018, p. 11).

(3) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4889.

(4) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4959.

(5) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4957.

(6) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4958.

(7) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4892.

(8) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4890.

(9) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4960.

(10) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4948.

(11) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4955.

(12) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4995.

(13) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4947.

(14) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4952.

(15) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4990.

(16) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4992.

(17) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4956.

(18) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4996.

(19) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4994.

(20) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4950.

(21) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4946.

(22) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4888.

(23) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4949.

(24) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4953.

(25) EFSA Journal 2017;15(8):4954.

(26) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4891.

(27) EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):4997.

(28) EFSA Journal 2017;15(11):5071.

(29) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4907.

(30) EFSA Journal 2017;15(7):4783.