Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals (96/C 349/09) COM(96) 460 final - 96/0228 (CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 2 October 1996)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Whereas Article 3 (1) (c) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market (1), states that animals for intra-Community trade must be identified in accordance with the requirements of Community rules and be registered in such a way that the original or transit holding, centre or organization can be traced, and that before 1 January 1993 these identification and registration systems are to be extended to the movements of animals within the territory of each Member State;

Whereas Article 14 of Council Directive 91/496/EEC of 15 July 1991 laying down the principles governing the organization of veterinary checks on animals entering the Community from third countries and amending Directives 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC and 90/675/EEC (2), states that the identification and registration as provided for in Article 3 (1) (c) of Directive 90/425/EEC of such animals must, except in the case of animals for slaughter and registered equidae, be carried out after the said checks have been made;

Whereas the management of certain Community aid schemes in the field of agriculture requires the individual identification of certain types of livestock; whereas the identification and registration systems must, therefore, be suitable for the application and control of such measures;

Whereas it is necessary to ensure the rapid and efficient exchange of information between Member States for the correct application of this Directive; whereas Community provisions have been established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 of 19 May 1981 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and the cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs or agriculture matters (1) and by Council Directive 89/608/EEC of 21 November 1989 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of legislation on veterinary and zootechnical matters (2);

Whereas the current rules concerning the identification and the registration of bovine animals have been laid down in Council Directive 92/102/EEC of 27 November 1992 on the identification and registration of animals (3); whereas experience has shown that the implementation of this Directive for bovine animals has not been satisfactory and needs improvement; whereas it is therefore necessary to adopt a regulation for bovine animals in order to reinforce the provisions of the Directive;

Whereas for the purpose of rapid and accurate tracing of animals for health reasons and the control of Community aid schemes each Member State should create a computerized data base which shall record the identity of the animal, all holdings on their territory and the movements of the animals;

Whereas in order to permit movements of bovine animals to be traced animals must be identified by an ear-tag applied in each ear and accompanied by a passport throughout any movement; whereas the form and content of the mark and the requirements of the passport must be determined on a Community basis; whereas a passport must be issued for each animal to which an ear-tag has been allocated;

Whereas in the case of animals in which the ear-tag has become illegible or been lost a new mark must be applied; whereas a replacement tag shall bear the same code as the original ear-tag;

Whereas the Commission is examining on the basis of work performed by the JRC the feasibility of using electronic means for the identification of animals;

Whereas the keeper of animals must maintain an up-to-date register of the animals on their holdings, whereas the requirements of the register must be determined on a Community basis; whereas persons involved in the commerce of animals must keep records of their dealings; whereas the competent authority must have access to these records on request;

Whereas this Regulation must not affect specific requirements contained in Commission Decision 89/153/EEC of 13 February 1989 concerning the correlation of samples taken for residue examination with animals and their farms of origin (4), or any relevant application rules established in accordance with Directive 91/496/EEC;

Whereas it is necessary to amend Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 of 27 November 1992 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (5),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1. Each Member State shall establish a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals (hereinafter referred to as 'animals`), as defined in Article 2 of Council Directive 64/432/EEC of 26 June 1964 on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine (6), in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.

2. The provisions of this Regulation shall apply without prejudice to any Community rules which may be established for disease eradication or controlpurposes and without prejudice to Directive 91/496/EEC and Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92. However, the provisions of Directive 92/102/EEC shall no longer apply, in so far as they relate specifically to bovine animals.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Regulation:

- 'holding` shall mean any establishment, construction or any place in which animals covered by this Regulation are held, kept or handled, situated within the territory of the same Member State,

- 'keeper` shall mean any natural or legal person responsible for animals, whether on a permanent or on a temporary basis, including during transportation or at a market,

- 'competent authority` shall mean the authority in a Member State responsible for carrying out veterinary checks for implementing this Regulation, or for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92.

Article 3

The system for the identification and registration of bovine animals shall comprise the following elements:

(a) ear-tags to identify animals individually;

(b) computerized data bases;

(c) animal passports;

(d) individual registers kept on each holding.

The Commission and the competent authority of the Member State concerned shall have access to all information under this Regulation. They shall take the measures necessary to ensure appropriate accessibility to this data for all parties concerned, in particular to consumer organizations having a particular interest recognized by the Member State, as well as the protection of its confidentiality.

Article 4

1. All animals on a holding shall be identified by an ear-tag applied in each ear approved by the competent authority. The ear-tags shall bear the same unique identification code. The first two positions shall identify the Member State of the holding where the animal is first identified in accordance with the alpha-2 country code set down in Commission Decision 93/317/EEC, followed by a numeric code which shall not exceed 12 characters, and which makes it possible to identify each animal individually together with the holding on which it was born.

2. The ear-tag shall be applied within 14 days following the birth of the animal and in any case before the animal leaves the holding on which it was born.

No animal may be moved from a holding unless it is identified in accordance with this Article.

3. Any animal imported from a third country which has passed the checks laid down by Directive 91/496/EEC and which remains within Community territory shall be identified on the holding of destination by an ear-tag complying with the provisions of this Article, within 14 days of undergoing the aforesaid checks, and, in any event, before leaving the holding. However, it is not necessary to identify the animal if the holding of destination is a slaughterhouse situated in the Member State where such checks are carried out and the animal is actually slaughtered within that 14-day period.

The original identification established by the third country shall be recorded in the computerized data base provided for in Article 5 together with the identification code allocated to it by the Member State of destination.

4. Any animal from another Member State shall retain its original ear-tag.

5. No ear-tag may be removed or replaced without the permission of the competent authority. Where an ear-tag has become illegible or has been lost, a replacement tag bearing the same code shall be applied in accordance with this Article.

6. The ear-tags are allocated to the holding, distributed and applied to the animals in a manner determined by the competent authority.

7. Ear-tags which do not comply with the requirements as laid down in this Article, shall be replaced on 31 December 1997 at the latest.

8. Not later than 31 December 2000, acting on the basis of a report from the Commission, accompanied by any proposals, the Council shall decide on the possibility of introducing electronic identification arrangements in the light of progress achieved in this field.

Article 5

The competent authority shall create a computerized database, which shall record at least:

1. for each animal:

- the identification code,

- the date of birth,

- the sex,

- the breed,

- the identification code of its mother,

- the holding number of birth,

- identification numbers of all holdings where the animal has been kept,

- dates of movements,

- date of death or slaughter;

2. for each holding:

- the identification number consisting of a code not exceeding 12 characters,

- the name and address of the keeper.

3. The database shall have the following information available, at any time:

- a list of all animals present on a holding at any time,

- a list of all the movements of each animal commencing from the holding of birth.

The information shall be kept in the database until three consecutive years have elapsed after the death of the animal.

The database shall be fully operational and contain all relevant data on 31 December 1997 at the latest.

Article 6

1. The competent authority shall issue a passport for each animal to which an ear-tag has been allocated within 7 days following the notification of its birth, or, in the case of animals imported from third countries, of the notification of its reidentification by the Member State concerned, as provided for under Article 4 paragraph 3. The competent authority may issue a passport to animals from another Member State under the same conditions. In such cases, the passport accompanying the animal on its arrival shall be surrendered to the competent authority which shall return it to the issuing Member State.

2. Whenever an animal is moved it shall be accompanied by its passport.

3. In the case of the death of an animal, the passport shall be returned by the keeper to the competent authority within three working days after the death of the animal. If the animal is sent to a slaughterhouse, the operator of the slaughterhouse shall be responsible for returning the passport to the competent authority.

4. In the case of animals exported to third countries the passport shall be surrendered by the last keeper to the competent authority at the place where the animal is exported.

Article 7

1. Each keeper of animals shall:

- keep an up-to-date register,

- report to the competent authority all movements to and from the holding and all births and deaths of animals on the holding, along with the dates of these events within three working days of the event occuring,

- complete the passport immediately on arrival and prior to departure of each animal from the holding and ensure that the passport accompanies the animal.

2. Each keeper shall supply the competent authority, upon request, with all information concerning the origin, identification and where appropriate, the destination of animals which he has owned, kept, transported, marketed or slaughtered.

3. The register shall be in a format approved by the competent authority and be available on the holding and to the competent authority, upon request, for a minimum period to be determined by the competent authority but which may not be less than three years.

Article 8

Member States shall designate the competent authority responsible for ensuring compliance with this Regulation. They shall inform each other and the Commission of the identity of this authority.

Article 9

The Commission shall adopt detailed rules for the application of this Regulation in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70. These detailed rules shall cover in particular:

(a) requirements for ear-tags;

(b) requirements for the passport;

(c) requirements for the register;

(d) minimum level of controls to be carried out;

(e) application of penalties;

(f) transitional provisions for the start-up period of the system.

Article 10

Member States shall take all the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Regulation. These controls shall be without prejudice to any controls which the Commission may carry out by analogy with Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.

Any penalties imposed by the Member State on keepers shall be proportionate to the gravity of the breach. The penalties may involve, where justified, a restriction on movement of the animals to or from the keeper concerned.

Article 11

Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 is completed by the following text:

'. . . and Regulation (EC) No . . .`.

Article 12

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 January 1997.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

(1) OJ No L 224, 18. 8. 1990, p. 29. Directive as last amended by Directive 92/118/EEC (OJ No L 62, 15. 3. 1992, p. 49).

(2) OJ No L 268, 24. 9. 1991, p. 56. Directive as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.

(1) OJ No L 144, 2. 6. 1981, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 945/87 (OJ No L 90, 2. 4. 1987, p. 3).

(2) OJ No L 351, 2. 12. 1989, p. 34.

(3) OJ No L 355, 5. 12. 1992, p. 32.

(4) OJ No L 59, 2. 3. 1989, p. 33.

(5) OJ No L 355, 5. 12. 1992, p. 1.

(6) OJ No 121, 29. 7. 1964, p. 1977/64.