WRITTEN QUESTION E-0511/03

by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(24 February 2003)

Subject: TSE surveillance programme

According to the Commission's reply to Oral Question H-0896/02(1), the lower amount allocated to Spain under the TSE surveillance programme is due to the reduction in the Community contribution to the cost of individual tests.

Have the amounts allocated to other Member States likewise been reduced?

Has the Spanish allocation been cut because the funds earmarked for 2002 were underused on account of the failure to carry out the full complement of tests?

Have larger amounts been allocated to other Member States which have shown that they are conducting more tests?

Can the Commission give details of the new share-out of funding among the 15 Member States?

(1) Written answer of 11.12.2002.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(28 April 2003)

Commission Decision 2002/934/EC of 28 November 2002 approving the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) monitoring programmes of certain Member States for 2003 and fixing the level of the Community's financial contribution(1) establishes the maximum financial contribution to the TSE monitoring programme in each Member State for 2003.

The maximum amount allocated to each Member State was calculated based on a maximum contribution of EUR 10,5 per test and the actual number of tests carried out in that Member State in the second half of 2001 and the first half of 2002. Compared to 2002, the maximum allocations have been reduced by 7-30 %, depending on the Member State. In the case of Spain, the reduction was 29 %.

Originally the maximum allocation to each Member State for 2002, as laid down in Commission Decision 2001/854/EC(2), was based on the size of the bovine population in that Member State. The amounts were increased by Commission Decision 2002/246/EC(3) in March 2002 following an expansion of the monitoring programme in small ruminants and changed monitoring programmes in Austria and Finland.

From Member State reports, it soon became evident that some Member States were overspending and other were not using the full amount allocated to them. According to reports from the Commission's Food and Veterinary Office, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) monitoring programme is generally well implemented and cases where animals would have been slaughtered without testing have not been reported. Failure to test all slaughtered animals is therefore not the reason why some Member States are testing a lower percentage of their adult cattle population annually than others. The reason for the variation is that in some Member States cows are kept to a higher age, and thereby a smaller percentage of the total adult cattle population is slaughtered each year.

The allocations for 2002 were adjusted for the second time in November 2002 by Commission Decision 2002/945/EC(4) with a view to transfer money from Member States not using the full amount allocated to them to those which were overspending. Details of the maximum amounts allocated to each Member State for 2002 and 2003 can be found in the table sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

(1) OJ L 324, 29.11.2002.

(2) 2001/854/EC: Commission Decision of 3 December 2001 approving the programmes for the monitoring for TSE presented for 2002 by the Member States and fixing the level of the Community's financial contribution (notified under document number C(2001) 3819) OJ L 318, 4.12.2001.

(3) 2002/246/EC: Commission Decision of 27 March 2002 amending Decisions 2001/730/EC and 2001/854/EC on the Community's financial contribution to the Member States' TSE monitoring programmes for 2002 (notified under document number C(2002) 1266) OJ L 84, 28.3.2002.

(4) 2002/945/EC: Commission Decision of 28 November 2002 amending Decisions 2001/730/EC and 2001/854/EC as regards the allocation of the Community's financial contribution to Member States' TSE monitoring programmes for 2002 (notified under document number C(2002) 4594) OJ L 326, 3.12.2002.