WRITTEN QUESTION E-1154/01

by Struan Stevenson (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 April 2001)

Subject: Health and consumer protection

1. Council Decision 90/424/EEC(1). I would be grateful if you could confirm that under the above Decision, Member States would be entitled to receive a financial contribution from Community Institutions towards compensation costs in the event of them being required to implement eradication measures under Directive 93/53/EEC(2).

2. Is the Commissioner aware that under the ISA withdrawal scheme, approved under Commission Decision 2001/186/EC(3), confirmation of disease has been redefined as the isolation of ISA virus? On what grounds is this justified?

3. What measures does the Commission propose to take to ensure wild fish stocks swimming from Norwegian or Canadian waters, carrying the ISA virus, will not enter EU waters or interact and pass the virus infection to EU bred fish swimming home to EU waters from wild migratory paths?

(1) OJ L 224, 18.8.1990, p. 19.

(2) OJ L 175, 19.7.1993, p. 23.

(3) OJ L 67, 9.3.2001, p. 80.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(4 July 2001)

Council Decision 90/424/EEC of 26 June 1990, on expenditure in the veterinary field provides for the possibility of a financial contribution from the Community for the eradication and monitoring of a number of diseases which may occur in pigs, cattle, sheep, poultry and fish. With regard to disease in fish, the Community financial measures relate at present to eradication and monitoring of infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN). A proposal to amend Decision 90/424/EEC(1) has been sent to the Council. The proposed amendment, in combination with Commission Regulation (EC) No 2722/2000 of 13 December 2000, establishes the conditions under which the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) may make a contribution towards the eradication of pathological risks in aquaculture(2) and could provide for financial contributions for control measures taken in the case of outbreaks of Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA). Prior to granting a financial contribution, the Member State must present a disease control or eradication programme, which must be approved by the Commission.

The confirmation of ISA shall, according to Council Directive 93/53/EEC of 24 June 1993, introducing minimum Community measures for the control of certain fish diseases, be based on the result of laboratory examination or the result of clinical examination and a post-mortem examination. Sampling and laboratory testing for the presence of ISA shall be carried out using the methods established in accordance with Article 15 of Council Directive 91/67/EEC of 28 January 1991 concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products(3). Specific methods are under preparation with the assistance of fish disease experts in the Member States and from Norway, the latter having several years of experience in diagnosing and combating ISA. The National Veterinary Institute in Norway is the reference laboratory of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) with regard to ISA. Preliminary discussions with the experts resulted in agreement that the officially confirmed detection of the ISA virus, without clinical signs, is enough to fulfil the criteria for infection.

In relation to the evaluation and adoption of the scheme submitted by the United Kingdom for the withdrawal of fish to be applied in Scotland in case of ISA, disease confirmation was discussed. The Standing Veterinary Committee followed the advice given by the fish disease experts and furthermore took into account the fact that the OIE had recently (in 2000) published an updated diagnostic manual for aquatic animal diseases. In this manual the detection of ISA virus by means of virus cultivation is included as a current diagnostic procedure for confirmation of ISA.

In 1991 the Council adopted Directive 91/67/EEC concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products with the objective of having harmonised health rules for ensuring the development of the aquaculture sector and to increase productivity. In 1993, Council Directive 93/53/EEC was adopted with the main objective to establish at Community level the control measures to be taken in the event of outbreaks of disease. The aim of the legislation was not necessarily to eradicate ISA from Community waters but rather to prevent the spread of the disease if present and to eradicate the agent from infected farms.

In relation to measures preventing farmed fish from being infected with ISA virus present in the wild, in addition to the obligatory measures laid down in the present legislation, a review of the animal health/zootechnics aquaculture legislation has recently been initiated. In the review process, the criteria for diseases to be controlled by obligatory measures will be examined, taking into account the present knowledge about the presence of the agent in the wild and the interchange of infection between farmed and wild susceptible fish. In addition, consideration will be given to further developing Community legislation with regard to preventative management measures at farm and regional level.

(1) COM(2001) 37 final.

(2) OJ L 314, 14.12.2000.

(3) OJ L 46, 19.2.1991.