WRITTEN QUESTION P-2361/96 by Christian Jacob (UPE) to the Commission (8 August 1996)

Subject: BSE crisis

The crisis currently affecting European stock-farming with bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the UK raises questions about the regulatory provisions adopted in the veterinary and health fields in the completion of the single market.

What stage has been reached in the transposition and implementation in the Member States of the main directives governing production and trade in the single market? As the traceability of animals is an absolute priority in this area, what measures will the Commission adopt (or propose to the Council) to encourage the Member States to respect the requirements of Directive 92/102/EEC ((OJ L 355, 5.12.1992, p. 32. )) on the identification and registration of animals?

Can the Commission report on the work of the ANIMO network since it was set up and describe its work and effectiveness in each Member State? Again as regards traceability in connection with imports from third countries, the SHIFT network initially provided for in Decision 88/192/EEC ((OJ L 89, 6.4.1988, p. 32. )) and again in Decision 92/438/EEC ((OJ L 243, 25.8.1992, p. 27. )) is still not in place. What difficulties have arisen and how soon does the Commission think it can make it operational?

To ensure that the regulations are effective and respected, the Commission needs an adequate corps of veterinary inspectors. Will it be calling for additional resources from the Council to set up the Office for Veterinary Inspection at Grange in Ireland to ensure its effectiveness for subsequent conversion to an agency?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (18 October 1996)

Experience has shown that the implementation of Council Directive 92/102/EEC on the identification and registration of animals has not been satisfactory. In addition, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis has further demonstrated that the identification and registration systems of bovine animals are in need of improvement. The Commission has therefore put forward a proposal for a regulation on the identification and registration of bovine animals which will reinforce the provisions of the current Directive, in particular with regard to the introduction in each Member State of a computerized data base and a passport for each animal, for the purposes of tracing animals for health reasons. With regard to the labelling of beef and beef products the Commission has put forward a proposal for a regulation setting out clearly the requirements necessary for a coherent and reliable labelling system. Taken together the two regulations will ensure the traceability of meat and animals, thus creating a sound basis for the presentation of beef and beef products in which the consumer can have confidence.

The Animo network is operational for every Member State. The Commission will send various tables and graphs relating to messages exchanged over the last few months direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament Secretariat.

In two Member States (Italy and Sweden) the units defined by Community legislation have not yet all been connected to the network. Messages are being exchanged via various specialist services. The Commission has taken the necessary steps to put matters in order as soon as possible. The upgrade from version 1 to version 2 of Animo is currently being completed in the Member States. Version 2 represents a distinct improvement over Version 1 and enhances system efficiency by developing links between operators in the units (e.g. observation report from the receiver to the sender of a message).

Future work will concentrate on ways of developing the system's computer architecture and the inclusion in a new version 3 of the requirements laid down by the Council relating to the protection of animal welfare during transport.

It has been no easy task to set up a multilingual system to cover the whole of the Community. The primary objective of the system is to allow the Member States' veterinary authorities to carry out veterinary checks, on the basis of prior information, by sampling of live animals and various animal products. In the Commission's opinion the Animo system currently provides an effective means to achieve that objective.

Use of the data collected via Animo is for each Member State to decide. The Commission is kept up to date on the experiences of Member States. Note that any application of the data at Community level would require a fundamental change in the system's basic specifications.

The main stumbling block to the setting-up of the Shift project has been the definition of the systems computer architecture. The Commission has recently restarted work on it. Decisions still need to be taken on the database of rejected consignments and of animals and animal products imported into the Community. Invitations to tender are to be launched under the IDA programme for a study of the potential computer architecture for the design of a prototype concerning conditions for import into the Community.

The Commission believes that the main elements required for the system start-up will be in place some time during 1997. At the present moment and in the light of past experience, it would be difficult to give a firm a date by which the system will be fully operational in every Member State. The Commission will do its utmost to ensure that this happens as early as possible.

As regards veterinary inspections the Commission agrees with the Honourable Member that it needs an adequate corps of inspectors in order to ensure that the regulations are effective and respected and it has indeed requested the Council to provide additional resources to make this possible. In this regard it has also put forward a proposal to the Council on setting up a European Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection. ((OJ C 239, 17.8.1996. ))