2001/598/EC: Commission Decision of 11 July 2001 amending Decision 94/984/EC laying down animal health conditions and veterinary certificates for the importation of fresh poultrymeat from third countries and repealing Decisions 96/181/EC, 96/387/EC, 96/712/EC and 97/593/EC (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2001) 1841)
Date: 2001-07-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: health certificate, health control, import, poultrymeat, third country

3.8.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 210/37

COMMISSION DECISION

of 11 July 2001

amending Decision 94/984/EC laying down animal health conditions and veterinary certificates for
the importation of fresh poultrymeat from third countries and repealing Decisions 96/181/EC,
96/387/EC, 96/712/EC and 97/593/EC

(notified under document number C(2001) 1841)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2001/598/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 71/118/EEC of 15 February
1971 on health problems affecting the production and placing
on the market of fresh poultrymeat (1), as last amended by the
Accession Treaty of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in partic-
ular Article 14(B)(1)(c) thereof,

Having regard to Council Directive 91/494/EEC of 26 June
1991 on animal health conditions governing intra-Community
trade in and imports from third countries of fresh poultry-
meat (2), as last amended by Directive 1999/89/EC (3), and in
particular Articles 11 and 12 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Decision 94/984/EC (4), as last amended by
Decision 2000/352/EC (5), establishes the animal health
conditions and the veterinary certificates for imports of
fresh poultrymeat
from certain third countries. Two
different certificates, model A and model B are laid
down. Their use depends on the Newcastle disease situa-
tion in the country concerned.

An inspection carried out by the Commission services in
Thailand in December 1999 to review the Newcastle
disease situation and additional
information received
recently from that country show that the Newcastle
disease situation in Thailand has improved. Thailand can
now comply with the requirements of certificate model
A laid down in Decision 94/984/EC.

The results of an inspection carried out in Tunisia in
October 2000 and guarantees given by that country
suggest that Tunisia can comply with the requirements
of certificate model A laid down in Decision 94/984/EC
and therefore can be listed as such in that Decision.

(1) As amended and updated by Council Directive 92/116 (OJ L 62,

15.3.1993, p. 1)

(2) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991, p. 35.
(3) OJ L 300, 23.11.1999, p. 17.
(4) OJ L 378, 31.12.1994, p. 11.
(5) OJ L 124, 25.5.2000, p. 64.

In October 2000 a mission was carried out to Brazil by
the Commission services in order to assess the animal
health situation for four new regions and it appears that
the results of this inspection allow the further region-
alisation of Brazil.

The Czech Republic, Israel and Switzerland are not free
from Newcastle disease. However, they apply measures
to control this disease which are at least equivalent to
those laid down in Council Directive 92/66/EEC (6), as
last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland
and Sweden. Their disease control measures can now be
taken into account for certification, and Decisions 96/
181/EC (7), 96/387/EC (8),
laying
down special animal health conditions for fresh poultry-
meat
imports from these countries can be repealed
accordingly.

and 97/593/EC (9)

Croatia was allowed to export fresh meat only from
designated areas of its territory. An inspection carried
out in September/October 1997 and October 2000 has
revealed that there is no further need for regionalisation.

Missions to Madagascar carried out by the Commission
services in 1997 revealed serious deficiencies in the
structure of the veterinary services and their control and
certification duties. Therefore imports of certain prod-
ucts of animal origin from Madagascar
into the
Community were suspended by Commission Decision
97/517/EC (10). It now seems opportune to delete Mada-
gascar from the list of third countries authorised to
export fresh poultrymeat to the Community until satis-
factory guarantees can be provided to allow lifting of the
suspension.

Council Directive 93/119/EC of 22 December 1993,
laying down requirements on the protection of animals
at the time of slaughter or killing (11), should be taken
into consideration when establishing the import condi-
tions for fresh poultrymeat from third countries.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(6) OJ L 260, 5.9.1992, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 55, 6.3.1996, p. 27.
(8) OJ L 155, 28.6.1996, p. 54.
(9) OJ L 239, 30.8.1997, p. 51.
(10) OJ L 214, 6.8.1997, p. 54.
(11) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 21.

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3.8.2001

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

The requirements in Commission Decision 96/712/EC of
28 November 1996 laying down the models of the
public health declaration and health marks for the
importation of
from third coun-
fresh poultrymeat
tries (1) should be included in the animal health certifi-
cate for reasons of transparency and to facilitate certi-
fication and Decision 96/712/EC can thus be repealed.

Council Decision 95/411/EC of 22 June 1995 laying
down the rules for the microbiological testing for salmo-
fresh poultrymeat intended for
nella by sampling of
Sweden and Finland (2), as amended by Decision 98/
227/EC (3), should be taken into consideration for fresh
poultrymeat exports to these countries.

Those Member States with a Newcastle disease-free
status now do not require guarantees for poultrymeat
imports regarding vaccination against Newcastle disease
following the harmonisation of the vaccine criteria by
Commission Decision 93/152/EEC (4) and furthermore
the status as regards Newcastle disease has changed for
Ireland and for the region of Northern Ireland in the
United Kingdom, therefore it is necessary to amend the
certificates of Decision 94/984/EC accordingly.

To take into account the changes indicated above and
for reasons of clarity Annexes I and II
to Decision
94/984/EC should be replaced by Annexes I and II to
this Decision.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in
accordance with the opinion of the Standing Veterinary
Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The text of Article 1 of Decision 94/984/EC becomes para-
graph 1 and the following is added as paragraph 2:

The fresh poultrymeat, intended for consignment to
‘2.
the Community and fulfilling the requirements of
this
Decision has to be marked with a health mark responding
to the criteria mentioned in Annex III.’

Article 2

Annexes I and II to Decision 94/984/EC are replaced by

1.
Annexes I and II to this Decision.

2.
Annex III
Decision 94/984/EC.

to this Decision is added as Annex III

to

Article 3

Decisions 96/181/EC, 96/387/EC, 96/712/EC and 97/593/EC
are hereby repealed.

Article 4

This Decision shall apply for fresh poultrymeat certified as
from 1 September 2001.

Article 5

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 11 July 2001.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 326, 17.12.1996, p. 67.
(2) OJ L 243, 11.10.1995, p. 14.
(3) OJ L 87, 21.3.1998, p. 14.
(4) OJ L 59, 11.3.1993, p. 35.

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L 210/39

ANNEX I

LIST OF THIRD COUNTRIES OR PARTS OF THIRD COUNTRIES WHICH ARE ALLOWED USE THE CERTI-
FICATES LAID DOWN IN ANNEX II FOR IMPORTS OF FRESH POULTRYMEAT INTO THE EUROPEAN
UNION

Note: The characters A and B refer to the models established in part 2 of Annex II.

ISO code

Country

Parts of the territory

Model certificate
to be used

(A or B)

Distrito Federal and the States of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato
Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul,
Santa Catarina and São Paulo

The municipality of Shanghai excluding the county of
Chongming and the districts of Weifang, Linyi and Qingdao
in the Province of Shangdong

AR

AU

BG

Argentina

Australia

Bulgaria

BR-1

Brazil

CA

CH

CL

Canada

Switzerland

Chile

CN-1

China

CY

CZ

HR

HU

IL

LI

NZ

PL

RO

SI

SK

TH

TN

US

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Croatia

Hungary

Israel

Lithuania

New Zealand

Poland

Romania

Slovenia

Slovak Republic

Thailand

Tunesia

United States of America

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

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ANNEX II

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ANNEX III

HEALTH MARK FOR FRESH POULTRYMEAT

The health mark referred to in Article 2 of Decision 94/984/EC must include:

(a) for meat wrapped in individual units or for small packages:

— on the upper part, the ISO code reference of the country of origin,
— in the centre, the veterinary approval number of the slaughterhouse or, where appropriate, the cutting premises or

rewrapping centre,

the letters and figures mut be 0,2 centimetres high;

(b) for large packagings, an oval mark at least 6,5 cm wide by 4,5 cm high, containing the name of the country, its ISO
code and the veterinary approval number of the slaughterhouse or, where appropriate, the cutting premises or
rewrapping-centre; the letters must be at least 0,8 cm high and the figures at least 1 cm high; the health mark may,
in addition, include an indication enabling identification of the veterinarian who carried out the health inspection of
the meat.

The material used for marking must meet all hygiene requirements and the information shall appear on it in perfectly
legible form.

The provisions of points 65, 67 and 68 of Chapter XII of Annex I to Directive 71/118/EEC apply mutatis mutandis for
health marking procedures, as well as for the use of large packagings.