Commission Regulation (EC) No 911/2004 of 29 April 2004 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards eartags, passports and holding registers (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2004-04-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agricultural holding, cattle, data recording, labelling, marketing standard, traceability

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 911/2004

of 29 April 2004

implementing Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council as
regards eartags, passports and holding registers

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the Euro-
pean Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 estab-
lishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine
animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products
and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 (1), and in
particular Article 7(1) and Article 10 (a), (b) and (c) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2629/97 of 29
December 1997 laying down detailed rules for the
implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97
as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the
framework of the system for the identification and regis-
tration of bovine animals (2) has been substantially
amended several times. For reasons of clarity and consis-
tency of Community legislation those rules should be
contained in a single act. Accordingly, Regulation (EC)
No 2629/97 should be repealed and replaced by this
Regulation.

Ear tags should include information on the Member
State of origin together with information on the indivi-
dual animal. The most appropriate codified form of such
information is the two-letter country code together with
a maximum of 12 digits. Bar codes could be authorised
in addition to the country code and the maximum 12
digits.

is appropriate to take account of

the difficulties
It
pointed out by the competent authority of certain
Member States regarding the code for the identification
of bovine animals and permit those authorities to use
ear tags containing an alpha-numeric code until the end
of a transitional period. In addition it is appropriate to
take into account the difficulties pointed out by the
competent authority of Italy and to permit that authority
to use a maximum of three supplementary characters
provided those supplementary characters do not form
part of the numeric code.

(4)

In order to avoid difficulties in intra-Community trade in
it is
bovine animals and to clarify the current rules,
necessary to authorise keepers to acquire in advance, if

(1) OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1. Regulation as amended by the 2003 Act

of Accession.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

they so wish and in compliance with the national provi-
sions, a quantity of ear tags proportionate to their needs
for a period of no more than one year.

is

appropriate

It
information
contained in the replacement ear tags in the event of ear
tag losses.

to provide

the

for

It is appropriate to define certain minimum uniform
rules for the design and layout of the ear tags.

The provisions concerning the information content of
the ear tags should be reviewed in the light of the estab-
lishment of the computerised database provided for in
Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000.

The information contained in the passport and the
register should be in a form which allows animals to be
traced.

The information should be consistent with that to be
included in the computerised database provided for in
Council Directive 64/432/EEC of 26 June 1964 on
animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade
in bovine animals and swine (3).

The period between three and seven days to be deter-
mined by Member States for keepers to notify move-
ments, births and deaths of animals should be linked to
the date of the event. However, it is appropriate to take
account of the difficulties pointed out by Member States
for notification of births within the deadline foreseen,
and consequently to allow Member States to determine
the relevant period from the date when the animal is ear
tagged.

is appropriate to take account of

It
the difficulties
pointed out by Member States regarding the information
to be provided in the passports accompanying bovine
animals born before 1 January 1998. The difficulties
pointed out during the preparation of the Accession of
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia for the
passports accompanying animals born before 1 January
2004 should also be taken into account.

(2) OJ L 354, 30.12.1997, p. 9. Regulation as last amended by the

(3) OJ L 121, 29.7.1964, p. 1977/64. Directive as last amended by

2003 Act of Accession.

Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 (OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8).

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(12)

information on passports

It is appropriate to make optional the mention of certain
pieces of
accompanying
bovine animals born before 1 January 1998 and for
bovine animals born before 1 January 2004 in the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia or Slovakia. That dero-
gation should not put
in question the obligation to
mention these pieces of information on passports of
bovine animals born in the territory of a Member State
where such a requirement is provided by its national
rules.

(13)

In view of the control measures relating to Community
aid schemes, it is necessary to include in the passport
as
certain information relating to the premiums,
provided in Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 of
17 May 1999 on the common organisation of
the
market in beef and veal (1),.

(14)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

EAR TAGS

Article 1

1.
Ear tags shall contain the name, the code or the logo of
the competent authority which allocated the ear tags, and the
characters provided for in paragraph 2.

The characters forming the identification code on the ear

2.
tags shall be as follows:

(a) the first two positions shall identify the Member State of
the holding where the animal
is first identified; for that
purpose the two-letter country code set out in the Annex I
shall be used;

(b) the characters following the country code shall be numeric
and shall not exceed 12 digits; however, Spain, Ireland,
Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom may maintain their
system of an alpha-numeric code for the 12 digits following
the country code in respect of animals born until 31
December 1999 for Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal and
for the United Kingdom in respect of animals born until 30
June 2000.

In addition to the information provided for in paragraph

3.
1, a bar code may be authorised by the competent authority.

4.
By derogation to the limitation of the number of charac-
ters laid down in paragraph 2(b) the competent authority of
Italy may use a maximum of three supplementary characters

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1782/2003 (OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1).

after the sequence of characters provided for in that paragraph.
However, those characters shall not form part of the identifica-
tion code in paragraph 2.

Keepers shall be authorised to acquire in advance, if they
5.
so wish and in compliance with the applicable national provi-
sions, a quantity of ear tags proportionate to their needs for a
period not exceeding one year. In the case of holdings which
keep no more than five animals, the competent authority may
not provide in advance more than five pairs of eartags.

In case of an ear tag loss, the replacement ear tags may
6.
contain,
in addition to the information provided for and
distinct from it, a mark expressing in Roman numerals the
version number of the replacement ear tag. In such an event,
the identification code provided for in paragraph 2 shall
remain unchanged. Replacement ear tags used by a Member
State for animals born in another Member State shall bear at
least the same identification code in addition to the code or the
logo of the competent authority issuing it.

Article 2

Ear tags shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) they shall be of flexible plastic material;

(b) they shall be tamper-proof and easy to read throughout the

lifetime of the animal;

(c) they shall not be re-usable;

(d) they shall be designed in such a way that they can remain

attached to the animal without being harmful to it;

(e) they shall

carry only non-removable

inscriptions, as

provided for in Article 1.

Article 3

The model of the first ear tag shall be as follows:

(a) it shall consist of two parts, a male part and a female part;

(b) each part of the ear tag shall contain only the information

provided for in Article 1;

(c) the length of the ear tag shall be at least 45 mm for each

part;

(d) the width of the ear tag shall be at least 55 mm for each

part;

(e) the characters shall have a minimum height of 5 mm.

Article 4

Member States may choose other material or model for the
second ear tag and may decide to add further information
provided that the information requirements provided for in
Article 1 (1) and (2) are complied with.

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Article 5

Member States shall communicate to each other and to the
Commission models for the first and the second ear tags as
provided for in Articles 3 and 4.

CHAPTER II

PASSPORTS AND HOLDING REGISTERS

Article 6

1.

The passport shall contain at least the following:

(a) the information referred to in the first to seventh indent of

Article 14 (3) C (1), of Directive 64/432/EEC;

(b) the information referred to in:

(i) the second indent of Article 14 (3) C (2) of Directive

64/432/EEC, or

(ii) the first indent of Article 14 (3) C (2) if the database
provided for by Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/
2000 is fully operational;

(c) the signature of the keeper(s), with the exception of the
transporter; when the database is fully operational as
provided for in the first indent of Article 6 (3), of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1760/2000, only the signature of the last
keeper shall be provided;

(d) the name of issuing authority;

(e) the date of issue of the passport.

2. Without prejudice to Chapter I.A.1 of
the Annex to
Council Directive 91/628/EEC on the protection of animals
during transport (1), a calf under four weeks of age may be
moved, provided that
In such a case,
Member States may provide for it to be accompanied by a
temporary passport containing at least the information set out
in paragraph 1 in a format approved by the competent
authority.

is healed.

its navel

transporters. The keeper shall submit

The temporary passport shall be issued by the first keeper of
the calf and shall be completed by each subsequent keeper with
the exception of
the
temporary passport
to the competent authority before the
animal is four weeks old, or within seven days following the
event if the animal dies or is slaughtered before it is four weeks
old. Where the calf is still alive, the competent authority shall
issue a final passport in accordance with paragraph 1 within
14 days of receipt of the temporary passport. Final passports
shall record the details of all previous movements made by the
calf as recorded on the temporary passport.

The calf may not move more than twice between holdings,
accompanied by the temporary passport. For the purpose of
this paragraph, a movement between two holdings through a
market or calf collection centre shall count as one movement,

(1) OJ L 340, 11.12.1991, p. 17. Directive as last amended by Council

Regulation (EC) No 806/2003 (OJ L 122, 16.5.2003, p. 1).

the market or the calf collection centre can
provided that
provide, upon request,
to the competent authorities a full
record of the transactions carried out within the framework of
that market or centre.

3.
By way of derogation from paragraph 1(a), the informa-
tion provided for by the second and fifth indents of Article 14
(3) C (1) of Directive 64/432/EEC shall not be compulsory for
passports of bovine animals born before 1 January 1998. The
derogation provided for in this paragraph shall be without
prejudice to the obligation to provide the abovementioned
pieces of information where such a requirement is provided for
by national rules. Member States shall communicate to each
other and to the Commission the rules effectively applied
regarding the information referred to in this paragraph.

For

the Czech Republic,

4.
Latvia,
Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia the
derogation provided for in paragraph 3 shall apply to bovine
animals born before 1 January 2004.

Estonia, Cyprus,

Article 7

In addition to the information referred to in Article 6, the
following information concerning the premium situation of
male animals, as provided for in Article 4 of Council Regu-
lation (EC) No 1254/99, shall be added to the passport:

(a) application or grant: first-age bracket;

(b) application or grant: second-age bracket.

Article 8

The register kept on each holding shall contain at least the
following information:

(a) the up-to-date information provided for in the first

to
fourth indent of Article 14 (3) C (1) of Directive 64/432/
EEC;

(b) the date of death of the animal on the holding;

(c) in the case of animals departing from the holding, the
name and address of the keeper, with the exception of the
transporter, or the identification code of the holding, to
whom/which the animal is being transferred, as well as the
date of departure;

(d) in the case of animals arriving on the holding, the name
and address of the keeper, with the exception of the trans-
porter, or the identification code of
from
whom/which the animal was transferred, and the date of
arrival;

the holding,

(e) the name and signature of the representative of the compe-
tent authority checking the register and the dates on which
such checks are carried out.

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Article 9

In the case of births, when fixing the period between three and
seven days for notification of events by the keeper as provided
for in Article 7 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000, Member
States may use the date when the animal is tagged instead of
the date of birth as the starting point for the period concerned,
provided that no risk of confusion between those dates shall
ensue in any record.

Article 10

CHAPTER III

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 11

1.

Regulation (EC) No 2629/97 is repealed.

References

2.
to Regulation (EC) No 2629/97 shall be
construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in
accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex II to this
Regulation.

Member States shall communicate to each other and to the
Commission the model of the passport and the holding register
used within their territory.

Article 12

This Regulation shall enter into force on first May 2004.

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

Done at Brussels, 29 April 2004.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX I

The code on a bovine eartag shall start with the letters identifying the Member State of origin in accordance with the
following table:

Member State of origin

ISO-code

Austria

Belgium

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Slovenia

Slovakia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

AT

BE

CZ

CY

DK

EE

FI

FR

DE

EL

HU

IE

IT

LV

LT

LU

MT

NL

PL

PT

SI

SK

ES

SE

UK

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ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Regulation (EC) No 2629/97

This Regulation

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

Article 5

Article 6 (1), (2) and (4)

Article 6 (3)

Article 7

Article 8

Article 9

-

Article 10

Annex

-

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

Article 5

Article 6

Article 9

Article 7

Article 8

Article 10

Article 11

Article 12

Annex I

Annex II