2004/650/EC: Council Decision of 13 September 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals to take account of the accession of Malta(Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2004-09-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Malta, accession to the European Union, domestic animal, health control, transport of animals

L 298/22

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.9.2004

COUNCIL DECISION

of 13 September 2004

amending Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals to take
account of the accession of Malta

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2004/650/EC)

(6)

(7)

Malta should therefore be added to the list of Member
States which have been granted a transitional period
under Regulation (EC) No 998/2003.

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 should therefore be
amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 6(1):

— in the first subparagraph,

shall be inserted after ‘Ireland’,

introductory wording,

‘Malta’

— in the third subparagraph,

‘these three Member States’

shall be replaced by ‘these four Member States’.

2. In Annex II, ‘Lists of countries and territories’, Part A, ‘Malta’

shall be inserted after ‘Ireland’.

Article 2

This Decision shall apply from the twentieth day following that
of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 13 September 2004.

For the Council
The President

B. R. BOT

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to the 2003 Act of Accession (1), and in
particular, Article 57 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

For certain acts adopted by the European Union, which
remain valid beyond 1 May 2004, and require adaptation
by reason of accession, the necessary adaptations were
not provided for in the 2003 Act of Accession,
in
particular in Annex II thereto.

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of
European
Parliament and of the Council (2) establishes veterinary
conditions applying in particular
to non-commercial
movements of pet dogs, cats and ferrets, and is one of
these acts that must be adapted.

the

for

Malta, which formerly applied a system of six months
concerned,
for
quarantine
to transpose
regime
has abandoned this
and implement Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 as from
3 July 2004.

the
in order

imports

species

In the course of the negotiations for enlargement it was
accepted that Malta, being an island with a similar health
status for freedom from rabies to that of Ireland, the
United Kingdom and Sweden, should be treated in the
same category as these three Member States.

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 divides Member States
into two categories according to the history of
their
controls against rabies, and grants Sweden, Ireland and
the United Kingdom a transitional period of five years for
controls on dogs, cats and ferrets entering their territory.

(1) OJ L 236, 23.9.2003, p. 33.
(2) OJ L 146, 13.6.2003, p. 1. Regulation as

last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 592/2004 (OJ L 94, 31.3.2004,
p. 7).