2004/764/: 2004/764/EC:#Commission Decision of 22 October 2004 concerning an extension of the maximum period laid down for the application of eartags to certain bovine animals kept in nature reserves in the Netherlands (notified under document number C(2004) 4013)Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2004-10-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Netherlands, calf, data recording, database, information storage and retrieval, labelling, nature reserve

16.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 339/9

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 22 October 2004

concerning an extension of the maximum period laid down for the application of eartags to certain
bovine animals kept in nature reserves in the Netherlands

(notified under document number C(2004) 4013)

(Only the Dutch text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2004/764/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of
the
European 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 4(2) thereof,

Having regard to the request submitted by the Netherlands,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The Netherlands have requested an extension to 12
months of the maximum period laid down for the appli-
cation of eartags to bovine animals in nature reserves,
due to practical difficulties.

for the purpose of
Those animals are primarily kept
nature protection and landscape conservation and not
for production purposes. They are kept under extensive
holding conditions and in free range where calves stay
always close to their mother.

is justified to take account of

It
the Dutch request,
provided that the extension of the maximum period for
information
tagging does not affect
provided by the Dutch database for bovine animals and
that there is no movement of bovine animals to which
eartags have not been applied.

the quality of

In the case of animals, which have not been tagged until
the age of 6 months, the identity of the mother should
be verified by a DNA test. Taking this additional
guarantee
the maximum period for
tagging should not be longer than 12 months.

into account

This derogation should be strictly restricted to a limited
number of holdings, which have been separately
authorised according to defined criteria
as nature
reserves and communicated to the Commission.

The Dutch authorities undertake not to extend this dero-
gation to the identification and registration system of
bovine animals.

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

(5)

(6)

(7)

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Netherlands may extend to 12 months the maximum
period laid down by Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No
1760/2000, for the application of eartags to calves kept in
certain nature reserves provided all the conditions set out in
this Decision are met.

(1) OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1.

This extension shall not affect
provided by the computerised bovine database.

the quality of

information

L 339/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.11.2004

Article 2

(b) the nature reserve covers a territory of at least 100 ha;

The extension provided in Article 1 shall be allowed

1.
subject to all the conditions set out in paragraph 2 to 5.

The animals shall be born in a nature reserve authorised

2.
by the competent authority in accordance with Article 3.

3.
The birth of each calf shall be reported to the competent
authority within a period to be fixed by the Netherlands in
accordance with Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000.

The eartags shall be applied before the calves are 12

4.
months old.

5.
In any case no animals shall
without prior application of the eartags.

leave the nature reserve

6.
For calves tagged later than 6 months of age the identity
of the mother shall be verified on the basis of a DNA-test when
the eartags are applied.

Article 3

The competent authority may authorise nature reserves for
1.
the purpose of this Decision if they fulfil the following condi-
tions:

(a)

the nature reserve is a holding where animals are primarily
kept for the purpose of nature protection and landscape
conservation;

(c)

the effective livestock density is below 0,5 animals over 12
months of age per hectare, on an annual average basis;

(d) the animals are reared at

liberty in a totally extensive

system, with the calves staying with their mother.

2.
The status of a holding as an authorised nature reserve
with an extended period for tagging shall be clearly stated in the
records of the computerised bovine database.

The

competent authority shall

3.
to the
Commission the list of nature reserves which have been
authorised according to paragraph 1.

communicate

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Done at Brussels, 22 October 2004.

For the Commission

David BYRNE
Member of the Commission