2005/648/EC: Commission Decision of 8 September 2005 concerning protection measures in relation to Newcastle disease in Bulgaria (notified under document number C(2005) 3389)   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2005-09-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Bulgaria, animal disease, animal product, health certificate, import restriction, infectious disease, poultry

L 238/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

15.9.2005

COMMISSION DECISION

of 8 September 2005

concerning protection measures in relation to Newcastle disease in Bulgaria

(notified under document number C(2005) 3389)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2005/648/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

suspended for fresh meat of poultry, ratites and wild
and farmed feathered game, meat preparations and
meat products consisting of, or containing meat of
slaughtered after
those species, obtained from birds
16 July 2005.

Having regard to Council Directive 91/496/EEC of 15 July 1991
laying down the principles governing the organisation of
veterinary checks on animals entering the Community from
third
89/662/EEC,
90/425/EEC and 90/675/EEC (1), and in particular Article 18
thereof,

amending Directives

countries

and

Having regard to Council Directive 97/78/EC of 18 December
1997 laying down the principles governing the organisation of
veterinary checks on products entering the Community from
third countries (2), and in particular Article 22 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

On 23 August 2005 Bulgaria confirmed an outbreak of
Newcastle disease in the administrative district of Vratsa
in Bulgaria. Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral
disease in poultry and birds and there is a risk that the
disease agent might be introduced via international trade
in live poultry and poultry products.

In view of the animal health risk of disease introduction
into the Community, it is therefore appropriate to take
measures in relation to imports of live poultry, ratites,
farmed and wild feathered game birds and hatching eggs
of these species from Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has communicated further information on the
disease situation and asked for regionalisation to suspend
importation into the Community from the administrative
district of Vratsa only, since the situation in the rest of
the country appears to be satisfactory. The information
available at present gives the possibility to reduce the
protection measures to a specific region.

(4)

Therefore, the importation into the Community from the
administrative district of Vratsa in Bulgaria should be

(1) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991, p. 56. Directive as last amended by the 2003

Act of Accession.

(2) OJ L 24, 30.1.1998, p. 9. Directive as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 165, 30.4.2004, p. 1).

(5)

(6)

third countries

Commission Decision 2005/432/EC (3) lays down the list
of
from which Member States may
authorise the importation of meat products, and estab-
lishes treatment regimes in order to prevent the risk of
disease transmission via such products. The treatment
that must be applied to the product depends on the
health status of the country of origin, in relation to the
species the meat is obtained from; in order to avoid an
unnecessary burden on trade,
imports of poultry meat
products originating in Bulgaria treated to a temperature
of at least 70 °C throughout the product should continue
to be authorised.

The measures provided for
accordance with
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

in this Decision are in
Standing
the

opinion

the

of

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Member States shall suspend imports from the administrative
districts in Bulgaria listed in the Annex to this Decision of live
poultry, ratites, farmed and wild feathered game and hatching
eggs of these species.

Article 2

Member States shall suspend imports from the administrative
districts in Bulgaria listed in the Annex to this Decision of:

(a)

fresh meat of poultry, ratites, farmed and wild feathered
game; and

(b) meat preparations and meat products consisting of, or
containing meat of, the species referred to in point (a).

(3) OJ L 151, 14.6.2005, p. 3.

15.9.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 238/17

Article 3

1.
By way of derogation from Article 2(a) and (b), Member
States shall authorise imports of the products covered by that
Article which have been obtained from poultry, ratites, farmed
and wild feathered game coming from the administrative
districts in Bulgaria listed in the Annex to this Decision and
which were slaughtered or killed before 16 July 2005.

In the veterinary certificates accompanying consignments
2.
of the products referred to in paragraph 1, the following words
shall be included:

consisting of, or

‘Fresh poultry meat/fresh ratite meat/fresh meat of wild
feathered game/fresh meat of farmed feathered game/meat
product
containing meat of poultry,
ratites, farmed or wild feathered game meat/meat preparation
consisting of, or containing meat of poultry, ratites, farmed
or wild feathered game meat (*) in accordance with Article
3(1) of Decision 2005/648/EC.
___________
(*) Delete as appropriate.’

By way of derogation from Article 2(b) of this Decision,
3.
Member States
shall authorise imports of meat products
consisting of, or containing meat of, poultry, ratites, farmed

and wild feathered game, when the meat of these species has
undergone one of the specific treatments referred to in points B,
C or D in Part 4 of Annex II to Decision 2005/432/EC.

Article 4

The Member States shall amend the measures they apply to
trade so as to bring them into compliance with this Decision
and they shall give immediate appropriate publicity to the
inform the
shall
measures
Commission thereof.

adopted. They

immediately

Article 5

This Decision shall apply until 23 August 2006.

Article 6

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 8 September 2005.

For the Commission

Markos KYPRIANOU
Member of the Commission

Administrative district of Vratsa

ANNEX