Commission Regulation (EC) No 546/2006 of  31 March 2006  implementing Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards national scrapie control programmes and additional guarantees and derogating from certain requirements of Decision 2003/100/EC and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003
Date: 2006-03-31
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, animal disease, derogation from EU law, disease prevention, health control, veterinary legislation

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 546/2006

of 31 March 2006

implementing Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council as
regards national scrapie control programmes and additional guarantees and derogating from
certain requirements of Decision 2003/100/EC and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down
rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain
transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (1), and in particular
point (b)(ii) of Section 1 of Chapter A of Annex VIII thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

the national

scrapie control programmes of

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides for the approval
the
of
Member States if they comply with certain criteria laid
down in that Regulation. Regulation (EC) No 999/2001
also provides for the definition of any additional guar-
antees which may be required for intra-Community trade
and imports in accordance with that Regulation.

spongiform encephalopathies

Commission Decision 2003/100/EC of 13 February
2003 laying down minimum requirements for the estab-
lishment of breeding programmes for resistance to trans-
in sheep (2),
missible
provides that each Member State is to introduce a
breeding programme to select for resistance to TSEs in
certain sheep breeds. That Decision also provides for the
possibility for a Member State to derogate from the
requirement to establish a breeding programme on the
control programme,
basis of
submitted and approved in accordance with Regulation
(EC) No 999/2001, where it provides for the continuous
active monitoring of dead-on-farm ovine and caprine
animals in all flocks in that Member State.

its national

scrapie

Commission Regulation
24 October 2003 approving the national

(EC) No

1874/2003

of
scrapie

(1) OJ L 147, 31.5.2001, p. 1. Regulation as

last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 339/2006 (OJ L 55, 25.2.2006,
p. 5).

(2) OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 41.

control programmes of certain Member States and
defining additional guarantees, and granting derogations
concerning breeding programmes for TSE resistance in
sheep pursuant to Decision 2003/100/EC (3), approved
the national scrapie control programmes of Denmark,
Finland and Sweden.

2006,

certain

January

On 18 November 2005, Austria submitted a national
scrapie control programme to the Commission. On
5
that
programme were submitted to the Commission. That
programme, as amended, meets the required criteria set
out in Regulation (EC) No 999/2001. In addition, Austria
is likely to have a low prevalence or absence of scrapie
on its territory.

amendments

to

On the basis of that national scrapie control programme,
Austria should be granted derogation from the breeding
programme provided for
in Decision 2003/100/EC.
trade guarantees required
Furthermore,
by Annex VIII, Chapter A and Annex IX, Chapter E to
Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 should be laid down in
the present Regulation.

the additional

Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 provides for certain addi-
tional guarantees for Denmark, Finland and Sweden
relating to holdings. Those additional trade guarantees
should, however, be amended in order to increase subsi-
diarity to those Member States and also Austria, taking
into
trade
situations and differences in scrapie strains present in
those four Member States.

epidemiological

different

account

and

Therefore, for practical reasons and in the interests of
clarity of Community legislation,
is appropriate to
repeal Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 and replace it by
the present Regulation.

it

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with
Standing
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

opinion

the

the

of

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(3) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 12. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1472/2004 (OJ L 271, 19.8.2004, p. 26).

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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Approval of national scrapie control programmes

The national scrapie control programmes, referred to in Chapter
A, point I(b) of Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, of
the Member States listed in the Annex to the present Regulation
are hereby approved.

Article 2

Additional guarantees relating to holdings

Ovine and caprine animals destined for the Member States
1.
listed in the Annex and coming from other Member States not
listed in the Annex or third countries must have been kept
continuously, since birth, on holdings which have satisfied the
following conditions for a period of at least seven years prior to
the date of dispatch of such animals:

(a) no cases of scrapie have been confirmed;

(b) no eradication measures have been applied because of

scrapie;

Article 3

Official movement restrictions

The official movement

1.
restrictions presented by the
Member States listed in the Annex are hereby approved. They
shall apply to holdings receiving ovine or caprine animals or
semen, embryos and ova from ovine or caprine animals where:

(a)

the animals, semen, embryos and ova are received from
other Member States not
listed in the Annex or from
third countries; and

(b) scrapie has been confirmed during the three years prior to
or after the date of dispatch of the animals, semen, embryos
and ova in the Member State or third country of dispatch as
referred to in point (a).

The official movement

restrictions provided for

in
2.
paragraph 1 shall not apply in the case of receipt of ovine
the ARR/ARR prion protein genotype, or of
animals of
semen, embryos and ova from a donor of
the ARR/ARR
prion protein genotype.

(c)

the holdings have not contained animals
identified as
animals at risk referred to in Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation
(EC) No 999/2001.

Article 4

Ovine and caprine animals destined for the Member States
2.
listed in the Annex to the present Regulation and coming from
other Member States listed in that Annex must have been kept
on holdings, in which no ovine and caprine animal have been
placed under official TSE movement restrictions in accordance
for a
with Article 13(2) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001,
period of at least seven years prior to the date of dispatch of
such animals.

Derogations from the requirement to establish a breeding
programme

to the first

indent of Article 3(1) of Decision
Pursuant
2003/100/EC, Member States listed in the Annex to this Regu-
lation are hereby granted a derogation from the requirement to
establish a breeding programme as provided for in Article 2(1)
of that Decision.

3.
Semen, embryos and ova from ovine and caprine animals,
destined for the Member States listed in the Annex, must be
obtained from donors kept continuously since birth on holdings
fulfilling the conditions set out in:

Article 5

Repeal

Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 is repealed.

(a) paragraph 1, if coming from other Member States not listed

in the Annex or from third countries; or

Article 6

Entry into force

(b) paragraph 2, if coming from other Member States listed in

the Annex.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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

Done at Brussels, 31 March 2006.

For the Commission

Markos KYPRIANOU
Member of the Commission

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ANNEX

Member States referred to in Articles 1 to 4

Denmark

Austria

Finland

Sweden