2006/656/EC: Commission Decision of 20 September 2006 laying down the animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of fish for ornamental purpose (notified under document number C(2006) 4149)   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-09-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: approximation of laws, fish, health certificate, health control, import

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COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 20 September 2006

laying down the animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of fish for
ornamental purpose

(notified under document number C(2006) 4149)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/656/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

the application of Decision 2003/858/EC with respect to
ornamental fish.

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Directive 91/67/EEC of 28 January
1991 concerning the animal health conditions governing the
placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products (1),
and in particular Article 19(3), Article 20(3) and Article 21(1)
thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

A list of third countries or parts thereof from which
Member States are authorised to import live fish, their
eggs and gametes for farming in the Community and the
animal health conditions and certification requirements
for such consignments are established by Commission
Decision 2003/858/EC of 21 November 2003 laying
down the animal health conditions and certification
requirements for imports of
their eggs and
gametes intended for farming, and live fish of aqua-
culture origin and products thereof intended for human
consumption (2).

live fish,

Decision 2003/858/EC does not apply to tropical orna-
mental
fish kept permanently in aquaria, and conse-
quently the animal health conditions and certification
requirements
fish are not
for
harmonised at Community level.

tropical ornamental

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Certain third countries were included in Annex I
to
Decision 2003/858/EC for the purpose of export of
cold-water ornamentals only. These countries should
therefore appear in Annex I to this Decision.

Currently, 14 Member States have drawn up national
animal health certificates with different animal health
conditions for ornamental fish. For the sake of simplifi-
cation, for the Community Border inspection posts, for
European ornamental fish industry, as well as for third
country trading partners, those animal health conditions
and model certificates should be harmonised.

The specific animal health conditions and model certi-
ficates for ornamental fish, should be drawn up in line
with the conditions and certificates laid down in Decision
2003/858/EC, taking into account the specific use of
these animals in the Community, and animal health
situation of the third country concerned,
in order to
the introduction of disease that could cause
prevent
significant impact to the farmed and wild fish stock in
the Community if introduced and allowed to spread.

Council Directive 96/93/EC of 17 December 1996 on
the certification of animals and animal products (3) lays
down standards of certification. The rules and principles
should
applied by
provide guarantees which are equivalent to those laid
down in that Directive.

certifying officers

third-country

(3)

There is a significant trade in ornamental fish with third
countries and concerns have been raised with regard to

(1) OJ L 46, 19.2.1991, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Regulation

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

(2) OJ L 324, 11.12.2003, p. 37. Decision as last amended by Decision

2005/742/EC (OJ L 279, 22.10.2005, p. 71).

(8)

This Decision should apply without prejudice
to
Community or national provision on the conservation
of species.

(3) OJ L 13, 16.1.1997, p. 28.

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(9)

The Member States and Third countries need some time
to adapt to the new import certification requirements.
This Decision should therefore not be applicable imme-
diately.

(10)

This Decision has been notified to Third countries for
comments in accordance with the WTO agreement on
sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

(11)

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

Scope

pancreatic necrosis
infection with Gyrodactylus salaris;

(IPN), Koi herpes virus

(KHV) and

(c)

‘tropical ornamental
cold-water ornamental fish;

fish’ means ornamental fish other than

(d) ‘transshippers’ means companies or persons which supply
ornamental fish to a number of retailers or wholesalers,
by importing the consignments on their behalf, and
deliver the separate orders directly to the customers in the
Community.

Article 3

Conditions for imports of cold-water ornamental fish

Member States shall authorise imports of cold-water ornamental
fish into their territory only if:

This Decision establishes harmonised animal health rules

1.
for imports of ornamental fish into the Community.

(a)

the fish originate from a country listed in:

2.

This Decision shall apply to:

(a)

fish caught in the wild, imported for the purpose of being
used as ornamental fish,

(b) ornamental fish imported by transshippers and wholesalers,

(c) ornamental fish imported into pet shops, garden centres,
garden ponds, exhibition aquaria and similar businesses
without direct contact with Community waters.

(i) Annex I to Decision 2003/858/EC; or

(ii) Part I of Annex I to this Decision;

(b) the consignment complies with the guarantees,

including
those for packaging and labelling and the appropriate
specific additional requirements laid down in the animal
health certificate, drawn up in conformity with the model
in Annex II, taking into account the explanatory notes in
Annex III; and

(c)

the fish have been transported under conditions that do not
alter their health status.

Article 2

Definitions

Article 4

For the purposes of this Decision, in addition to the definitions
in Article 2 of Directive 91/67/EEC, the following definitions
shall apply:

Conditions for imports of tropical ornamental fish

Member States shall authorise imports of tropical ornamental
fish into their territory only if:

(a)

‘ornamental fish’ means fish which are kept, reared, or placed
on the market for ornamental purposes only;

(a)

the fish originate from a country listed in Part II of Annex I
to this Decision;

(b) ‘cold-water ornamental fish’ means ornamental fish of species
susceptible to one or more of
the following diseases:
epizootic haematopoietic necrosis (EHN), infectious salmon
anaemia
(VHS),
infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN), spring viraemia
infectious
of carp (SVC), bacterial kidney disease (BKD),

viral haemorrhagic

septicaemia

(ISA),

(b) the consignment complies with the guarantees,

including
those for packaging and labelling and the appropriate
specific additional
laid down in the
requirements, as
animal health certificate, drawn up in conformity with the
model
in Annex IV, taking into account the explanatory
notes in Annex III; and

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Transport water from imported consignments shall be
lead to

2.
handled in a way which ensures that
contamination of natural waters within the Community.

it does not

Article 7

Date of application

This Decision shall apply six months after the date of publi-
cation.

Article 8

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 20 September 2006.

For the Commission

Markos KYPRIANOU
Member of the Commission

(c)

the fish have been transported under conditions that do not
alter their health status.

Article 5

Control procedures

Ornamental fish imported from third countries shall be subject
to veterinary checks at
in the
the border
in accordance with Article 8 of
Member State of arrival
Council Directive 91/496/EEC (1) and the common veterinary
entry document provided for in Commission Regulation (EC)
No 282/2004 (2) shall be completed accordingly.

inspection post

Article 6

Preventing contamination of natural waters

Ornamental fish imported under this Decision shall not be
1.
released into fish farms, or other premises from which they
could escape into, or otherwise contaminate, natural waters in
the Community.

(1) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991, p. 58.
(2) OJ L 49, 19.2.2004, p. 11.

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ANNEX I

PART I

Territories from which imports of cold-water ornamental fish into the European Community is authorised

Country

Territory

Comments (1)

ISO-code

Name

Code

Description

BR

CO

CG

MK (2)

JM

SG

LK

TH

Brazil

Colombia

Republic of the Congo

Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia

Jamaica

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

Cyprinidae only

(1) No limitations if left empty. If a country or territory is allowed to export only certain species and/or eggs or gametes, the species should

be specified and/or a comment with for example ‘eggs only’ shall be inserted in this column.

(2) Provisional code that does not affect the definitive denomination of the country to be attributed after the conclusion of the negotiations

taking place in the United Nations.

Territories from which imports of tropical ornamental fish into the European Community is authorised

PART II

All countries being a member of the World Organisation for Animal health (OIE).

[List of countries is available on http://www.oie.int/eng/OIE/PM/en_PM.htm]

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ANNEX II

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ANNEX III

Explanatory notes

General guidance

Guidance for completing Part I of the certificates

(a) The certificates shall be produced by the competent

authorities of the exporting country.

(b) The original of each certificate shall consist of a single
page, double-sided, or, where more than one page is
required, it shall be in such a form that all pages form
part of an integrated whole and are indivisible.

(c)

It shall, on the right hand side of the top of each page,
‘original’ and bear a specific code
be marked as
number issued by the competent authority. All pages
of the certificate shall be numbered — (page number) of
(total number of pages).

(d) The original of the certificate and the labels referred to
in the model certificate shall be drawn up in at least
one official language of the EC Member State in which
the inspection at the border post shall be carried out
and of the EC Member State of destination. However,
these Member States may allow other languages,
if
necessary, accompanied by an official translation.

(e) The original of the certificate must be completed on
the day of loading the consignment for exportation to
the EC with an official stamp and signed by an official
inspector designated by the competent authority.
In
doing so, the competent authority of the exporting
country shall ensure that the principles of certification
equivalent
to those laid down in Council Directive
96/93/EC are followed.

(f) The stamp, unless embossed, and the signature shall be

in a colour different to that of the printing.

(g) The original of the certificate must accompany the
consignment until it reaches the EC border inspection
post.

(h) The certificate shall be valid for 10 days from the date
of issue. In the case of transport by ship, the time of
validity is prolonged by the time of journey at sea.

(a) Box I.8 Region of origin: If necessary: concerns only
where regionalisation measures or approved zone
definition according to this Decision or Decision
2003/858/EC. The regions and the approved zones
must be indicated as they appeared in the EU Official
Journal.

(b) Box I.10. Region of destination: Cf. box I.8.

(c) Box I.13. Place of loading: If different from box I.11.
give the place where the animals are loaded and
particularly, in case of pre-assembly

(d) Box I.20. Quantity: give the total gross weight and

the total net weight in kg.

(e) Box I.22. Number of packages: give the number of
boxes in which the animals are being transported.

(f) Box I.25. Commodities certified for: give exclusive
(Only the possible options

destination of the fish.
shall appear on each specific certificate)

— Quarantine: This refer to quarantine as required

under the relevant Community legislation

— Pets: This applies also where ornamental aquatic
animals are intended for pet-shops of similar
businesses for further sale

— Circus/exhibition: This applies also where orna-
mental aquatic animals are intended for exhi-
bition aquaria of
for
further sale

similar businesses, not

— ‘Other’: intended for purposes not listed elsewhere
in this classification, such as private import or
trough transhippers.

(g) Box I.28 The common name of the species may be

included together with the scientific name.

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ANNEX IV

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