Commission Regulation (EC) No 571/2008 of 19 June 2008 amending Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the criteria for revision of the annual monitoring programmes concerning BSE (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-06-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU control, animal disease, cattle, disease prevention, health control, public health

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 571/2008

of 19 June 2008

amending Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
as regards the criteria for revision of the annual monitoring programmes concerning BSE

(Text with EEA relevance)

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
the first paragraph of Article 23 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 lays down rules for the
transmissible
prevention, control and eradication of
spongiform encephalopathies
It
provides that each Member State is to carry out an
annual monitoring programme
for TSEs based on
active and passive surveillance.

in animals.

(TSEs)

Article 6(1b) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides
that Member
the
improvement of the epidemiological situation on their
territory may
annual monitoring
for
programmes to be revised.

States which can demonstrate

apply

their

Several Member States in which a positive trend in the
epidemiological situation as regards bovine spongiform
encephalopathy
have
has
expressed interest in having their annual BSE monitoring
In order to allow those Member
programme revised.

observed,

(BSE)

been

States to submit to the Commission a request to revise
their BSE monitoring programmes, it is necessary to lay
down the criteria for demonstrating an improvement in
the BSE epidemiological situation.

Those criteria are epidemiological
indicators aiming to
assess in a quantified manner the evolution of the BSE
situation in Member States over the years.

For the sake of clarity and consistency, those criteria
should be laid down in Annex III to Regulation (EC)
No 999/2001.

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 should therefore be
amended accordingly.

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)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex III
accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 is amended in

Article 2

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

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

Done at Brussels, 19 June 2008.

For the Commission

Androulla VASSILIOU
Member of the Commission

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

last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 357/2008 (OJ L 111, 23.4.2008,
p. 3).

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In Part I of Chapter A of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, the following point 7 is added:

ANNEX

‘7. Revision of the annual monitoring programmes concerning BSE (BSE monitoring programmes), as

provided for in Article 6(1b)

7.1. Member States’ applications

Applications submitted to the Commission by Member States for revision of their annual BSE monitoring
programme shall include at least the following:

(a)

information on the annual BSE monitoring system in place during the previous six-year period within the
territory of the Member State, including detailed documentation proving compliance with the epidemio-
logical criteria set out in point 7.2;

(b) information on the bovine identification and traceability system, as referred to in point (b) of the third
subparagraph of Article 6(1b),
in place during the previous six-year period within the territory of the
Member State, including a detailed description of the functioning of the computerised database as referred
to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*);

(c)

information on prohibitions concerning animal feeding during the previous six-year period within the
territory of the Member State, including a detailed description of the enforcement of the feed ban for
including the
farmed animals, as referred to in point (c) of the third subparagraph of Article 6(1b),
sampling plan and the number and type of infringements found and the follow-up results;

(d) a detailed description of the proposed revised BSE monitoring programme that includes the geographical
area in which the programme is to be implemented and a description of subpopulations of bovine animals
to be covered by the BSE revised monitoring programme, including indications of the age limits and the
sample sizes for testing;

(e)

the result of a comprehensive risk analysis showing that the revised BSE monitoring programme will ensure
the protection of human and animal health. This risk analysis shall include a birth cohort analysis or other
relevant studies aiming to demonstrate that the TSE risk reducing measures, including the feeding prohi-
bitions as referred to in point (c) of the third subparagraph of Article 6(1b), have been implemented in an
efficient way.

7.2. Epidemiological criteria

Applications for revision of a BSE monitoring programme may only be accepted if
the Member State
concerned can demonstrate that, in addition to the requirements laid down in points (a), (b) and (c) of the
third subparagraph of Article 6(1b), the following epidemiological criteria are met within its territory:

(a)

for a period of at least six consecutive years following the date of implementation of the Community BSE
testing scheme as referred to in point (b) of the third subparagraph of Article 6(1b):

either

(i)

the average decrease of the annual BSE incidence rate observed within the adult bovine animal
population (over 24 months of age) was superior to 20 %, and the total number of BSE affected
cattle born after the implementation of the Community total feed ban for farmed animals, as referred
to in point (c) of the third subparagraph of Article 6(1b), did not exceed 5 % of the total number of
confirmed BSE cases;

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or

(ii)

the annual observed BSE incidence rate within the adult bovine animal population (over 24 months of
age) remained consistently less than 1/100 000;

or

(iii) as a further option for a Member State with an adult bovine animal population (over 24 months of
age) of less than 1 000 000 animals, the cumulated number of confirmed BSE cases remained under
five;

(b) following the six-year period referred to in point (a), there is no evidence that the BSE epidemiological

situation is deteriorating.

___________
(*) OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1.’