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

1.4.2006 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 94/28
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 establishing the European Community,
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) Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides for the approval of the national scrapie control programmes of the 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 guarantees which may be required for intra-Community trade and imports in accordance with that Regulation.
(2) Commission Decision 2003/100/EC of 13 February 2003 laying down minimum requirements for the establishment of breeding programmes for resistance to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in sheep (2), 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 basis of its national scrapie control programme, 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.
(3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 of 24 October 2003 approving the national scrapie 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.
(4) On 18 November 2005, Austria submitted a national scrapie control programme to the Commission. On 5 January 2006, certain amendments to 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.
(5) 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. Furthermore, the additional trade guarantees required by Annex VIII, Chapter A and Annex IX, Chapter E to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 should be laid down in the present Regulation.
(6) Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 provides for certain additional guarantees for Denmark, Finland and Sweden relating to holdings. Those additional trade guarantees should, however, be amended in order to increase subsidiarity to those Member States and also Austria, taking into account different epidemiological and trade situations and differences in scrapie strains present in those four Member States.
(7) Therefore, for practical reasons and in the interests of clarity of Community legislation, it is appropriate to repeal Regulation (EC) No 1874/2003 and replace it by the present Regulation.
(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,