(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 of 26 October 2007 on implementing rules for Council Directive 2000/75/EC as regards the control, monitoring, surveillance and restrictions on movements of certain animals of susceptible species in relation to bluetongue (2) lays down rules for the control, monitoring, surveillance and restrictions on movements of animals, in relation to bluetongue, in and from the restricted zones.

(2)

Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 lays down conditions for exemption from the exit ban provided for in Directive 2000/75/EC. Article 8(1) of that Regulation provides that movements of animals, their semen, ova and embryos, from a holding or semen collection or storage centre located in a restricted zone to another holding or semen collection or storage centre are to be exempted from that exit ban provided that they comply with the conditions set out in Annex III to that Regulation or with any other appropriate animal health guarantees based on a positive outcome of a risk assessment of measures against the spread of the bluetongue virus and protection against attacks by vectors, required by the competent authority of the place of origin and approved by the competent authority of the place of destination, prior to the movement of such animals.

(3)

Article 9(a)(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 provides that, as a transitional measure and by way of derogation from the conditions set out in Annex III to that Regulation, Member States of destination may require that the movement of certain animals which are covered by the exemption, provided for in Article 8(1) thereof, be subjected to additional conditions, on the basis of a risk assessment taking into account the entomological and epidemiological conditions in which animals are being introduced. Those additional conditions specify that the animals must be less than 90 days old, they must have been kept since birth in vector protected confinement and they must have been subject to certain tests referred to in Annex III to that Regulation.

(4)

Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007, as amended by Regulation (EU) No 1142/2010 (3), prolonged the period of application of the transitional measures provided for in Article 9(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 for another 6 months, until 30 June 2011. At the time of adoption of Regulation (EU) No 1142/2010, it was expected that new rules on criteria for vector protected establishments would have been laid down in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 and that those transitional measures would therefore no longer be necessary. However, those planned amendments to Annex III to that Regulation have not yet been made.

(5)

Accordingly, it is necessary to prolong the period of application of the transitional measures provided for in Article 9(a)(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 for another year, pending the adoption of the amendments to Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 on vector protected establishments.

(6)

Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7)

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