26.6.2015   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 161/22

(1)

The particular situation in Libya and in Syria and the lack of disease reporting to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) does not allow those third countries to provide the necessary assurances regarding compliance or equivalence with the relevant animal health conditions applicable to imports of equidae into the Union as referred to in Directive 2009/156/EC. It is therefore necessary to delete the entries for Libya and Syria from the lists of third countries set out in Annex I to Commission Decisions 92/260/EEC (3) and 93/195/EEC (4), and to delete the entry for Syria from the list of third countries set out in Annex I to Commission Decision 93/197/EEC (5).

(2)

Israel is also included in the lists of third countries set out in Annex I to Decisions 92/260/EEC, 93/195/EEC and 93/197/EEC and in the list of countries set out in footnote 3 of Annex II to Commission Decision 93/196/EEC (6). For the sake of market transparency and in accordance with international law it should be clarified that in the case of Israel the territorial coverage of the veterinary certificates is limited to the territory of the State of Israel, excluding the territories under Israeli administration since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.

(3)

Since the amendment to the entry for Israel in the respective Annex I to Decisions 92/260/EEC, 93/195/EEC and 93/197/EEC, and in Annex II to Decision 93/196/EEC does not constitute a regionalisation, the amended geographical denomination for Israel should be explained in a new footnote to be added to the respective lists of third countries in the Annexes to those Decisions.

(4)

Decisions 92/260/EEC, 93/195/EEC, 93/196/EEC and 93/197/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(5)

Directive 2009/156/EC provides that imports of equidae into the Union are only authorised from third countries, or parts of the territory of third countries where regionalisation is applied, which have been free from glanders for a period of six months.

(6)

The list of third countries, or parts thereof where regionalisation applies, from which Member States are to authorise the importation of equidae and semen, ova and embryos thereof, is set out in Annex I to Commission Decision 2004/211/EC (7).

(7)

Brazil is currently included in that list of third countries. As glanders occurs in parts of the territory of Brazil, imports of equidae, and of their semen, ova and embryos, are only authorised from region BR-1 of the territory of that third country, as described in column 4 of Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC. The States of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Distrito Federal, Rio de Janeiro are currently included in region BR-1 of Brazil.

(8)

By letter of 20 November 2014, Brazil notified the Commission of the confirmation of a case of glanders in the State of Goiás. As a consequence, Brazil ceased issuing animal health certificates in accordance with Directive 2009/156/EC for the entire group of federal states included in region BR-1.

(9)

On 21 April 2015, Brazil informed the Commission of the measures taken to prevent the introduction of glanders into the areas of that third country eligible for listing in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC and provided a list of federal states where that disease is not present. It also confirmed that the State of Rio de Janeiro has remained free of glanders since the last case was reported on 16 July 2012.

(10)

Since the States of Goiás and, according to the list of glanders-free States submitted by Brazil, Santa Catarina are no longer free of glanders, and Brazil has provided guarantees as regards the absence of that disease in the other federal states, of which some are currently included in region BR-1, the entry for that region in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC should be amended in order to delete the States of Goiás and Santa Catarina from the current list and to reinstate the State of Paraná.

(11)

The equestrian events of the Olympic Games from 5 to 21 August 2016 and Paralympics from 7 to 21 September 2016, as well as the 2015 pre-Olympic test event from 7 to 9 August 2015 will take place at the Deodoro Equestrian Centre in Rio de Janeiro, which is managed as a separate equine disease-free zone within the State of Rio de Janeiro.

(12)

Therefore, a separate region ‘BR-2’ should be added temporarily to the entry for Brazil in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC, comprising the Deodoro Equestrian Centre in Rio de Janeiro in the State of Rio de Janeiro and the connecting road to the Galeão International Airport.

(13)

For the reason explained in recitals No 2 and No 3, the entry for Israel in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC should be amended and explained in a new footnote.

(14)

In addition, Decision 2004/211/EC provides that Member States are only to authorise the importation of equidae which meet the animal health requirements laid down in the corresponding model certificates provided for in Decisions 92/260/EEC, 93/195/EEC, 93/196/EEC and 93/197/EEC in respect of the relevant category of equidae, the type of importation and the sanitary group indicated in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC to which the third country or part of the territory of the third country of export has been assigned. Therefore the changes made to those Decisions in relation to Libya and Syria must be reflected accordingly in Annex I to Decision 2004/211/EC.

(15)

Unlike in other cases where the importation of equidae is suspended for disease reasons by way of deleting the crosses in columns 6 to 14 of the table in Annex I to 2004/211/EC, the deletion of Libya and Syria from that list of third countries or parts thereof is necessary because this list is used as a reference list for imports into the Union of other commodities, such as certain animal by-products in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011 (8) and dogs, cats and ferrets in accordance with Commission Implementing Decision 2013/519/EU (9).

(16)

Decisions 92/260/EEC, 93/195/EEC, 93/196/EEC, 93/197/EEC and 2004/211/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(17)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,