(1)

Foot and mouth disease is an infectious viral disease affecting animals in the mammal order of Artiodactyla and can have a severe impact on the concerned animal population and the profitability of farming causing disturbance to movements of consignments of those animals and products thereof within the Union and exports to third countries.

(2)

In the event of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in animals of listed species, there is a serious risk of the spread of that disease to other establishments keeping animals of listed species.

(3)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 (2) supplements the rules for the control of the listed diseases referred to in Article 9(1), points (a), (b) and (c), of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and defined as category A, B and C diseases in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 (3). In particular, Articles 21 and 22 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 provide for the establishment of a restricted zone in the event of an outbreak of a category A disease, including foot and mouth disease, and for certain measures to be applied therein. Article 21(1) of that Delegated Regulation provides that the restricted zone is to comprise a protection zone, a surveillance zone, and, if necessary, further restricted zones around or adjacent to the protection and surveillance zones.

(4)

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672 (4) was adopted on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and it lays down certain emergency measures, relating to outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in establishments keeping bovine animals in Hungary, close to the border with Austria, and in Slovakia, close to the border with Hungary. More particularly, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672 provides for the establishment of protection, surveillance and further restricted zones in Hungary and Slovakia, and a surveillance zone and further restricted zones in Austria, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, following those outbreaks, and that those zones must comprise at least the areas listed in the Annex to that Implementing Decision. Due to the severity of the epidemiological situation, it also provides for certain restrictions on movements of animals of susceptible species.

(5)

The Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672 has been amended several times to take account of changes in the epidemiological situation as regards foot and mouth disease, and since the last amendment of that Implementing Decision by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/827 (5), Hungary has informed the Commission of the timing of the application of measures taken in response to the two outbreaks previously notified to the Commission. Therefore, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, the timeframe for the restricted zones established by Hungary and Slovakia, which comprise protection, surveillance and further restricted zones in Hungary, and a surveillance zone in Slovakia, and the duration of the measures applicable therein, should be updated. In addition, given the severity and urgency of the epidemiological situation, and in order to mitigate the further spread of the disease, it important that the measures laid down in Article 2 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672 continue to apply, in accordance with the areas and dates set out in the Annex to that Implementing Decision, as amended by this Decision..

(6)

Therefore, the perimeters of the areas included in those restricted zones in Hungary and Slovakia should be defined, both spatially and temporally, in the Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672, in order to prevent the further spread of the disease, as well as to prevent any unnecessary disturbance to trade within the Union, and to avoid any unjustified barriers to trade being imposed by third countries. Accordingly, regionalisation needs to be updated at Union level, and the areas identified as protection, surveillance and further restricted zones in Hungary, and as a surveillance zone in Slovakia, should be updated in the Annex to this Decision, and the duration of those measures fixed, in collaboration with those Member States.

(7)

The Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/672 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8)

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