(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) 2025/613 (4) was adopted on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and it lays down certain interim emergency measures relating to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in an establishment keeping bovine animals in the County of Győr-Moson-Sopron in Hungary, which was confirmed by the competent authority on 6 March 2025, and which is in close proximity to the border with Slovakia. More particularly, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/613 provides that the protection and surveillance zones to be established in Hungary, and the surveillance zone to be established in Slovakia, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, following that outbreak, had to comprise at least the areas listed in the Annex to that Implementing Decision. In addition, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/613 provides that the measures required to be applied in those zones, must be applied at least until 30 April 2025.

(5)

Since Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/613 was prepared, Slovakia has informed the Commission of the confirmation of three outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the Trnava region close to the border with the County of Győr-Moson-Sopron in Hungary, which were confirmed on 21 March 2025, and, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, it has established a restricted zone, which comprises protection and surveillance zones, where the disease control measures laid down in that Delegated Regulation are applied in order to prevent the further spread of that disease.

(6)

In order to prevent any unnecessary disturbance to trade within the Union, and to avoid unjustified barriers to trade being imposed by third countries, it is necessary to rapidly identify at Union level the areas where a restricted zone for foot and mouth disease, which comprises the protection and surveillance zones, which should be established in Slovakia, as well as the areas where surveillance zones should be established in Hungary, should be established in collaboration with those Member States. Therefore, the areas to be included in those protection and surveillance zones should be defined both spatially and temporally, in order to prevent the spread of the disease from the affected establishments in Slovakia to other parts of those Member States, to other Member States or to third countries. It is also necessary to provide clarity at Union level, by adopting a Union legal act, setting out the exact scope of those areas, as well as on the measures to be applied therein, in order to avoid any unjustified disruptions to the movements of animals and products thereof in the Union, as well as exports to third countries.

(7)

Accordingly, it is necessary to rapidly review at Union level the measures applicable in the areas currently designated as restricted zones for foot and mouth disease, which comprise protection and surveillance zones in Slovakia, and which comprise surveillance zones in Hungary, in collaboration with those Member States.

(8)

In addition, it is necessary to update the perimeters of the restricted zones in relation to the earlier outbreak in Győr-Moson-Sopron in Hungary, and the duration of the measures applied therein taking into account the evolution of the epidemiological situation.

(9)

Article 1 of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/613 should be amended, and the Annex thereto should be replaced.

(10)

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

1.

Article 1 is replaced by the following:

2.

the Annex is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Decision.