(1)

Foot and mouth disease (‘FMD’) is a severe, highly contagious viral disease of livestock, which can have a significant economic impact on the agricultural sector, and the potential to spread rapidly through contaminated plant materials, including hay and straw.

(2)

Hay and straw are the only plant materials for which restrictions on the entry into the Union of consignments thereof were laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 136/2004 (3), which applied until 20 April 2021. In particular, only consignments of hay and straw from third countries or territories listed in Annex V to Regulation (EC) No 136/2004 were permitted to enter the Union. Given the risk posed for the spread of FMD through those materials, it is appropriate to continue to have such restrictions laid down in Union law.

(3)

The new legislative framework for animal health, established under Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and which applies from 21 April 2021, should ensure a smooth transition from the requirements laid down in pre-existing Union acts, including those concerning the entry into the Union of plant materials, as they have proved to be effective. Therefore, the aim and substance of those pre-existing rules should be maintained in the rules laid down in this Decision, pending a scientific opinion of the European Food Authority (EFSA) evaluating the animal health risks of the introduction into the Union of FMD and other category A diseases as referred to in Article 1(1) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 (4) through consignments of hay and straw from third countries or territories.

(4)

It is therefore necessary to lay down in this Decision a list of third countries or territories from which the entry into the Union of consignments of hay and straw is authorised. Such a list should take into account the list in Annex V to Regulation (EC) No 136/2004, and the list, in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/404 (5), of third countries or territories, or zones thereof from which the entry into the Union of consignments of ungulates is authorised due to their favourable animal health situation as regards, amongst others, FMD. In order not to cause any disturbance to trade and for the sake of clarity, there should also be a separate list of third countries or territories from which the entry into the Union of consignments of pelleted straw intended for combustion in a plant is authorised.

(5)

In order to prevent the contact of consignments of pelleted straw intended for combustion with animals susceptible to FMD, this Decision should also lay down strict risk-mitigating measures for the delivery of such consignments to the plant of destination in the Union. They should be placed under the special custom procedure provided for in Article 210, point (a), of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), and their transport should be monitored, in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1666 (7), through the computerised information management system for official controls (IMSOC) provided for in Article 131 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, and they should be delivered directly from the border control post of entry into the Union to the plant of destination in the Union, where they are going to be burnt.

(6)

The CN codes for hay and straw are laid down in Chapter 12 of the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/632 (8), and should therefore be taken into account in this Decision.

(7)

For the sake of simplification and legal clarity, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2208 (9) currently authorising imports into the Union of consignments of hay and straw from Great Britain and the Crown Dependencies should be repealed, and they should be listed in Part 1 of the Annex to this Decision.

(8)

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