23.7.2010   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 192/1

(1)

Council Directive 90/426/EEC of 26 June 1990 on animal health conditions governing the movement and import from third countries of equidae (2) has been substantially amended several times (3). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

(2)

Equidae, being live animals, are included in the list of products in Annex I to the Treaty.

(3)

In order to ensure the rational development of equidae production, thereby increasing productivity in that sector, rules governing the movement of equidae between Member States should be laid down at Community level.

(4)

The breeding and rearing of equidae, and in particular of horses, is generally included in the farming sector. It constitutes a source of income for part of the farming population.

(5)

Disparities as regards animal health conditions in the Member States should be eliminated in order to encourage intra-Community trade in equidae.

(6)

In order to encourage the harmonious development of intra-Community trade, a Community system should be provided for to govern imports from third countries.

(7)

The conditions for the movement on national territory of registered equidae bearing an identification document should also be regulated.

(8)

In order to be the subject of trade, equidae should satisfy certain animal health requirements, so as to avoid the spreading of infectious or contagious diseases. It appears in particular appropriate to provide for a possible regionalisation of restrictive measures.

(9)

The transport conditions should be laid down for the same reasons, taking into account the animal welfare conditions laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations (4).

(10)

To ensure that those requirements are satisfied, provision should be made for the issue by an official veterinarian of a health certificate to accompany the equidae to their place of destination.

(11)

The organisation of and the follow-up to the checks to be carried out by the Member State of destination and the safeguard measures to be implemented have been laid down in Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market (5).

(12)

Provision should be made for the possibility of checks by the Commission. These checks should be carried out in cooperation with the competent national authorities.

(13)

Defining Community provisions applicable to imports from third countries requires a list to be drawn up of third countries or parts of third countries from which equidae may be imported.

(14)

The choice of those countries should be based on criteria of a general nature such as the state of health of the livestock, the organisation and powers of the veterinary services and the health regulations in force.

(15)

In addition, imports of equidae should not be authorised from countries infected with infectious or contagious animal diseases which present a risk to Community livestock or which have been free from such infection for too short a period. Such considerations are also valid for imports from third countries in which vaccination against such diseases is carried out.

(16)

The general conditions applicable to imports from third countries should be supplemented by special conditions drawn up on the basis of the health situation in each of them. The technical nature and the diversity of the criteria on which those special conditions depend require for their definition recourse to a flexible and rapid Community procedure in which the Commission and the Member States cooperate closely.

(17)

The presentation of a common standard form of certificate upon import of equidae constitutes an effective means of verifying that the Community rules are being applied. Such rules may include special provisions which may vary according to the third country concerned, and this should be taken into account in drawing up the standard forms of certificates.

(18)

Veterinary experts of the Commission and of the Member States, appointed by the Commission, should be responsible for verifying that the requirements of this Directive are observed, particularly in third countries.

(19)

The checks carried out upon importation should cover the origin and the state of health of the equidae.

(20)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (6).

(21)

This Directive is without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Annex V, Part B,

(a)

‘holding’ means an agricultural or training establishment, a stable or, generally speaking, any premises or facilities in which equidae are habitually kept or bred, for whatever use;

(b)

‘equidae’ means wild or domesticated animals of the equine (including zebras) or asinine species or the offspring of crossings of those species;

(c)

‘registered equidae’ means any equidae registered as defined in Council Directive 90/427/EEC of 26 June 1990 on the zootechnical and genealogical conditions governing intra-Community trade in equidae (7), identified by means of an identification document issued by:

(d)

‘equidae for slaughter’ means equidae intended to be transported either directly or after transit through an approved marshalling centre, referred to in Article 7, to the slaughterhouse for slaughter;

(e)

‘equidae for breeding and production’ means equidae other than those mentioned in (c) and (d);

(f)

‘Member State or third country free from African horse sickness’ means any Member State or third country in which there has been no clinical, serological (in unvaccinated equidae) or epidemiological evidence of African horse sickness on the territory concerned in the previous two years and in which there have been no vaccinations against the disease during the previous 12 months;

(g)

‘compulsorily notifiable diseases’ means the diseases listed in Annex I;

(h)

‘official veterinarian’ means the veterinarian designated by the competent central authority of a Member State or of a third country;

(i)

‘temporary admission’ means the status of registered equidae originating in a third country and admitted into Community territory for a period of less than 90 days to be fixed in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(2), depending on the health situation in the country of origin.

—

are being ridden or taken, for sporting or recreational purposes, along roads situated near internal borders of the Community,

—

are taking part in cultural or similar events or in activities organised by authorised local bodies situated near internal borders of the Community,

—

are intended solely for temporary pasturing or work near internal borders of the Community,

(a)

in the case of registered equidae, by means of an identification document, as provided for in Directive 90/427/EEC, which must certify in particular that paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Article and Article 5 of this Directive have been complied with.

The official veterinarian must suspend the validity of the identification document for the period of the prohibitions provided for in paragraph 5 of this Article or in Article 5 of this Directive. The identification document must, following the slaughter of the registered horse, be returned to the authority which issued it. The procedure for the implementation of this point shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(2);

(b)

for equidae for breeding and production, by the method established in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(2).

(a)

if all the animals of species susceptible to the disease located on the holding have not been slaughtered, the period of prohibition concerning the holding of origin must be at least:

(b)

if all the animals of species susceptible to the disease located on the holding have been slaughtered and the premises disinfected, the period of prohibition shall be 30 days, beginning on the day on which the animals were destroyed and the premises disinfected, except in the case of anthrax, where the period of prohibition is 15 days.

The competent authorities may derogate from these prohibition orders for hippodromes and racecourses, and shall notify the Commission of the nature of any derogations granted.

(a)

the distribution of the disease on its territory;

(b)

the reasons for the programme, taking into consideration the significance of the disease and its cost/benefit advantages;

(c)

the geographical area in which the programme will be implemented;

(d)

the status categories to be applied to establishments, the standards which must be attained for each species and the test procedures to be used;

(e)

the programme monitoring procedures;

(f)

the action to be taken if, for any reason, a holding loses its status;

(g)

the measures to be taken if the results of the tests carried out in accordance with the provisions of the programme are positive;

(h)

the non-discriminatory nature of trade in the territory of the Member State concerned with respect to intra-Community trade.

(a)

clinical, serological (in unvaccinated animals) and/or epidemiological evidence has revealed the presence of African horse sickness in the past two years; or

(b)

vaccination against African horse sickness has been carried out in the past 12 months.

(a)

a protection zone with a radius of at least 100 km around any centre of infection;

(b)

a surveillance zone of at least 50 km extending beyond the protection zone, in which no vaccination has been carried out in the last 12 months.

(a)

they must be dispatched only during certain periods of the year, having regard to the activity of vector insects, to be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(3);

(b)

they must show no clinical symptom of African horse sickness on the day of the inspection referred to in Article 4(1);

(c)

they must have undergone a test for African horse sickness as described in Annex IV, on two occasions, with an interval of between 21 and 30 days between the two tests, the second of which must have been carried out during the 10 days prior to dispatch either:

In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(2), and following the opinion of the European Food Safety Authority, other monitoring methods may be recognised;

(d)

they must have been kept in a quarantine station for a minimum period of 40 days prior to dispatch;

(e)

they must have been protected from vector insects during the period of quarantine and during transportation from the quarantine station to the place of dispatch.

(a)

registered equidae which leave their holdings are accompanied by the identification document laid down in Article 4(4)(a) together, if they are intended for intra-Community trade, with the health attestation provided for in Annex II;

(b)

equidae for breeding, production and slaughter are, during their transportation, accompanied by a health certificate complying with Annex III.

(a)

the health status of the equidae, other domestic animals and wildlife in the third country, with particular regard to exotic animal diseases and any aspects of the general health and the environmental situation in the third country which may pose a risk to the health and environmental status of the Community;

(b)

the legislation of the third country in relation to animal health and welfare;

(c)

the organisation of the competent veterinary authority and its inspection services, the powers of those services, the supervision to which they are subject, and the means at their disposal, including staff and laboratory capacity, to apply national legislation effectively;

(d)

the assurances which the competent veterinary authority of the third country can give regarding compliance or equivalence with the relevant animal health conditions applicable in the Community;

(e)

whether the third country is a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the regularity and rapidity of the information supplied by the third country relating to the existence of infectious or contagious diseases of equidae in its territory, in particular those diseases listed by the OIE and in Annex I to this Directive;

(f)

the guarantees given by the third country to directly inform the Commission and the Member States:

(g)

any experience of previous imports of live equidae from the third country and the results of any import controls carried out;

(h)

the results of Community inspections and/or audits carried out in the third country, in particular the results of the assessment of the competent authorities or, where the Commission so requests, the report submitted by the competent authorities on the inspections which they have carried out;

(i)

the rules on the prevention and control of infectious or contagious animal diseases in force in the third country and their implementation, including rules on importation of equidae from other third countries.

(a)

are free from African horse sickness;

(b)

have been free for two years from Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE);

(c)

have been free for six months from dourine and glanders.

(a)

that the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall apply to only part of the territory of a third country.

In the event that the African horse sickness requirements apply on a regional basis, at the very least the measures laid down in Article 5(2) and (5) must be complied with;

(b)

to require additional guarantees for diseases alien to the Community.

(a)

comply with the animal health requirements adopted, with reference to the species in question, the categories of equidae, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 21(2) for importation of equidae from that country.

The reference basis for fixing those animal health requirements shall be the standards laid down in Articles 4 and 5; and

(b)

in the case of a third country not free of vesicular stomatitis or viral arteritis for at least six months, the equidae must meet the following requirements:

(a)

be issued on the day of loading of the animals for dispatch to the Member State of destination or, in the case of registered horses, on the last working day before embarkation;

(b)

be drawn up in at least one of the official languages of the Member State of destination and one of those of the Member State in which the import inspection is carried out;

(c)

accompany the animals in the original;

(d)

attest that the animals satisfy the requirements of this Directive and those laid down pursuant to this Directive with regard to importation from third countries;

(e)

consist of a single sheet;

(f)

be made out for a single consignee or, in the case of animals for slaughter, for a consignment, provided the animals are properly marked and identified.

Member States shall inform the Commission if they make use of this option.

(a)

it may be decided that importation from a third country or part of a third country is to be confined to particular species or categories of equidae;

(b)

notwithstanding Article 15, the special conditions for the temporary entry into Community territory of registered equidae or equidae intended for special uses or their re-entry into Community territory after being temporarily exported, shall be established;

(c)

the conditions for converting temporary entry into permanent entry shall be determined;

(d)

a Community reference laboratory for one or more of the diseases of equidae listed in Annex I may be designated and the functions, tasks and procedures regarding collaboration with laboratories responsible for diagnosing infectious diseases of equidae in the Member States shall be provided for.