(1)

Pursuant to Directive 2003/99/EC, Member States shall ensure that monitoring provides comparable data on the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic agents and, in so far as they present a threat to public health, other agents.

(2)

A FAO/OIE/WHO workshop on scientific assessment on non-human usage of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance in 2003 concluded that there is clear evidence of adverse human health consequences due to resistant organisms resulting from non-human usage of antimicrobials: increased frequency of infections, increased frequency of treatment failures (in some cases death) and increased severity of infections, as documented for instance by fluoroquinolone-resistant human Salmonella infections. Evidence shows that the amount and pattern of non-human usage of antimicrobials affect the occurrence of resistant bacteria in animals and food and thereby human exposure to these resistant bacteria (Joint FAO/OIE/WHO Expert Workshop, 2003). However, it should be noted that most of the resistance problems in human medicine are caused by human usage and over usage of antimicrobial agents for therapy and prophylaxis (European Parliament, October 2006).

(3)

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) indicates in its ‘Community Summary Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic agents, Antimicrobial Resistance and Foodborne Outbreaks in the European Union in 2005’ (2) that a relatively high proportion of Campylobacter and Salmonella isolates from animals and food were resistant to antimicrobials commonly used in treatment of human diseases. Food-borne infections caused by these resistant bacteria pose a particular risk to humans due to possible treatment failure.

(4)

The Scientific Panel on Biological Hazards and of the Scientific Panel an Animal Health and Welfare of the EFSA, adopted an Opinion on ‘Review of the Community Summary Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic Agents and Antimicrobial Resistance in the European Union in 2004’ (3) during its meeting on respectively 7 and 8 September 2006. With regard to antimicrobial resistance testing, the Opinion indicates the importance to provide detailed information on the Salmonella serovar for each isolate and to harmonise the breakpoints applied for resistance assessment and reporting.

(5)

The Task Force on Zoonoses Data Collection of the EFSA adopted a ‘Report including a proposal for a harmonised monitoring scheme of antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella in fowl (Gallus gallus), turkeys and pigs and Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli in broilers’ (4) on 20 February 2007. The report makes recommendations on a harmonised monitoring scheme and harmonised methodology for susceptibility testing.

(6)

In view of the increasing public health risk posed by antimicrobial resistance and the evidence that use of antibiotics affects this risk, comparable information should be collected from all Member States on the antimicrobial resistance occurrence in zoonotic agents in animals by implementing Article 7 of Directive 2003/99/EC. This implementation should be based on the proposal of the EFSA Task Force but is without prejudice to further implementation rules in the future.

(7)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,