(1)

Regulation (EU) 2017/625 lays down rules for the performance of official controls and other official activities, including for the selection and designation of European Union reference centres for animal welfare. European Union reference centres for animal welfare support horizontal activities of the Commission and of the Member States in the area of welfare requirements for animals, which is referred to in Article 1(2)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

(2)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/329 (2) designated a European Union reference centre for animal welfare that, according to its work programme, focuses on pigs, and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1685 (3) designated a European Union reference centre for animal welfare for poultry and other small farmed animals.

(3)

Subsequently, in accordance with Article 95 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, the Commission carried out a public selection process through a call for selection and designation of a European Union reference centre for animal welfare for ruminants and equines.

(4)

The evaluation and selection committee appointed for the selection process referred to in recital 3 concluded that the consortium led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Swedish Centre for Animal Welfare (Sweden), and also composed of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Austria), Ellinikos Georgikos Organismos-Dimitra/Veterinary Research Institute (Greece), the National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (France), University College Dublin (Ireland) and the Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise ‘G. Caporale’ (Italy) (the consortium), complies with the requirements laid down in Article 95(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and should be responsible for the tasks laid down in Article 96 of that Regulation, as regards ruminants and equines.

(5)

The consortium should therefore be designated as the European Union reference centre for animal welfare for ruminants and equines, which will be responsible for supporting tasks included in the European Union reference centres’ annual or multiannual work programmes. These work programmes are required to be established in conformity with the objectives and priorities of the relevant work programmes adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

(6)

Article 95(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires that the designation of a European Union reference centre for animal welfare is to be limited in time or reviewed regularly. Therefore, the designation of the European Union reference centre for animal welfare for ruminants and equines should be reviewed every five years.

(7)

The designated European Union reference centre for animal welfare for ruminants and equines should be given time to prepare its work programme for the next budgetary period. Therefore, this Decision should apply from 1 June 2021,