(1)

The animal health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Union of dogs, cats and ferrets are laid down in Council Directive 92/65/EEC of 13 July 1992 laying down animal health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of animals, semen, ova and embryos not subject to animal health requirements laid down in specific Community rules referred to in Annex A (I) to Directive 90/425/EEC (3).

(2)

Those requirements refer to the relevant animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into a Member State from another Member State or from third countries or territories laid down in Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals (4).

(3)

The repeal of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 by Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals (5) makes it necessary to amend Directive 92/65/EEC in order to delete and replace the references to Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 by references to Regulation (EU) No 576/2013.

(4)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations (6) applies, inter alia, to the transport of dogs, cats and ferrets carried out within the Union. Reference to that Regulation should therefore be inserted in Directive 92/65/EEC which establishes the animal health requirements applicable to trade in those animals.

(5)

Moreover, experience in the application of Directive 92/65/EEC has shown that carrying out the clinical examination of an animal within 24 hours before dispatch is in most cases impracticable. It is therefore appropriate to extend the time limit laid down in Directive 92/65/EEC to 48 hours, as recommended by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

(6)

The Commission considers that in this particular case it is not justified to ask Member States to communicate explanatory documents to the Commission in order to explain the relationship between the provisions of this Directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition documents. This Directive provides for a very limited number of amendments to Directive 92/65/EEC, which should make it possible for the Commission to obtain the information regarding transposition without devoting significant resources to that task. Member States should, in any event, transmit the text of the transposed measures to the Commission.

(7)

Directive 92/65/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

Article 10 is hereby amended as follows:

(2)

in Article 16, the second and third paragraphs are replaced by the following:

‘With respect to cats, dogs and ferrets, import conditions must be at least equivalent to those provided for in points (a) to (d) of Article 10(1) and point (a) of Article 12 of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013.

In addition to the conditions referred to in the second subparagraph, dogs, cats and ferrets shall, during transport to the place of destination, be accompanied by a health certificate, which is completed and signed by an official veterinarian who shall attest that a clinical examination was carried out within 48 hours prior to the time of dispatch of the animals by a veterinarian authorised by the competent authority who has verified that at the time of the clinical examination, the animals were fit to be transported for the intended journey.’.