(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 of 8 August 2008 laying down a list of third countries, territories, zones or compartments from which poultry and poultry products may be imported into and transit through the Community and the veterinary certification requirements (3) provides that the commodities covered by that Regulation are only to be imported into and transit through the Union from the third countries, territories, zones or compartments listed in Annex I thereto.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 lays down rules for the control of Salmonella in different poultry populations in the Union. Admission to or retention on the list of third countries provided for in Union legislation from which Member States are authorised to import animals covered by that Regulation is subject to the submission to the Commission by the third country concerned of a control programme for Salmonella with equivalent guarantees as those contained in the national control programmes for Salmonella in the Member States.

(3)

In accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 584/2008 (4), Salmonella control programmes concerning breeding and productive poultry of turkeys, hatching eggs thereof, day-old chicks of turkeys and slaughter poultry and poultry for restocking of turkeys provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003, are to apply from 1 January 2010 within the Union.

(4)

Canada, Israel and the United States have submitted to the Commission a control programme for Salmonella in breeding flocks of turkeys, hatching eggs thereof and day-old chicks of turkeys. These programmes provide the guarantees required by Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 and should therefore be approved.

(5)

Certain third countries currently listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 have not yet submitted any control programme for Salmonella in flocks of turkeys to the Commission, or alternatively the programmes submitted by them do not provide guarantees equivalent to those required by Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003. Imports of breeding and productive poultry of turkeys, hatching eggs thereof, day-old chicks of turkeys and slaughter poultry and poultry for restocking of turkeys should therefore no longer be authorised from those third countries from 1 January 2010.

(6)

Israel has submitted to the Commission a control programme for Salmonella in day-old chicks of Gallus gallus, intended for flocks of laying hens and broilers, supplementing the control programme of Israel approved by Commission Decision 2007/843/EC (5). Control programmes for Salmonella in flocks of breeding hens and hatching eggs thereof and day-old chicks of Gallus gallus were also submitted by Brazil. These programmes provide the guarantees required by Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 and should therefore be approved.

(7)

The list of third countries, territories, zones or compartments and the model veterinary certificates for the import of breeding and productive poultry, day old chicks and hatching eggs set out in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8)

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

(a)

in breeding flocks of turkeys, hatching eggs thereof and day-old chicks of turkeys submitted by Canada, Israel and the United States;

(b)

in day-old chicks of Gallus gallus intended for flocks of laying hens or broilers submitted by Israel;

(c)

in breeding hens of Gallus gallus, hatching eggs thereof and day-old chicks of Gallus gallus submitted by Brazil.