(1)

Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 lays down specific rules on the hygiene of food of animal origin for food business operators. That Regulation provides special guarantees for food of animal origin intended for the Finnish and Swedish markets. Accordingly, food business operators intending to place eggs on the market in those Member States are to comply with certain rules in respect of Salmonella.

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1688/2005 of 14 October 2005 implementing Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards special guarantees concerning Salmonella for consignments to Finland and Sweden of certain meat and eggs (2) lays down rules on the sampling of flocks of origin of eggs intended for Finland and Sweden. It also lays down rules on the microbiological methods for the examination of those samples as well as samples of certain meat intended for those two Member States from bovine and porcine animals and from poultry.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the control of Salmonella and other specified food-borne zoonotic agents (3) lays down rules to ensure that effective measures are taken to control Salmonella and other zoontic agents. Those measures include minimum sampling requirements in all flocks of laying hens within the framework of national control programmes for Salmonella.

(4)

Commission Regulation (EU) No 517/2011 of 25 May 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a Union target for the reduction of the prevalence of certain Salmonella serotypes in laying hens of Gallus gallus and amending Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 and Regulation (EU) No 200/2010 (4) lays down rules concerning a testing scheme to verify progress on the achievement of the Union target to reduce the prevalence of those serotypes in flocks of laying hens.

(5)

The requirements laid down in Regulations (EC) No 2160/2003 and (EU) No 517/2011 apply to all flocks of laying hens in the Union. Accordingly, in the interests of simplification of Union legislation and to avoid the duplication of sampling, the sampling rules laid down in Regulations (EC) No 2160/2003, (EC) No 1688/2005 and (EU) No 517/2011 should be harmonised.

(6)

In particular, the sampling rules applicable to flocks set out in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1688/2005 should be replaced by the corresponding rules laid down in Regulations (EC) No 2160/2003 and (EU) No 517/2011. As the rules laid down in those two Regulations are more stringent, the special guarantees to Finland and Sweden are not jeopardised by such amendment. Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1688/2005 should therefore be deleted.

(7)

In addition, the International Organization for Standardization adopted a new standard specific for the detection of Salmonella spp. in animal faeces and in environmental samples from the primary production stage, in particular EN/ISO standard 6579-2002/Amd1:2007 Annex D: Detection of Salmonella spp. in animal faeces and in environmental samples from the primary production stage. That standard should be used for samples taken in flocks of origin of eggs in the Union. Accordingly, the sampling rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1688/2005 should be amended to refer to that standard.

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 1688/2005 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9)

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

(1)

Articles 4 and 5 are replaced by the following:

(2)

Annex III is deleted.