91998E3208

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3208/98

by Arlindo Cunha (PPE) to the Commission

(16 October 1998)

Subject: BSE in Portugal

At its meeting of 7 October 1998 the Commission announced that a special plan to combat BSE in Portugal will be introduced shortly. The feeling in Portugal is that the Commission's reaction is out of proportion, considering that Spain, which has imposed an embargo on Portuguese beef exports, appears to have refused to allow any mission of Community specialists on its territory.

Can the Commission answer the following:

1. Is the state of affairs now identified in Portugal by the most recent mission of specialists more serious or less serious than that identified by the mission sent in May?

2. In view of the geographical position of Spain and the nature of some of its production systems for milk and meat, how many missions has the Commission sent to Spain recently, and what were their conclusions?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(5 November 1998)

Since the mission in May 1998, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) situation in Portugal has deteriorated. In 1997, 30 confirmed cases of BSE were notified to the Commission. In 1998, 17 confirmed BSE cases were notified in the months January to April, and a further 49 confirmed BSE cases were notified until 16 October 1998. On 2 October 1998, the last day of the follow-up mission to Portugal, 28 brains were awaiting laboratory examination. For 10 of these brains the examination was finalised, hence, at least 18 brains are still awaiting laboratory examination.

Three BSE related missions to Spain have been carried out so far. One was at the end of 1996, concerning general protective measures for BSE, one in autumn 1997 as a follow up of the previous mission, in particular concerning BSE surveillance and the implementation of Commission Decision 96/449/EC of 18 July 1996 on the approval of alternative heat treatment systems for processing animal waste with a view to the inactivation of spongiform encephalopathy agents(1) and finally, one mission in September 1998, covering Commission Decisions 96/449/EC, 97/735/EC of 21 October 1997 concerning certain protection measures with regard to trade in certain types of mammalian animal waste(2) and the BSE surveillance results. A new mission is planned in the first part of 1999 on the implementation of Commission Decision 98/272/EC of 23 April 1998 on epidemio-surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Decision 94/474/EC(3) concerning epidemio-surveillance of transmissible spongiform encaphalopathies (TSEs).

Following the first two missions, in general it was concluded that some of the decisions have been implemented with some delay. The report of the last mission in September 1998 is being drafted and once finalised it will be sent to the Parliament and will be published on the Commission web-site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/).

(1) OJ L 184, 24.7.1996.

(2) OJ L 294, 28.10.1997.

(3) OJ L 122, 24.4.1998.