(1)

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides that Member States, third countries or regions thereof are to be classified according to their bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) status into one of three categories: negligible BSE risk, controlled BSE risk and undetermined BSE risk.

(2)

The third subparagraph of Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides that if the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has placed an applicant country in one of the three BSE categories, a re-assessment of the BSE categorisation at Union level may be decided.

(3)

Commission Decision 2007/453/EC (2) lists the BSE status of countries or regions according to their BSE risk in Parts A, B or C of the Annex to that Decision. The countries and regions listed in Part A of that Annex are regarded as having a negligible BSE risk, those listed in Part B thereof are regarded as having a controlled BSE risk, while Part C of that Annex provides that countries or regions not listed in Part A or B are to be regarded as having an undetermined BSE risk.

(4)

Northern Ireland and Scotland currently fall within Part A of the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC as regions with a negligible BSE risk, while the United Kingdom with the exception of Northern Ireland and Scotland currently falls within Part B of that Annex as a country with a controlled BSE risk.

(5)

On 28 May 2019, during its General Session, the OIE World Assembly of Delegates adopted Resolution No 19 on the Recognition of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Risk Status of Members (3), in view of an entry into force on 31 May 2019. That Resolution recognised Scotland as having a controlled BSE risk. After reassessment of the situation at Union level, stemming from that OIE Resolution, the Commission has considered that the new OIE BSE status of Scotland should be reflected in Decision 2007/453/EC.

(6)

On 29 May 2020, the OIE World Assembly of Delegates adopted Resolution No 11 (4) recognising Jersey as having a negligible BSE risk, in accordance with the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE. After reassessment of the situation at Union level, stemming from that OIE Resolution, the Commission has considered that the new OIE BSE status of Jersey should be reflected in Decision 2007/453/EC.

(7)

The United Kingdom submitted an application to the Commission for its BSE status and that of the Crown Dependency of Jersey. This application was accompanied by the relevant information for the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependency of Jersey on the criteria and potential risk factors referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 and set out in Chapters A and B of Annex II to that Regulation. Taking into account the information provided by the United Kingdom, that third country should be included in Part B of the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC, while the Crown Dependency of Jersey should be included in Part A of that Annex.

(8)

In accordance with the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (Withdrawal Agreement), and in particular Article 5(4) of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in conjunction with Annex 2 to that Protocol, Regulation (EC) No 999/2001, as well as the Commission acts based on it, applies to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement. For that reason, at the end of the transition period only Northern Ireland should be listed as a region of a Member State in Part A of the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC.

(9)

The Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(10)

As the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement ends on 31 December 2020, this Decision should apply from 1 January 2021.

(11)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,