(1)

Council Directive 92/102/EEC of 27 November 1992 on the identification and registration of animals (2) has been substantially amended several times (3). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

(2)

Pursuant to Article 3(1)(c) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market (4), animals for intra-Community trade must be identified in accordance with the requirements of Community rules and be registered in such a way that the original or transit holding, centre or organisation can be traced. Before 1 January 1993, those identification and registration systems had to be extended to the movements of animals within the territory of each Member State.

(3)

Article 14 of Council Directive 91/496/EEC of 15 July 1991 laying down the principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on animals entering the Community from third countries (5) states that the identification and registration provided for in Article 3(1)(c) of Directive 90/425/EEC of such animals must, except in the case of animals for slaughter and registered equidae, be carried out after the said checks have been made.

(4)

It is necessary to ensure the rapid and efficient exchange of information between Member States for the correct application of this Directive. Community provisions have been laid down by Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters (6) and by Council Directive 89/608/EEC of 21 November 1989 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of legislation on veterinary and zootechnical matters (7).

(5)

Keepers of animals should maintain up-to-date records of the animals on their holdings. Persons involved in the commerce of animals should keep records of their dealings. The competent authority should have access to these records on request.

(6)

In order to permit movements of animals to be traced rapidly and accurately, animals should be able to be identified. A decision should be taken at a later date to determine the nature of the mark and, pending such decision, the national systems of identification should be maintained for movements restricted to the national market.

(7)

Provision should be made for the possibility of waiving the requirements for marks in the case of animals moving directly from a farm to a slaughterhouse. However, these animals should in any case be identified so that their farm of origin can be traced.

(8)

Provision should be made for the possibility of waiving the obligation to register the keepers of animals kept for personal purposes and, in order to take into account certain particular cases, the procedures for keeping registers.

(9)

In the case of animals in which the mark has become illegible or been lost, a new mark enabling a link with the previous mark to be established should be applied.

(10)

This Directive should not affect specific requirements set out in Commission Decision 89/153/EEC of 13 February 1989 concerning the correlation of samples taken for residue examination with animals and their farms of origin (8) or any relevant applicatory rules established in accordance with Directive 91/496/EEC.

(11)

Provision should be made for a management committee procedure for the adoption of any necessary implementing rules for this Directive.

(12)

This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time limits for transposition into national law of the Directive set out in Annex I, Part B,

(a)

‘animal’ means any animal of the Suidae family, excluding feral pigs as defined in Article 2(b) of Council Directive 2001/89/EC of 23 October 2001 on Community measures for the control of classical swine fever (9);

(b)

‘holding’ means any establishment, construction or, in the case of an open-air farm, any place in which animals are held, kept or handled;

(c)

‘keeper’ means any natural or legal person responsible, even on a temporary basis, for animals;

(d)

‘competent authority’ means the central authority of a Member State competent to carry out veterinary checks or any authority to which it has delegated that competence for the purposes of implementing this Directive;

(e)

‘trade’ means trade as defined in point (3) of Article 2 of Directive 90/425/EEC.