Council Directive 2004/68/EC of 26 April 2004 laying down animal health rules for the importation into and transit through the Community of certain live ungulate animals, amending Directives 90/426/EEC and 92/65/EEC and repealing Directive 72/462/EEC (Text with EEA relevance.)
Corrected by
(a) " third countries" shall mean countries other than Member States, and those territories of Member States to which Council Directive 89/662/EEC of11 December 1989 concerning veterinary checks in intra-Community trade with a view to the completion of the internal market and Council Directive 90/425/EEC ofOJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 13 . Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 806/2003.26 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 do not apply;OJ L 224, 18.8.1990, p. 29 . Directive as amended by Directive 2002/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 315, 19.11.2002, p. 14 ).(b) " authorised third country" shall mean a third country, or a part of a third country, from which the importation into the Community of live ungulate animals listed in Annex I is authorised as provided for in Article 3(1);(c) " official veterinarian" shall mean a veterinarian authorised by the veterinary administration of a third country to perform health inspections of live animals, and to perform official certification;(d) " ungulates" shall mean those animals listed in Annex 1.
(a) the health status of livestock, other domestic animals and wildlife in the third country, with particular regard to exotic animal diseases and any aspects of the general health and the environmental situation in the third country which may pose a risk to the health and the environmental status of the Community; (b) the legislation of the third country in relation to animal health and welfare; (c) the organisation of the competent veterinary authority and its inspection services, the powers of those services, the supervision to which they are subject, and the means at their disposal, including staff and laboratory capacity, to apply national legislation effectively; (d) the assurances which the competent veterinary authority of the third country can give regarding compliance or equivalence with the relevant animal health conditions applicable in the Community; (e) whether the third country is a member of the OIE and the regularity and rapidity of the information supplied by the third country relating to the existence of infectious or contagious animal diseases in its territory, in particular those diseases listed by the OIE; (f) the guarantees given by the third country directly to inform the Commission and the Member States: (i) within 24 hours of the confirmation of the occurrence of any of the diseases listed in Annex II and of any change in the vaccination policy concerning such diseases; (ii) within an appropriate period, of any proposed changes in the national health rules concerning live ungulate animals, in particular regarding importation; (iii) at regular intervals, of the animal health status of its territory;
(g) any experience of previous imports of live animals from the third country and the results of any import controls carried out; (h) the results of Community inspections and/or audits carried out in the third country, in particular the results of the assessment of the competent authorities or, where the Commission so requests, the report submitted by the competent authorities on the inspections which they have carried out; (i) the rules on the prevention and control of infectious or contagious animal diseases in force in the third country and their implementation, including rules on the importation from other third countries.
(a) the animal species concerned; (b) the age and sex of the animals; (c) the intended destination or purpose of the animals; (d) the measures to be applied after importation of the animals into the Community; (e) any special provisions applicable in the framework of intra-Community trade.
(a) the animals must come from a disease-free territory, in accordance with the basic general criteria listed in Annex II and into which the entry of animals vaccinated against the diseases listed in that Annex must be prohibited; (b) the animals must comply with the specific animal health conditions provided for in Article 6; (c) before the day of loading for shipment to the Community, the animals must have remained in the territory of the authorised third country for a period of time to be set out in the specific animal health conditions referred to in Article 6; (d) before shipment to the Community, the animals must have undergone a check by an official veterinarian to ensure that they are healthy and that the transport conditions provided for in Directive 91/628/EEC are complied with, in particular as regards watering and feeding; (e) the animals must be accompanied by a veterinary certificate which complies with Article 11 and with a specimen veterinary certificate established in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14(2). Provision may be made for the use of electronic documents under the same procedure; (f) upon arrival in the Community, the animals must be checked at an agreed border inspection post in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 91/496/EEC.
(a) are intended exclusively for grazing or draught purposes, on a temporary basis, in the vicinity of the Community frontiers; (b) are related to sporting events, circuses, shows and exhibitions but not related to commercial transactions of the animals themselves; (c) are intended for a zoo, an amusement park, an experimental laboratory or, as defined in Article 2(c) of Directive 92/65/EEC, an approved body, approved institute or approved centre; (d) exclusively transit the territory of the Community through approved Community border inspection posts under customs and official veterinary approval and supervision, with no stop in the Community other than those necessary for animal welfare purposes; (e) accompany their owners as pet animals; or (f) are presented at an approved Community border inspection post after they have left the Community: within a period of 30 days for one of the purposes referred to in points (a), (b) and (e), or transiting a third country,
or (g) which belong to endangered species.
international standards, whether an outbreak or a number of epizootiologically interrelated outbreaks of one of the diseases listed in Annex II occurs within a geographically limited area in an authorised third country or region, whether the outbreak or outbreaks are successfully eradicated within a limited period of time.
(a) detailed rules for the application of this Directive; (b) rules regarding the origin of animals; (c) the criteria for classifying authorised third countries or regions thereof with regard to animal diseases; (d) provisions for the use of electronic documents relating to model veterinary certificates as provided for in Article 7(e); (e) models of veterinary certificates as provided for in Article 11(1).
(a) scientific opinions and scientific knowledge particularly concerning new risk assessments; (b) technical developments and/or amendments to international standards; (c) the setting of safety targets for animal health.
1. Article 12 is replaced by the following: " Article 121. The importation of equidae into the Community shall only be authorised from third countries that appear on a list or lists to be drawn up or amended in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2). Taking into account the health situation and the guarantees provided by the third country for equidae, it may be decided in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2) that the authorisation provided for in the preceding subparagraph shall apply to the whole territory of the third country or to only part of its territory. For that purpose and on the basis of the relevant international standards, account shall be taken of how the third country applies and implements those standards, in particular the principle of regionalisation, within its own territory and in relation to its sanitary requirements for importation from other third countries and from the Community. 2. when the lists provided for in paragraph 1 are drawn up or amended, particular account shall be taken of: (a) the health status of the equidae, other domestic animals and wildlife in the third country, with particular regard to exotic animal diseases and any aspects of the general health and the environmental situation in the third country which may pose a risk to the health and environmental status of the Community; (b) the legislation of the third country in relation to animal health and welfare; (c) the organisation of the competent veterinary authority and its inspection services, the powers of those services, the supervision to which they are subject, and the means at their disposal, including staff and laboratory capacity, to apply national legislation effectively; (d) the assurances which the competent veterinary authority of the third country can give regarding compliance or equivalence with the relevant animal health conditions applicable in the Community; (e) whether the third country is a member of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and the regularity and rapidity of the information supplied by the third country relating to the existence of infectious or contagious diseases of equidae in its territory, in particular those diseases listed by the OIE and in Annex A to this Directive; (f) the guarantees given by the third country to directly inform the Commission and the Member States: (i) within 24 hours, of the confirmation of the occurrence of infectious diseases of equidae listed in Annex A and of any change in the vaccination policy concerning such diseases; (ii) within an appropriate period, of any proposed changes in the national sanitary rules concerning equidae, in particular regarding the importation of equidae; (iii) at regular intervals, of the animal health status of its territory concerning equidae;
(g) any experience of previous imports of live equidae from the third country and the results of any import controls carried out; (h) the results of Community inspections and/or audits carried out in the third country, in particular the results of the assessment of the competent authorities or, where the Commission so requests, the report submitted by the competent authorities on the inspections which they have carried out; (i) the rules on the prevention and control of infectious or contagious animal diseases in force in the third country and their implementation, including rules on importation of equidae from other third countries.
3. The Commission shall arrange for up-to-date versions of all lists drawn up or amended as provided for in paragraph 1 to be made available to the public. Those lists may be combined with other lists drawn up for animal and public health purposes and may also include models of health certificates. 4. Special import conditions for each third country or group of third countries, having regard to the animal health situation concerning equidae in the third country or countries concerned shall be established in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2). 5. Detailed rules for the application of this Article and criteria for including third countries or parts of third countries in the lists provided for in paragraph 1 may be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2). " 2. the following point is added to Article 19: " (iv)may designate a Community reference laboratory for one or more of the diseases of equidae listed in Annex A and shall stipulate the functions, tasks and procedures regarding collaboration with laboratories responsible for diagnosing infectious diseases of equidae in the Member States. "
1. the first subparagraph of Article 1 is replaced by the following: " This Directive lays down the animal health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of animals, semen, ova and embryos not subject to the animal health requirements laid down in the specific Community acts referred to in Annex F." 2. Article 6 is amended as follows: (a) in A(1), point (e) is replaced by; "(e) must be accompanied by a certificate corresponding to the specimen given in Annex E part 1, bearing the following declaration:
(b) in A(1), point (f) is deleted; (c) in A(2), point (b) is replaced by: " (b)where they do not come from a herd meeting the conditions laid down in (a), they must come from a holding in which no case of brucellosis or tuberculosis has been recorded in the 42 days preceding loading of the animals and in which the ruminants have in the 30 days prior to dispatch undergone with negative results a test for brucellosis and tuberculosis. "
(d) in A(3), points (e), (f) and (g) are deleted; (e) the following point is added to (A): " 4.The testing requirements referred to in this Article and their criteria may be established in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 26. These decisions shall take into consideration the case of ruminants reared in the arctic regions of the Community. Pending the decisions provided for in the preceding subparagraph, national rules shall continue to apply. "
3. Article 17 is amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 3, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following: " (a)a list of third countries or parts of third countries able to provide Member States and the Commission with guarantees equivalent to those provided for in Chapter II in relation to animals, semen, ova and embryos, and (b) without prejudice to Commission Decision 94/63/EC of 31 January 1994 drawing up a list of third countries from which Member States authorise imports of semen, ova and embryos of the ovine and caprine species and ova and embryos of the porcine species , a list of the collection centres for which these third countries are able to give the guarantees provided for in Article 11.OJ L 28, 2.2.1994, p. 47 . Decision as last amended by Decision 2004/211/EC."
The Commission shall inform the Member States of any proposed amendments to the lists of centres and the Member States shall have 10 working days, from the date of receipt of the proposed amendments, to send written comments to the Commission. Where no written comments are received from the Member States within that period of 10 working days, the proposed amendments shall be considered to have been accepted by the Member States and imports shall be authorised in accordance with the amended lists when the Commission notifies the competent authorities of the Member States and the third country concerned that the amendments are published on the website of the Commission. Where written comments are received from at least one Member State within the period of 10 working days, the Commission shall inform the Member States and the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health at its next meeting for a decision to be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 26. ----------------------OJ L 28, 2.2.1994, p. 47 . Decision as last amended by Decision 2004/211/EC."
4. in Article 23, " from Article 6 (A)(1)(e) and" is deleted;5. Article 26 is replaced by the following: " Article 261. The Commission shall be assisted by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health instituted by Article 58 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council .OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply. The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23 ." 3. The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure. ----------------------OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1 OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23 ." 6. The text in Annex IV to this Directive is added as Annex F.