Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/118 of 23 September 2022 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards animal health requirements for movements within the Union of captive birds intended for exhibitions (Text with EEA relevance)
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/118of 23 September 2022amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards animal health requirements for movements within the Union of captive birds intended for exhibitions(Text with EEA relevance)THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health ("Animal Health Law")OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1., and in particular Article 140(b) and Article 149(4) thereof,Whereas:(1)Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 of 17 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards animal health requirements for movements within the Union of terrestrial animals and hatching eggs (OJ L 174, 3.6.2020, p. 140). lays down rules supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 as regards animal health requirements for movements within the Union of terrestrial animals and hatching eggs.(2)Article 67 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 lays down the requirements for movements of captive birds intended for exhibitions and Article 71 of that Delegated Regulation indicates that operators shall only move captive birds to another Member State if they are accompanied by an animal health certificate issued by the competent authority of the Member State of origin. Article 81(2) of that Delegated Regulation lays down the details on the content of the animal health certificate for those captive birds.(3)When a captive birds’ exhibition takes place in a Member State, any participant located in another Member State must obtain an animal health certificate to participate to this exhibition, in accordance with Article 71 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688. When several participants are located in the same Member State, the competent authority of this Member State may consider inappropriate to allocate resources to issue the animal health certificate in each establishment of origin.(4)In order to overcome this issue, and at the same time provide adequate animal health guarantees, it is appropriate to allow competent authorities to issue certificates in establishments where captive birds are temporarily gathered and kept before being dispatched to an exhibition in another Member State. Article 67 of Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should therefore be amended accordingly.(5)In the Union, aerobatic pigeons’ events take place regularly. They consist in the gathering of pigeons which can come from several Member States and are transported in cages by their keepers from the establishments of origin where they are normally kept to the event location. The birds are released there for flight demonstrations before returning to their cages in which they are brought back to their establishment of origin. These events can therefore be considered as exhibitions, equivalent to those organised for birds of prey. Article 67 should therefore be amended to extend the requirements for flight hunting exhibitions of birds of prey to all equivalent types of exhibition and to specify the conditions relevant for movements to and from such events.(6)Moreover, Article 71 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 requires that operators only move captive birds to another Member State if they are accompanied by an animal health certificate issued by the competent authority of the Member State of origin. This Article also provides for certain derogations from such obligation. In view of the amendments made to Article 67, it is necessary to reflect those changes in the derogations provided for in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 71. Therefore, Article 71 should be amended accordingly.(7)Article 81(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 lays down the details on the content of the animal health certificate for captive birds. In view of the possibility introduced in Article 67 by this Regulation of moving captive birds collected in a single registered establishment located in the Member State of origin, it is appropriate to specify the requirements that should be complied with in that specific case. Therefore, Article 81(2) should be amended accordingly.(8)Article 91 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 details the responsibility of the competent authority for animal health certification and specific provisions concerning captive birds are set out in paragraph 1, point (e), of that Article. It is appropriate to complete those provisions in order to provide for the identity and physical checks, and documentary checks to be carried out when captive birds intended for an exhibition in another Member State are temporarily collected and kept in an establishment for certification purposes. Article 91 should therefore be amended accordingly.(9)Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should therefore be amended,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: