Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2515 of 8 September 2023 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 as regards certain animal health requirements for movements within the Union of terrestrial animals
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2515of 8 September 2023amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 as regards certain animal health requirements for movements within the Union of terrestrial animals(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 to Articles 131(1), points (c) and (d), 132(2), 140(b), Article 144(1), points (a) and (b), Article 146(1), and Article 149(4) thereof,Whereas:(1)Regulation (EU) 2016/429 lays down rules for the prevention and control of animal diseases that are transmissible to animals or to humans. That Regulation lays down in its Part IV, Title I, Chapter 3, the animal health requirements for movements within the Union of kept terrestrial animals.(2)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). supplements the rules for the prevention and control of animal diseases transmissible to animals laid down in Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 as regards movements within the Union of kept terrestrial animals, wild terrestrial animals and hatching eggs. It also aims to collect the rules on animal diseases in a single act, rather than their being scattered over a number of different acts. The various risk mitigation measures to prevent spread of listed diseases by movements within the Union of animals and the content of the rules is substantively inter-linked, and they are to apply to all operators moving kept or wild terrestrial animals. In the interest of simplicity and transparency, as well as to facilitate the application of the rules and avoid duplication, this amendment should be laid down in a single act rather than in a number of cross-referenced separate acts.(3)Infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus is listed in the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 of 3 December 2018 on the application of certain disease prevention and control rules to categories of listed diseases and establishing a list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases (OJ L 308, 4.12.2018, p. 21). as a Category D disease for which measures are needed to prevent it from spreading on account of movements between Member States. The epidemiological situation of the disease in the Union has changed since the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688, with the first ever notification of outbreaks in the Union in several Member States.(4)Article 132(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 provides that the Commission determines a maximum timeframe within which the operator of a slaughterhouse receiving kept ungulates for slaughter from another Member State should ensure that those animals are slaughtered. Movement of consignments of certain ungulates susceptible to infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus to a slaughterhouse in another Member State may have a specific risk of spread due to the vector-borne transmission of the disease. This Regulation should therefore provide for a maximum timeframe within which animals should be slaughtered, to ensure that their health status would not compromise the health status of the animals at the place of destination.(5)To address the new epidemiological situation as regards infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus while continuing the prevention of its spreading on account of movements between Member States, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should be adapted. This Regulation provides for two new risk-mitigating measures: the establishment of zones seasonally free from infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease and the use of vector protected establishments, that are applicable to the movements from areas surrounding outbreaks of infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus. The new risk mitigating measures are aligned with the international standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).(6)Article 67 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 lays down requirements for movements of captive birds intended for exhibitions and their movement from those exhibitions. However, that Regulation provides that those birds should only be returned to their Member State of origin. However, some captive birds may change ownership during the exhibition and should thereafter be dispatched to a Member State which is not the Member State of origin. It is therefore necessary to authorise such movements and, as the birds are moved from an exhibition in a Member State which is not the Member State of origin to an establishment in a third Member State, to establish the conditions of that particular movement between Member States.(7)Article 91(2), point (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 provides for a timeframe for an identity check and a clinical examination of equine animals before issuing an animal health certificate. Currently the possibility for checks and examinations on the last working day before departure is restricted to certain equine animals. To facilitate movement of all equine animals to other Member States over weekends and holidays, including of those taking part in competitions, races and other equestrian events, a possibility of such checks and examinations on those animals to be carried on the last working day before departure from the establishment of origin, should be allowed.(8)Article 92(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 provides for a derogation from the 10-day validity period of the animal health certificate. It is necessary, based on the experience with implementation of this provision, to clarify that the animal health certificate should be valid for 30 days if it is issued for an individual equine animal accompanied by its single lifetime identification document which includes a valid validation mark or a valid licence, but not for a consignment of equine animals.(9)Part 6 of Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 provides for bovine viral diarrhoea diagnostic methods that should be used for the purposes of movements of animals within the Union. Virus neutralisation, a diagnostic method, is not included in that annex, although it is fit for the purpose of demonstrating individual animal freedom from infection prior to movement in accordance with the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals of WOAH. Therefore, virus neutralisation should be added to the list of authorised diagnostic methods.(10)Article 45(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2035Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2035 of 28 June 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards rules for establishments keeping terrestrial animals and hatcheries, and the traceability of certain kept terrestrial animals and hatching eggs (OJ L 314, 5.12.2019, p. 115). provides for the compulsory individual identification of ovine and caprine animals which are not intended to be moved directly to a slaughterhouse from their establishment of birth. Article 18, point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 erroneously provides alternatives to the compulsory individual identification of kept ovine and caprine animals intended for slaughter in another Member State. For reasons of clarity and consistency, Article 18 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should be corrected.(11)Article 43(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 erroneously refers to the possibility of non-identification of ovine and caprine animals intended for slaughter, in contravention to Article 45 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2035. For reasons of clarity and consistency, Article 43(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should be corrected.(12)Experience from the Member States with the application of the rules laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 concerning movements of dogs, cats and ferrets for commercial purposes has indicated that greater clarity is required concerning the documentation that should accompany such animals and the check to be performed on such documentation. In particular, Article 53(b) erroneously requires that the individual identification documents should document that the animals come from an establishment in which infection with rabies virus has not been reported prior to departure, whereby that is a requirement to be stated in the accompanying animal health certificate. In Article 86(1) a reference to the link to the identification document is missing, therefore it is not consistent with the comparable Article 86(2) and the reference must be added. In Article 91(1), point (j), the documentary check on the identification document that is already implied to be done as part of an identity check of the animals, should be more clearly spelt out. Articles 53(b), 86(1) and 91(1), point (j), should therefore be corrected accordingly.(13)Article 69 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 provides for a derogation for movements of kept equine animals to other Member States. It allows movements of registered equine animals to other Member States without an animal health certificate under certain conditions. It is necessary to correct that provision to clarify the sequence of the steps that need to be implemented by Member States to be able to use that derogation. A clarification is also required that a Member State of origin could only move kept equine animals to a territory of a Member State of destination under the derogation if the conditions established by the Member State of destination are fulfilled by the Member State of origin and an intention of using the derogation had been communicated to the Member State of destination by the Member State of origin.(14)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 should therefore be amended and corrected accordingly,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: