The Community co-finances activities of the Member States on animal disease and zoonoses eradication, control and monitoring on the basis of annual programmes approved in accordance with the requirements and procedure laid down in Article 24 of Council Decision 90/424/EEC of 26 June 1990 on expenditure in the veterinary field3.

A review of the procedures for Community co-financing of animal disease and zoonoses eradication, control and monitoring programmes, taking into account in particular the experience gained from the work carried out by the Task Force for monitoring disease eradication in the Member States established in accordance with action 29 of the White Paper on Food Safety, has shown that a multi-annual approach for these programmes and a new list of diseases and zoonoses would lead to better results. A multi-annual approach for the programmes of eradication, control and monitoring of animal diseases and zoonoses would ensure a more efficient and effective achievement of the objectives of those programmes and would provide for better and more transparent management and increased auditability, thus making more effective the use of Community funds. Therefore, it is appropriate to amend the provisions governing those programmes so as to include the possibility to finance multi-annual programmes.

That review also showed that a list with a limited number of animal diseases and zoonoses eligible for co-financing would increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the eradication, control and monitoring programmes. The list of diseases and zoonoses which reflects Community priorities and whose eradication benefits from the Community financial contribution should be established taking into account the potential impact of such diseases and zoonoses on public health and on international and intra-Community trade of animals or product from animal origin. The specific provisions for the control of zoonoses should therefore be deleted. There should be a possibility to amend the list by comitology procedure to take into account emerging animal diseases or new epidemiological and scientific evidence.

In order to simplify the procedure for the approval of the eradication, control and monitoring programmes submitted by the Member States to the Commission, provision should be made for a single decision approving the programmes qualifying for a Community financial contribution to replace the two decisions currently required, one listing the programmes qualifying for financial contribution and the second on the approval of the programmes.

In order to allow the Commission to monitor the implementation of the programmes, Member States should report regularly to the Commission on the activities carried out, on the results achieved and the expenditure incurred.

Council Decision 90/638/EEC of 27 November 1990 laying down Community criteria for the eradication and monitoring of certain animal diseases4 lays down the technical and information requirements for the eradication, control and monitoring programmes for which Community financing is sought. Those technical requirements and information should be updated and adjusted in a regular and timely fashion in order to match technical and scientific progress and feedback from experience in the implementation of the programmes. It is therefore appropriate to enable the Commission to adopt, and update as necessary, those technical criteria. Council Decision 90/638/EEC should be repealed accordingly.

Commission Decision 2004/292/EC of 30 March 2004 on the introduction of the Traces system5 establishes the integration of the pre-existing computerised systems (Animo and Shift) into the new system. It is therefore appropriate to take into account the technical developments achieved in the computerisation of the veterinary procedures and to provide for the resources needed for the hosting, management and the maintenance of the integrated computerised veterinary systems taking into account the existence of national databases, where appropriate.

Information gathering activities are necessary to allow better development and implementation of legislation in the fields of animal health and food safety. Moreover, there is a pressing need to disseminate as widely as possible information regarding animal health and food safety legislation throughout the Community. It is therefore desirable to extend the scope of Decision 90/424/EEC so as to include the financing of information policy in the field of animal protection to animal health and food safety in products of animal origin.

Council Decision 2006/53/EC amending Decision 90/424/EEC established that Community financial contribution shall be granted for eradication measures carried out by the Member States to combat avian influenza. It is desirable that this contribution covers also the costs incurred by the Member States for compensation to owners for their losses due to the destruction of eggs.

Furthermore, Decision 90/424/EEC provides that technical and scientific assistance shall be granted to Member States for the development of Community veterinary legislation and training. Having regard to the past experience, it is desirable to extent the possibility for this assistance to international organisations such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

For the sake of clarity, it is also appropriate to modify Decision 90/424/EEC in order to enable a Member State to inform the Commission of being directly threatened by the occurrence of the animal diseases in a third country or another Member State and to extend the animal diseases referred to in Article 6 of that Decision to those provided for in the Annex.

Decision 90/424/EEC should therefore be amended accordingly,