THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Decision 2000/258/EC of 20 March 2000 designating a specific institute responsible for establishing the criteria necessary for standardising the serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccines(1), and in particular Article 3(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Decision 2000/258/EC designates the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (ANSES) in Nancy, France (previously known as the Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des aliments, AFSSA), as the specific institute responsible for establishing the criteria necessary for standardising the serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccines.
(2) That Decision also provides that the ANSES is to document the appraisal of laboratories in third countries that have applied to carry out serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccines.
(3) The competent authority of Japan has submitted an application for approval of a laboratory in that third country to perform such serological tests. That application is supported by a favourable report by the ANSES dated 4 February 2011 of the appraisal of that laboratory.
(4) That laboratory should therefore be authorised to carry out serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccines in dogs, cats and ferrets.
(5) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: