Council Directive 2006/88/ECShow full title

PART B Recommended surveillance and inspections on farms and mollusc-farming areas

Species present	Health status as referred to in Part A	Risk level	Surveillance	Recommended inspection frequency by the competent authority (Article 7)	Recommended inspection frequency by qualified aquatic animal health services (Article 10)	Specific requirements for inspections, sampling and surveillance necessary to maintain the health status	Comments
No species susceptible to the diseases listed in Annex IV	Category I Declared disease-free in accordance with Article 49(1)(a) or (b) or Article 50(1)(a) or (b).	Low	Passive	1 every 4 years	1 every 4 years	Specific requirements for the maintenance of the disease-free status in accordance with Article 52.	The recommended inspection frequencies shall apply without prejudice to the specific requirements mentioned for each health status. However, where possible, such inspections and sampling should be combined with the inspections required pursuant to Articles 7 and 10. The aim of inspections by the competent authority is to check compliance with this Directive in accordance with Article 7. The aim of inspections by qualified aquatic animal health services is to check the health status of the animals, to advise the aquaculture production business operator on aquatic animal health issues, and where necessary, undertake the necessary veterinary measures.
Species susceptible to one or more of the diseases listed in Annex IV	Category I Declared disease-free in accordance with of Article 49(1)(c) or of Article 50(1)(c).	High	Active, targeted or passive	1 every year	1 every year
		Medium		1 every 2 years	1 every 2 years
		Low		1 every 4 years	1 every 2 years
	Category II Not declared disease-free but subject to a surveillance programme approved in accordance with Article 44(1).	High	Targeted	1 every year	1 every year	Specific requirements in accordance with Article 44(1).
		Medium		1 every 2 years	1 every 2 years
		Low		1 every 4 years	1 every 2 years
	Category III Not known to be infected but not subject to surveillance programme for achieving disease-free status.	High	Active	1 every year	3 every year
		Medium		1 every year	2 every year
		Low		1 every 2 years	1 every year
	Category IV Known to be infected but subject to an eradication programme approved in accordance with Article 44(2).	High	Targeted	1 every year	1 every year	Specific requirements in accordance with Article 44(2).
		Medium		1 every 2 years	1 every 2 years
		Low		1 every 4 years	1 every 2 years
	Category V Known to be infected. Subject to minimum control measures as provided for in Chapter V.	High	Passive	1 every 4 years	1 every year	Specific requirements in accordance with Chapter V.
		Medium		1 every 4 years	1 every 2 years
		Low		1 every 4 years	1 every 4 years

Risk levels

A high-risk farm or mollusc farming area is a farm or mollusc farming area which:

(a)

has a high risk of spreading diseases to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks;

(b)

operates under farming conditions which could increase the risk of disease outbreaks (high biomass, low water quality), taking into account the species present;

(c)

sells live aquatic animals for further farming or restocking.

A medium-risk farm or mollusc farming area is a farm or mollusc farming area which:

(a)

has medium risk of spreading diseases to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks;

(b)

operates under farming conditions which would not necessarily increase the risk of disease outbreaks (medium biomass and water quality), taking into account the species present;

(c)

sells live aquatic animals mainly for human consumption.

A low-risk farm of mollusc farming area is a farm or mollusc farming area which:

(a)

has a low risk of spreading diseases to or contracting diseases from other farms or wild stocks;

(b)

operates under farming conditions which would not increase the risk of disease outbreaks (low biomass, good water quality), taking into account the species present;

(c)

sells live aquatic animals for human consumption only.

Types of health surveillance

Passive surveillance shall include mandatory immediate notification of the occurrence or suspicion of specified diseases or of any increased mortalities. In such cases investigation in accordance with Section 2 of Chapter V shall be required.

Active surveillance shall include:

(a)

routine inspection by the competent authority or by other qualified health services on behalf of the competent authorities;

(b)

examination of the aquaculture animal population on the farm or in the mollusc farming area for clinical disease;

(c)

diagnostic samples to be collected on suspicion of a listed disease or observed increased mortality during inspection;

(d)

mandatory immediate notification of occurrence or suspicion of specified diseases or of any increased mortalities.

Targeted surveillance shall include:

(a)

routine inspection by the competent authority or by other qualified health services on behalf of the competent authorities;

(b)

prescribed samples of aquaculture animals to be taken and tested for specific pathogen(s) by specified methods;

(c)

mandatory immediate notification of occurrence or suspicion of specified diseases or of any increased mortalities.