THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 2000/75/EC of 20 November 2000 laying down specific provisions for the control and eradication of bluetongue(1), and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 6(1), Article 8(3), Articles 11 and 12 and the second paragraph of Article 19 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Directive 2000/75/EC lays down control rules and measures to combat bluetongue in the Community, including the establishment of protection and surveillance zones and a ban on animals leaving those zones.
(2) Commission Decision 2005/393/EC of 23 May 2005 on protection and surveillance zones in relation to bluetongue and conditions applying to movements from or through these zones(2) provides for the demarcation of the global geographic areas where protection and surveillance zones (the restricted zones) are to be established by the Member States in relation to bluetongue.
(3) As soon as the presence of the bluetongue virus is officially confirmed in a holding, Directive 2000/75/EC provides for certain restrictions to be applied in a 20 km radius around the infected holding. Those restrictions include a prohibition on the movement of susceptible animals from and to holdings situated within that radius (the movement ban). The Directive provides for derogations from the movement ban for movements of animals in the protection zone.
(4) It is therefore appropriate to allow movement of animals from holdings affected by the movement ban within the restricted zone for direct transport to a slaughterhouse. Accordingly, Decision 2005/393/EC should be amended to allow for such movements.
(5) Taking into account certain farming practices, it is also appropriate to provide for specific conditions minimising the risk of virus transmission when animals from holdings affected by the movement ban are transferred to specific holdings in the restricted zone from which they can only leave for slaughter. It is also appropriate to amend Decision 2005/393/EC to provide for such conditions.
(6) Article 4 of Decision 2005/393/EC currently provides that domestic movements of animals from a restricted zone for immediate slaughter within the same Member State may be exempted from the exit ban by the competent authority, subject to a case-by-case risk assessment and certain conditions. However, that provision does not currently provide that exemptions from the exit ban are to be linked to a favourable outcome of the risk assessment. It is appropriate and more transparent to require that such exemptions are to be granted following the favourable outcome of the risk assessment.
(7) The exemption from the exit ban for animals leaving the restricted zones for intra-Community trade, currently provided for in Article 5(1) of Decision 2005/393/EC, include animal health conditions for domestic movements to a holding, as laid down in Article 3 of the Decision, and the prior approval of the Member State of destination.
(8) In the interests of consistency, it is appropriate that the animal health conditions laid down in Article 4 of Decision 2005/393/EC for the exemption from the exit ban for domestic movements for slaughter, together with the prior approval of the Member State of destination, also apply to the exemption from the exit ban for animals destined for direct slaughter in another Member State.
(9) The provisions in Annex II to Decision 2005/393/EC relating to the movements of live animals of species susceptible to bluetongue and their semen, ova and embryos from restricted zones should be in line with those conditions laid down in Chapter 2.2.13 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
(10) Intra-Community trade in frozen semen complying with the conditions set out in Annex II to Decision 2005/393/EC should not require the prior movement approval of the Member State of destination, as post-collection testing verifies beyond doubt the absence of the disease in the donor animal.
(11) France and Germany informed the Commission of the need to adapt the restricted zone related to those Member States. Accordingly, it is appropriate to amend Annex I to Decision 2005/393/EC.
(12) Decision 2005/393/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(13) 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:
OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 74. Directive as amended by the 2003 Act of Accession.
OJ L 130, 24.5.2005, p. 22. Decision as last amended by Decision 2006/633/EC (OJ L 258, 21.9.2006, p. 7).