Commission Decision of 15 December 2006 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals (notified under document number C(2006) 6522) (Text with EEA relevance) (2006/968/EC)

Commission Decision

of 15 December 2006

implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals

(notified under document number C(2006) 6522)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/968/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 of 17 December 2003 establishing a system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals and amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and Directives 92/102/EEC and 64/432/EEC(1), and in particular Article 9(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 provides that each Member State is to establish a system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals in accordance with that Regulation.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 also provides that all animals on a holding born after 9 July 2005 are to be identified by two means of identification. The first means of identification are eartags and the second means of identification are set out in point 4 of Section A of the Annex to that Regulation. One of the second means of identification is an electronic transponder. In addition, Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 provides that, as from 1 January 2008 or another date that may be fixed by the Council, electronic identification as a second means of identification is to be obligatory for all animals.

(3) Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 provides for the adoption by the Commission of guidelines and procedures for the implementation of the electronic identification in order to improve its implementation. Those guidelines and procedures should be applied for those animals for which electronic identification is already used as the second means of identification and for all animals as from the date provided for in Article 9(3) of that Regulation.

(4) In order to ensure that the identifiers to be applied to ovine and caprine animals for the purpose of Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 are readable in all Member States, minimum requirements concerning certain conformance and performance tests should be laid down in this Decision for the approval of identifiers.

(5) In order to provide guidance to the Member States as regards readers, minimum requirements concerning certain conformance and performance tests should be laid down in this Decision taking into account that Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 does not foresee that every operator must possess a reader.

(6) Due to the different geographic conditions and husbandry systems under which ovine and caprine animals are kept in the Community, the Member States should have the possibility to require additional performance tests taking into account their specific national conditions.

(7) The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standards dealing with aspects of radio frequency identification (RFID) of animals. In addition, the International Committee on Animal Recording (ICAR) has developed procedures aimed to verify the compliance of certain RFID characteristics with ISO standards. Those procedures have been published in the International Agreement on Recording Practices in the version as approved by the ICAR General Assembly, June 2004. The ISO standards are accepted and used internationally and should therefore be taken into account in this Decision.

(8) The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission has developed Technical Guidelines specifying tests for assessing the performance and reliability of RFID devices that are published on the JRC website as JRC technical standards. The essential elements of those guidelines should be taken into account in this Decision.

(9) The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has published technical standards dealing with the accreditation of test laboratories. Those standards (EN standards) are accepted and used internationally and should therefore be taken into account in this Decision.

(10) 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:

Article 1 U.K.

The Annex to this Decision sets out the guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of animals:

(a)

for the second means of identification, as provided for in Article 4(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 and referred to in the fourth indent of point 4 of Section A of the Annex to that Regulation; and

(b)

provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 9(3) of Regulation (EC) No 21/2004.

Article 2 U.K.

This Decision shall apply from the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 3 U.K.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

ANNEX U.K. Guidelines and procedures for the approval of identifiers and readers for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 21/2004

CHAPTER I U.K. Definitions

For the purpose of these Guidelines, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)

‘Country code’ means a 3-digit numeric code representing the name of a country in accordance with ISO standard 3166;

(b)

‘National identification code’ means a 12-digit numeric code to identify an individual animal at national level;

(c)

‘Transponder code’ means the 64-bit electronic code programmed in the transponder and containing inter alia the country code and national identification code and used for the electronic identification of animals;

(d)

‘Identifier’ means a read-only passive transponder applying the HDX- or FDX-B technology as defined in ISO standards 11784 and 11785 and incorporated in different means of identification as referred to in Annex A of Regulation (EC) No 21/2004;

(e)

‘Reader’ means a synchronising or non-synchronising transceiver which is, at least, capable of:

(i)

reading identifiers; and

(ii)

displaying the country code and the national identification code;

(f)

[F1 . . . . .

(g)

. . . . .]

Textual Amendments

F1 Deleted by Commission Decision of 12 May 2010 amending Decision 2006/968/EC implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals (notified under document C(2010) 3009) (Text with EEA relevance) (2010/280/EU).

CHAPTER II U.K. Identifiers

[F2 1. The competent authority shall only approve the use of identifiers which have been tested with favorable results on their: U.K.

(a)

conformance with the ISO standards 11784 and 11785, in accordance with the test procedures specified in point 7 of the ISO standard 24631-1; and

(b)

achievement of minimum performance on reading distance as laid down in point 2, in accordance with the procedures specified in point 7 of the ISO standard 24631-3.

Textual Amendments

F2 Substituted by Commission Decision of 12 May 2010 amending Decision 2006/968/EC implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals (notified under document C(2010) 3009) (Text with EEA relevance) (2010/280/EU).

2. In order to achieve the reading distances as laid down in point (c) of Section A.6 of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 21/2004, the transponder shall fulfill the following parameters: U.K.

(a)

transponders applying HDX- technology shall have a minimum activating magnetic field strength less than or equal to 1,2 A/m, as measured according to the ISO standard 24631-3, part 7.6.5 Minimal activating magnetic field strength in HDX mode ‘’ and shall develop a modulation amplitude equivalent to 10 mV as measured according to the ISO standard 24631-3, part 7.6.7 ‘Modulation amplitude in HDX mode’ at a magnetic field strength less than or equal to 1,2 A/m;

(b)

transponders applying FDX-B technology shall have a minimum activating magnetic field strength less than or equal to 1,2 A/m, as measured according to the ISO standard 24631-3, part 7.6.4 ‘ Minimum activating magnetic field strength in FDX-B mode ’ and shall develop a modulation amplitude equivalent to 10 mV as measured according to the ISO standard 24631-3, part 7.6.6 ‘ Modulation amplitude in FDX-B mode ’ , at a magnetic field strength less than or equal to 1,2 A/m.]

3. The structure of the transponder code shall be in accordance with ISO standard 11784 and the descriptions set out in the following table: U.K.

a OJ L 256, 7.9.1987, p. 1.
Bit(s) No	No of digits	No of combinations	Description
1	1	2	This bit indicates whether the identifier is used for animal identification or not. In all animal applications this bit shall be ‘1’
2-4	1	8	Retagging counter (0 to 7).
5-9	2	32	User Information field. This bit shall contain ‘04’ codifying the CN-code for sheep and goats in accordance with Chapter 1, Section I, Part II of the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87a.
10-15	2	64	Empty — All zeros (reserved zone for future applications).
16	1	2	This bit indicates the presence or not of a data block (for the use in animals this bit shall be ‘0’ = no data block).
17-26	4	1 024	Country code as defined in point (a) of Chapter 1
27-64	12	274 877 906 944	National identification code as defined in point (b) of Chapter 1. If the national identification code is less than 12 digits, the space between the national identification code and the country code shall be completed with zeros.

4. The competent authority may require additional tests for robustness and endurance of identifiers according to the procedures described in Part 2 of the Technical Guidelines of the Joint Research Centre of the Commission (JRC). U.K.

5. The competent authority may require other performance criteria to ensure the functionality of identifiers under the specific geographic, climatic and management conditions of the Member State concerned. U.K.

[F3 6. Approvals granted by the competent authority until 30 June 2010 for identifiers which are tested in accordance with the methods for approval of identifiers applicable until that date shall continue to be valid.] U.K.

Textual Amendments

F3 Inserted by Commission Decision of 12 May 2010 amending Decision 2006/968/EC implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards guidelines and procedures for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals (notified under document C(2010) 3009) (Text with EEA relevance) (2010/280/EU).

[F2 CHAPTER III U.K. Readers

If needed in order to ensure the correct reading of identifiers under local geographic, climatic and/or management conditions, the competent authority may impose specific performance criteria on readers that are used in a specific holding or in a specific type of holding. The management conditions that justify such specific performance criteria are likely to prevail in holdings that handle a high throughput of animals marked with identifiers applying the HDX and FDX-B technology and/or holdings where synchronisation of readers is required according to point 7.7.3 of the ISO standard 24631-2.

CHAPTER IV U.K. Test laboratories and procedure

The tests specified in points 1-4 of Chapter II shall be carried out in test laboratories that operate and are assessed and accredited for those tests in accordance with the standard EN ISO/IEC 17025 on ‘ General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories ’ . Manufacturers for identifiers that apply for the tests may freely choose between accredited test laboratories.]

(1)

OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8.