In accordance with Council Decision 91/666/EEC of 11 December 1991 establishing Community reserves of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, stocks of antigens have been established for the rapid formulation of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease and are kept, for security reasons, at distinct designated sites on the premises of the manufacturer.

Under Directive 2003/85/EC, the Commission is to ensure that Community reserves of concentrated inactivated antigens for the production of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines are maintained on the premises of the Community antigen and vaccine bank.

For that purpose the number of doses and the diversity of serotypes and strains of antigens of foot-and-mouth disease viruses stored in the Community antigen and vaccine bank is to be decided taking into account the needs as estimated in the context of the contingency plans and the epidemiological situation, where appropriate after consultation with the Community Reference Laboratory.

By Commission Decision 93/590/EC of 5 November 1993 for the purchase by the Community of foot-and-mouth disease antigens within the framework of the Community action concerning reserves of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, arrangements were made for the purchase of A5 European, A22 Middle East and O1 European foot-and-mouth disease antigens.

By Commission Decision 97/348/EC of 23 May 1997 for the purchase by the Community of foot-and-mouth disease antigens and for the formulation, production, bottling and distribution of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, arrangements were made for the purchase of A22 Iraq, C1 and ASIA1 foot-and-mouth disease antigens.

By Commission Decision 2000/77/EC of 17 December 1999 for the purchase by the Community of foot-and-mouth disease antigens and for the formulation, production, bottling and distribution of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, arrangements were made for the purchase of certain doses of A Iran 96, A Iran 99, A Malaysia 97, SAT 1, SAT 2 (East African and Southern African strains) and SAT 3 foot-and-mouth disease antigens.

By Commission Decision 2000/569/EC of 8 September 2000 for the purchase by the Community of foot-and-mouth disease antigens and for the formulation, production, bottling and distribution of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, arrangements were made for the purchase of certain doses of A 22 Iraq, A Malaysia 97, O1 Manisa, ASIA 1, SAT 1, SAT 2 (East African and Southern African strains) and SAT 3 foot-and-mouth disease antigens.

In 2003 and in accordance with Commission Decision C(2002) 4326 on the purchase and storage of foot-and-mouth disease antigens additional quantities of epidemiologically relevant antigens were obtained.

In accordance with Article 14 of Decision 90/424/EEC, the level of Community participation to set up such antigen reserves and the conditions to which such participation may be subject should also be set out.

All antigens older than five years must be tested on their potency.

Since 2005, no binding long term legal commitment between the contractor and the Commission is in place for the storage, formulation, distribution, bottling, labelling and transport of FMD antigens purchased between 1993 and 2005.

Storage costs for FMD antigens for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 are covered by a financial commitment in compliance with the Financial Regulation.

Between 2005 and 2007 no costs related to these FMD antigens other than storage costs have occurred.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,