THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Directive 89/662/EEC of 11 December 1989 concerning veterinary checks in intra-Community trade with a view to the completion of the internal market, and in particular Article 9(4) thereof,
Having regard to Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market, and in particular Article 10(4) thereof,
Having regard to Council Directive 2002/99/EC of 16 December 2002 laying down the animal health rules governing the production, processing, distribution and introduction of products of animal origin for human consumption, and in particular Article 4(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Commission Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU lays down animal health control measures in relation to African swine fever in the Member States or areas thereof listed in the Annex thereto (the Member States concerned). Parts I to IV of that Annex list the areas of the Member States concerned, based on their epidemiological situation as regards African swine fever.
(2)
The animal health control measures laid down in Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU include restrictions on the dispatch of consignments of live pigs, porcine semen, ova and embryos, pig meat, pig meat preparations, pig meat products and any other products containing pig meat, as well as consignments of animal by-products from porcine animals, from the areas listed in certain Parts of the Annex thereto.
(3)
In addition, Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU lays down animal health control measures specifically relating to feral pigs and fresh meat, meat preparations and products consisting of or containing meat from feral pigs from certain areas listed in the Annex thereto.
(4)
In order to adapt the animal health control measures laid down in Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU to the evolution of the epidemiological situation in the different areas listed in the Annex thereto, it is appropriate to provide for certain derogations from the restrictions laid down in that Implementing Decision for certain types of porcine commodities originating from the areas listed in the different Parts of that Annex. Those derogations should take into account the different levels of risk posed by the different types of porcine commodities, and also be in line with the current risk mitigation measures for their importation, as regards African swine fever, set out in Chapter 15.1 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health. Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU should also provide for additional safeguard measures where such derogations are granted.
(5)
The dispatch of consignments of live pigs for immediate slaughter poses a lower level of risk than other types of movements of live pigs, provided that appropriate risk mitigation measures are in place. Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU should, therefore, provide for a derogation for the dispatch of live pigs for immediate slaughter from the areas listed in Part II of the Annex thereto, provided that specific risk mitigation measures are in place.
(6)
Those risk mitigation measures should include the requirement that live pigs being dispatched for immediate slaughter from a holding located in an area listed in Part II of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU (the holding of dispatch) originate only from a single, separate breeding holding that has been granted prior authorisation by the competent authority for sending those pigs to the holding of dispatch, and it is located in an area listed in either Part I or II of the Annex thereto (the breeding holding). In addition, both the breeding holding and the holding of dispatch should have a common biosecurity plan approved in advance by the competent authority.
(7)
The dispatch of different types of porcine commodities poses different levels of risk for the spread of African swine fever. The current edition of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health provides for more flexibility for the dispatch of porcine semen from areas subject to restrictions due to the presence of African swine fever. Accordingly, certain animal health control measures concerning the dispatch of porcine semen laid down in Article 9(2)(d) of Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU should now be deleted.
(8)
The animal health control measures laid down in Article 15 of Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU concerning the dispatch of consignments of meat of feral pigs from the Member States concerned should be updated taking into account the level of risk posed by such meat. Meat from feral pigs collected from the areas listed in Parts I and II of the Annex to that Implementing Decision should be allowed to be dispatched to other areas within the territory of the same Member State and to other Member States, provided that adequate risk mitigation measures are in place for the movement of this meat within the same Member State and to other Member States, with a negligible risk of transmitting that disease.
(9)
Since June 2017, a number of cases of African swine fever in wild boar were observed in okres Zlin in the Czech Republic. Commission Implementing Decisions (EU) 2017/1162 and (EU) 2017/1437 were adopted in response to those cases, and those acts apply until 30 September 2017. These cases constitute an increased level of risk that should be reflected in the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU.
(10)
Certain areas of Estonia and Poland are currently listed in Parts I, II and III of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU. Since August 2016, there has been no notification of any outbreak of African swine fever in domestic pigs in certain areas of Estonia and Poland which are currently listed in Part III of that Annex. In addition, the supervision of biosecurity measures has been implemented in a satisfactory manner in holdings in those areas, based on national programmes for biosecurity aimed at the prevention of the spread of that virus. These facts indicate an improvement in the epidemiological situation in these Member States.
(11)
In September 2017, a few cases of African swine fever in wild boar were observed in powiecie sokólski and sejneński in Poland, in areas currently listed in Part I of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU. These cases constitute an increased level of risk that should be reflected in the Annex to that Implementing Decision.
(12)
In September 2017, a few outbreaks of African swine fever in domestic pigs occurred in Cesu and Saldus novads in Latvia, in Panevezys, Pasvalys and Ukmerge rajono savivaldybė in Lithuania and in powiecie siedlecki in Poland. These outbreaks occurred in an area currently listed in Part I and Part II of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU. These outbreaks constitutes an increased level of risk that should be reflected in the Annex to that Implementing Decision.
(13)
The evolution of the current epidemiological situation as regards African swine fever in the affected domestic and feral pig populations in the Union should be taken into account in the assessment of the risks to animal health posed by the new disease situation in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. In order to focus the animal health control measures provided for in Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU, and to prevent the further spread of African swine fever, while at the same time preventing any unnecessary disturbance to trade within the Union, and also avoiding unjustified barriers to trade by third countries, the Union list of areas subject to the animal health control measures set out in the Annex to that Implementing Decision should be amended to take account of the changes in the epidemiological situation as regards that disease in those Member States.
(14)
Accordingly, the areas affected by the recent cases of African swine fever in wild boar in the Czech Republic and Poland should now be listed in Parts I and II of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU.
(15)
In addition, the specific areas of Estonia and Poland that are currently listed in Part III of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU, where there have been no recent notifications of outbreaks of African swine fever, should now be listed instead in Part II of that Annex.
(16)
Also, the areas affected by the recent outbreaks of African swine fever in domestic pigs in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland should now be listed in Parts III of the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU, instead of Parts I and II of that Annex.
(17)
The Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/709/EU should therefore be amended accordingly.
(18)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: