For a transitional period until 1 March 2018, pet birds accompanied by a veterinary certificate issued before that date and within the period of its validity in accordance with the model veterinary certificate set out in Annex II and the Declaration set out in Annex III of Decision 2007/25/EC in their versions before the amendments made to Decision 2007/25/EC by Article 2 of this Decision, may continue to be introduced into the Union.