Where a Member State draws up or has drawn up, either directly or through the breeders, a voluntary or compulsory control or monitoring programme for one of the diseases referred to in Annex B, it may present the programme to the Commission outlining in particular:

• the distribution of the disease in its territory,

• whether the disease is notifiable,

• reasons for undertaking the programme, taking account of its cost-effectiveness and the significance of the disease,

• the geographical area in which the programme is to be implemented,

• the status categories to be applied to establishments, the requirements for each species when being introduced into a holding and the test procedures to be used,

• the programme monitoring procedures, including the extent of the breeders' involvement in implementing the control or monitoring programme,

• the action to be taken if, for any reason, a holding loses its status,

• the measures to be taken if the results of the tests carried out under the programme are positive,

• the non-discriminatory nature of trade in the territory of the Member State concerned with respect to intra-Community trade.

The Commission shall examine the programmes presented by the Member States. Programmes may be approved under the procedure provided for in Article 26 in compliance with the criteria laid down in paragraph 1. Under the same procedure, the additional guarantees, general or limited, which may be required in trade, shall be defined at the same time or at the latest three months after presentation of the programmes. Such guarantees must not exceed those which the Member State implements nationally.

Programmes submitted by Member States may be amended or supplemented under the procedure laid down in Article 26. Under the same procedure, amendments may be made to the guarantees referred to in paragraph 2.