Council Directive 2002/60/ECShow full title

Article 4 U.K. Measures in cases where the presence of African swine fever on a holding is suspected

1. Where a holding contains one or more pigs suspected of being infected with African swine fever virus, Member States shall ensure that the competent authority immediately sets in motion official means of investigation to confirm or rule out the presence of the said disease in accordance with the procedures laid down in the diagnostic manual.

When the holding is visited by an official veterinarian, a check of the register and of the pig identification marks referred to in Articles 4 and 5 of Council Directive 92/102/EEC of 27 November 1992 on the identification and registration of animals(1) shall also be carried out.

2. When the competent authority considers that the presence of African swine fever in a holding cannot be ruled out, it shall immediately have the holding placed under official surveillance and shall in particular order that:

(a) all the pigs in the various categories on the holding are to be counted and a list compiled of the number of pigs already sick, dead or likely to be infected in each category; the list shall be updated to take account of pig births and deaths during the period of suspicion; the information on the list shall be produced upon request and may be checked at each visit;

(b) all the pigs on the holding shall be restricted to their living quarters or confined in some other place where they can be isolated;

(c) no pigs may enter or leave the holding. The competent authority may, if necessary, extend the ban on leaving the holding to cover other species of animals and require the application of appropriate measures to destroy rodents or insects;

(d) no pig carcases may leave the holding without an authorisation issued by the competent authority;

(e) no meat, pig products, semen, ova or embryos of pigs, animal feed, utensils, materials or waste likely to transmit African swine fever may leave the holding without an authorisation issued by the competent authority; meat, pig products, semen, ova or embryos shall not be moved from the holding for intra-Community trade;

(f) the movement of persons to or from the holding shall be subject to written authorisation by the competent authority;

(g) the movement of vehicles to or from the holding shall be subject to written authorisation by the competent authority;

(h) appropriate means of disinfection shall be used at the entrances and exits of buildings housing pigs and of the holding itself; any person entering or leaving pig holdings shall comply with appropriate hygiene measures necessary to reduce the risk of African swine fever virus spreading. Furthermore, all means of transport shall be carefully disinfected before leaving the holding;

(i) an epidemiological inquiry shall be carried out in accordance with Article 8.

3. Where required by the epidemiological situation, the competent authority:

(a) may apply the measures provided for in Article 5(1) in the holding referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article; however, the competent authority may, where it considers that conditions permit, limit the application of these measures only to the pigs suspected of being infected or contaminated with African swine fever virus and the part of the holding where they were kept, provided that those pigs have been housed, kept and fed completely separately from the other pigs in the holding. In any case, a sufficient number of samples shall be taken from the pigs when they are killed in order that the presence of African swine fever virus can be confirmed or ruled out, in accordance with the diagnostic manual;

(b) may establish a temporary control zone around the holding referred to in paragraph 2; some or all the measures referred to in paragraphs 1 or 2 shall be applied in the pig holdings within this zone.

4. Once adopted, the measures provided for in paragraph 2 shall not be lifted until the presence of African swine fever has been officially ruled out.

(1)

OJ L 355, 5.12.1992, p. 32. Directive as amended by the 1994 Act of Accession.