Pursuant to Article 3(1)(c) of 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 market3, animals for intra-Community trade have to be identified in accordance with the requirements of Community rules and be registered in such a way that the original or transit holding, centre or organisation can be traced. Those identification and registration systems had to be extended to the movements of animals within the territory of each Member State by 1 January 1993.

Article 14 of Council Directive 91/496/EEC of 15 July 1991 laying down the principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on animals entering the Community from third countries and amending Directives 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC and 90/675/EEC4 states that the identification and registration provided for in Article 3(1)(c) of Directive 90/425/EEC must, except in the case of animals for slaughter and registered equidae, be carried out after the veterinary checks have been made.

Rules concerning the identification and the registration of ovine and caprine animals in particular have been laid down in Directive 92/102/EEC5. In respect of ovine and caprine animals, experience, and in particular the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, has shown that the implementation of Directive 92/102/EEC has not been satisfactory and is in need of improvement. It is therefore necessary to lay down more stringent and specific rules, as has already been done for bovine animals with Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals6.

It follows from the structure of Community legislation, and in particular from Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000, that the concepts of keeper and holding as generally used do not refer to veterinary practices or clinics. The scope of those concepts should be defined more explicitly so as to render the legislation more readable.

Directive 92/102/EEC should therefore be amended so that it states clearly that bovine animals are already excluded from its scope and, likewise, to exclude ovine and caprine animals.

Council Directive 64/432/EEC of 26 June 1964 on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine7 should also be amended in order to update the references therein to the provisions in Community legislation regarding the identification of the animal species concerned.

In 1998 the Commission launched a large-scale project on the electronic identification of animals (IDEA), and its final report was completed on 30 April 2002. That project demonstrated that a substantial improvement in ovine and caprine animal identification systems could be achieved by using electronic identifiers for those animals, provided that certain conditions concerning the accompanying measures were fulfilled.

The technology for the electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals has been developed to the stage where it can be applied. Pending development of the implementing measures required for the proper introduction of the system of electronic identification Community-wide, an efficient identification and registration system, enabling future developments in the field of implementation of electronic identification on a Community-wide scale to be taken into account, should permit the individual identification of animals and their holding of birth.

To take into account future developments in the field of electronic identification of ovine and caprine animals, and in particular the experience gained in the implementation thereof, the Commission should submit to the Council a report concerning the possible application of the electronic identification system on a Community-wide scale, together with the necessary proposals.

The Commission, in particular in the light of the proceedings conducted by its Joint Research Centre, should also provide detailed technical guidelines, definitions and procedures for the technical characteristics of identifiers and readers, test procedures, acceptance criteria and the certification model for approved test laboratories, the procurement of appropriate identifiers and readers, the application of identifiers, their reading and recovery, the codification of identifiers, a common glossary, a data dictionary and communication standards.

In Member States with a relatively small ovine or caprine animal population, the introduction of an electronic identification system may well not be justified; it is therefore advisable to allow such Member States to make the system optional. Provision should also be made for a rapid procedure to adjust the demographic thresholds below which electronic identification may be made optional.

In order to permit movements of ovine and caprine animals to be traced, animals should be identified properly and all their movements should be traceable.

It is necessary for keepers of animals to maintain up-to-date information on the animals on their holdings. The minimum information required should be determined on a Community basis.

Each Member State should establish a central register compromising an up-to-date list of all keepers of animals covered by this Regulation who are engaged in this activity in its territory, and containing minimum information laid down on a Community basis.

For the purposes of rapid and accurate tracing of animals, each Member State should create a computer database which will record all holdings in its territory and the movements of the animals.

The nature of the means of identification should be determined on a Community basis.

Persons involved in trade in animals should keep records of their transactions, and the competent authority should have access to those records on request.

In order to ensure that this Regulation is correctly applied, it is necessary to provide for a rapid and efficient exchange of information between Member States on means of identification and related documents. Community provisions relating thereto were adopted by Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters8 and by Council Directive 89/608/EEC of 21 November 1989 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of legislation on veterinary and zootechnical matters9.

With a view to guaranteeing the reliability of the arrangements provided for in this Regulation, it is necessary that Member States implement suitable and adequate control measures, without prejudice to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests10.

In order to take into account the system established by this Regulation for the granting of certain aids under Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers11, that Regulation should be amended accordingly.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission12,