Article 2Use of antimicrobials

1.

Antimicrobials shall not be used as a specific method to control salmonella in poultry.

2.

By way of derogation from paragraph 1, and subject to the conditions specified in points (a), (b) and (c), and in paragraph 3 of this Article, antimicrobials authorised in accordance with F1the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 may be used in the following exceptional circumstances:

(a)

poultry presenting salmonella infection with clinical signs in a way likely to cause undue suffering to the animals; the infected flocks treated with antimicrobials shall still be considered infected with salmonella; appropriate measures shall be taken in breeding flocks to reduce as much as possible the risk of spreading salmonella through the rest of the breeding pyramid;

(b)

salvaging of valuable genetic material in breeding flocks in order to establish new salmonella-free flocks, including ‘elite flocks’, flocks from endangered breeds, and flocks kept for research purposes; chicks born from hatching eggs collected from poultry treated with antimicrobials shall be subject to fortnightly sampling during the rearing phase, with a scheme aiming to detect 1 % prevalence of relevant salmonella with a 95 % confidence limit;

(c)

authorisation given by the competent authority on a case-by-case basis for purposes other than salmonella control in a flock suspect of salmonella infection, in particular following the epidemiological investigation of a food-borne outbreak or the detection of salmonella at the hatchery or at the holding; however, F2the appropriate authority may decide to allow treatment without prior authorisation in emergency situations, subject to taking samples by an approved veterinarian as defined in point (g) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 854/20047 and reporting the treatment immediately to the competent authority; the flocks shall be considered as infected with salmonella if sampling did not take place in accordance with the provisions in this paragraph.

3.

The use of antimicrobials shall be subject to supervision of and reporting to the competent authority. This use shall be based wherever possible on the results of bacteriological sampling and of susceptibility testing.

4.

The provisions referred to in this Article shall not apply to substances, micro-organisms or preparations authorised for use as feed additives in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003.

F35.

In this Article, ‘the appropriate authority’ means—

(a)

in relation to England, the Secretary of State;

(b))

in relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers;

(c)

in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;

but, in relation to Scotland, the appropriate authority is the Secretary of State if consent is given by the Scottish Ministers.