According to Directive 2006/88/EC aquaculture animal means any aquatic animal, including ornamental aquatic animals, at all its life stages, including eggs and sperm/gametes, reared in a farm or mollusc farming area, including any aquatic animal from the wild intended for a farm or mollusc farming area. Aquatic animals mean fish, molluscs and crustaceans.

Directive 2006/88/EC provides that the placing on the market of aquaculture animals is to be subject to animal health certification when the animals are introduced into a Member State, zone or compartment declared disease-free in accordance with that Directive or subject to a surveillance or eradication programme. Accordingly, it is appropriate to lay down certification requirements and harmonised model animal health certificates in this Regulation to replace the certification requirements laid down under Directive 91/67/EEC and the Decisions implementing that Directive.

Directive 2006/88/EC provides that Member States are to ensure that the placing on the market of ornamental aquatic animals does not jeopardise the health status of aquatic animals with regard to non-exotic diseases listed in Part II of Annex IV thereto.

Ornamental aquatic animals placed on the market in the Community and intended for facilities without any direct contact with natural waters, namely closed ornamental facilities, do not pose the same risks to other sectors of Community aquaculture or to wild stocks. Accordingly, animal health certification should not be required under this Regulation for such animals.

Movements within the Community from closed ornamental facilities to open ornamental facilities or into the wild, may represent a high risk to other sectors of Community aquaculture, and should not be allowed without the authorisation of the competent authorities of the Member States.

Directive 2006/88/EC provides that Member States are to take certain minimum control measures in the event of confirmation of an exotic or non-exotic disease listed in Part II of Annex IV thereto in aquaculture animals or wild aquatic animals or in the case of emerging diseases. In addition, that Directive provides that Member States are to ensure that the placing on the market of aquaculture animals is subject to animal health certification when the animals are allowed to leave an area subject to those control measures.

Accordingly, this Regulation should lay down animal health conditions and certification requirements for consignments of aquaculture animals and products thereof leaving Member States, zones or compartments subject to disease control measures.

Directive 2006/88/EC provides that Member States are to ensure that aquaculture animals and products thereof are introduced into the Community only from third countries or parts thereof that appear on a list drawn up in accordance with that Directive.

Imports into the Community of aquaculture animals should only be permitted from third countries that have animal health legislation and control system equivalent to those in the Community. Accordingly, this Regulation should establish a list of third countries, territories, zones or compartments, from which Member States are permitted to introduce into the Community aquaculture animals for farming, relaying areas, put and take fisheries and open ornamental facilities. However, the import into the Community of certain ornamental fish, molluscs and crustaceans intended for closed ornamental facilities should be permitted from third countries that are members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Directive 2006/88/EC provides that import of aquaculture animals and products thereof are to be accompanied by a document containing an animal health certificate upon their entry into the Community. It is necessary to lay down in this Regulation in detail the animal health conditions for imports of aquaculture animals into the Community, including model animal health certificates, which should replace the import conditions laid down under Directive 91/67/EEC.

Ornamental aquatic animals, including fish, molluscs and crustaceans, are to a large extent introduced into the Community from third countries and territories. To protect the animal health status of ornamental facilities within the Community, it is necessary to lay down certain animal health requirements for the import of such animals.

It is important to ensure that the animal health status of aquaculture animals imported into the Community is not jeopardised during transport to the Community.

The release of imported aquaculture animals into the wild in the Community poses a particularly high risk to the animal health status of the Community, since the control and eradication of diseases in natural waters are difficult. Accordingly, such release should require a specific authorisation from the competent authority and only be authorised under the condition that appropriate measures are taken to secure the animal health status at the place of release.

Aquaculture animals intended for transiting through the Community should comply with the same requirements as aquaculture animals intended for import into the Community.

Article 17 of Directive 2006/88/EC provides that where scientific data or practical experience substantiates that species other than the susceptible species referred to in Part II of Annex IV to that Directive may be responsible for the transmission of a specific disease by acting as vector species, Member States are to ensure that where those species are introduced for farming or restocking purposes into a Member State, zone or compartment declared free of that specific disease, certain requirements provided for in the Directive are to be complied with. Article 17 of Directive 2006/88/EC also provides for the drawing up of a list of vector species. A list of vector species should therefore be adopted.

According to those scientific opinions, the likelihood of the transfer and establishment of the diseases listed in Directive 2006/88/EC by the potential vector species or groups of vector species assessed ranked from negligible/extremely low to moderate, under certain conditions. That assessment covered aquatic species which are used in aquaculture and traded for the purpose of farming.

In drawing up the list of vector species, the EFSA opinions should be taken into account. In deciding which species should be included in that list, an appropriate level of protection of the animal health status of aquaculture animals in the Community should be ensured, while at the same time avoiding the introduction of unnecessary trade restrictions. Consequently, species which pose a moderate risk of disease transmission, according to those opinions, should be included in the list.

Many of the species identified as possible vectors for certain diseases in the EFSA opinions, should only be regarded as such when they originate from an area where species susceptible to the disease in question are present and are intended for an area where those same susceptible species are also present. Accordingly, aquaculture animals of possible vector species should only be regarded as vector species for the purposes of Article 17 of Directive 2006/88/EC under such conditions.

In the interest of clarity and coherence of Community legislation, Decisions 1999/567/EC, 2003/390/EC, 2003/804/EC, 2003/858/EC and 2006/656/EC should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation.

It is appropriate to provide for a transitional period to permit Member States and industry to take the necessary measures to comply with the new requirements laid down in this Regulation.

Bearing in mind the large trade flow of ornamental aquatic animals of species susceptible to epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) and the need to carry out further studies on the risk of that disease to the ornamental aquatic animal industry, including a re-assessment of the list of susceptible species, an immediate interruption of import of ornamental fish species susceptible to EUS intended only for closed ornamental facilities should be avoided. It is therefore appropriate to introduce a transitional period as regards the requirements related to that disease for those consignments. A transitional period is also necessary in order to give third countries sufficient time to document freedom from that disease.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,