Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2009)268 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2009)268 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2009)268  |
| date | 16-06-2009 |
This Commission proposal is supported by the Commission staff working document on the impact assessment of the review of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003.
Legal background
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 998/2003, pet dogs, cats and ferrets travelling with their owner to another Member State must be accompanied by a passport, or when imported by a certificate, providing proof of a valid anti-rabies vaccination ('general regime'). As of 3 July 2011 electronic identification of dogs, cats and ferrets will be mandatory.
In order to take account of the particular situation of Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the United Kingdom ('the UK') with regard to rabies, Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 provides for a transitional period during which the entry of pet dogs and cats into those Member States is subjected to more stringent requirements.
For the same transitional period, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK are allowed to make the entry of pet animals into their territory subject to additional requirements for the tapeworm echinococcus and ticks.
Initially the transitional period lasted until 3 July 2008. As recommended by the Commission report adopted on 8 October 2007 pursuant to Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003, the transitional period was extended to 30 June 2010 by Regulation (EC) No 454/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movements of pet animals, as regards the extension of the transitional period i.
The issue
In view of determining the regime to be applied from 1 July 2010 for Articles 6, 8 and 16 of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003, as required by Article 23 of that Regulation, the Commission carried out an impact assessment on the basis of its report, that takes into account various opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the risk of introducing rabies, echinococcus and ticks into the five Member States if national rules were abandoned, and of various recent consultations of interested parties.
The opinions adopted by EFSA identified that certain Member States have a non negligible prevalence of rabies in their pet population, which is related to the rabies situation in wildlife. In addition, EFSA recommended that risk mitigating measures should be implemented with respect to movement of pet animals from those Member States.
Rabies in those Member States is primarily of sylvatic nature. Field evidence demonstrated that with the elimination of sylvatic rabies as a result of intensive programmes of oral vaccination of wildlife, the disease occurrence in domestic animals diminishes. The Commission has approved a number of programmes for the eradication of rabies in those Member States and envisages ending EU support to national programmes in the territory of those Member States by the end of 2011.
In view of the EFSA opinions and of the Community-supported programmes, the transitional measure provided for in Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 should be extended until 31 December 2011.
Moreover, from the opinions adopted by EFSA with regard to echinococcosis and ticks, it results that the data available did not allow EFSA to demonstrate a particular status of the five Member States applying the transitional regime with regard to certain ticks and the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis and to quantify the risk of pathogen introduction through the non-commercial movement of pet animals.
For reasons of consistency however, it is appropriate to extend also the transitional measure provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 until 31 December 2011.