Guidance to Commission Decision 2008/185/EC
regarding additional guarantees in intra-Community trade of pigs related to Aujeszky’s disease and criteria for listing a Member State or a region thereof as free from Aujeszky’s disease or as having an approved disease control programme

Aujeszky’s disease is a viral disease of pigs of economic importance. Commission Decision 2008/185/EC of 21 February 2008 on additional guarantees in intra-Community trade of pigs relating to Aujeszky’s disease (AD) and criteria to provide information on this disease lays down the additional guarantees for movements of pigs between Member States. These guarantees are linked to the classification of Member States into three classes: firstly Member States or regions thereof which are free of Aujeszky's disease and where vaccination is prohibited (Annex I), secondly Member States or regions thereof where disease control programmes are in place and which are in an advanced stage of eradication of Aujeszky’s disease (Annex II) and thirdly all other Member States or regions falling in the residual class.

In principle pigs can be dispatched from any Member State to any other if the conditions laid down in Decision 2008/185/EC are respected. These conditions are under the control of the Member State of origin and are more stringent for movements of pigs to a Member State with a higher animal health status. Therefore the Member State of origin has to provide additional guarantees if necessary.

The objective of this paper is to explain the principles of the additional guarantees as regards AD and to provide guidelines on the procedures to list a Member State or a region in Annex I or in Annex II of Decision 2008/185/EC. The guidelines are based on the requirements of Articles 9 and 10 of Council Directive 64/432/EEC and the International Animal Health Code on AD of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).