A Modern Legal Framework

The new Animal Health strategy aims to establish a clearer regulatory structure for animal health in the EU. The existing legislation on animal health covers many different policy areas: intra-community trade, imports, animal disease control, animal nutrition and animal welfare. This series of interrelated policy actions will be replaced by a single regulatory framework. The framework will converge, as far as possible, with the international recommendations, standards and guidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and Codex Alimentarius, the food standard-setting body created by the UN. Furthermore, a harmonised EU framework for responsibility- and cost-sharing will be developed.