The animal health requirements for trade within the EU in live poultry and hatching eggs are laid down in Council Directive 2009/158/EC
. This Directive establishes harmonised animal health guarantees needed for trade between Member States. It does not apply to movements within an individual Member State.
Hence
'other' live animals include some ruminants,
Camelids (e.g. llamas, alpacas), cats and dogs
(for commercial imports only), bees, apes,
rabbits and hares, exotic birds, ferrets, mink,
foxes, zoo animals and other exotic
species. Information on trade in semen and
embryos can be found
HERE.
NOTE: The Legislation
below does not cover non-commercial movement
of
Pet
animals.
The following rules must be
respected before 'other' animals can be traded
within the EU:
The
animal health requirements for
intra-Union trade in 'other' live animals
are laid down in
Council
Directive 92/65/EEC
of 13 July
1992, as last amended. This Directive, which
has been amended several times,
harmonises the rules for intra-Union
trade and
establishes the animal health guarantees
needed for the trade in these animals between the
Member States but it does not apply to
movements within an individual Member
State.
-
The
objective of this harmonisation is
to ensure that the
same requirements are applied for
trade between all the Member States thereby
ensuring the
safe and
free circulation of the animals in
the EU territory.
-
The Directive
lays down precise
rules (e.g. prohibition of contact
with other animals during the travel,
cleaning and disinfection of means of
transport, etc.)
to be respected during the movement of
these animals from the holding of
origin to the final destination to try to
avoid any possible spread of serious
diseases in the EU.
-
In addition there
are
rules regarding the health status in
relation to animal diseases and
provisions for tests to detect these
diseases to be carried out by official
veterinarians. A holding, a region of a Member
State or the whole of a Member State may
even be declared officially free from one
or more diseases to facilitate trade.
-
The Directive
also sets out special provisions for the
movement of animals between specialised and authorised
Bodies, Institutes or Centres. These
are defined as establishments that are
concerned with either:
- the display of
animals and education to the public e.g.
zoos;
- conservation
of the species;
- scientific
research or breeding of animal for the
purposes of such research.
-
The Directive
provides also for
harmonised veterinary health
certificates in which,
prior to dispatch, an official
veterinarian attests that the animals
fulfil all the requirements for
intra-Union trade. This accompanies the animal
and the movement must be recorded in
TRACES.
NOTE: Not all species are covered by a
completely harmonised veterinary
certificate or movement document. In these
cases Member States' national rules are
applied which must be no less strict than
those foreseen in the Directive.
At the destination
Because there are no border controls for movements between Member States, non-discriminatory spot checks are carried out en-route and at the destination according to Directive 90/425/EEC, as last amended, to ensure that consignments are in compliance with the guarantees provided by the health certificate.
The
TRACES
tracking system provides an important tool to
ensure compliance because it allows the
receiving Member State to verify that the
consignment arriving at the destination
corresponds to that specified in the original
accompanying veterinary certificate from the
country of origin. This also allows a Member
State to carry out random checks at destination
if it so wishes.
A working document on animal health conditions for the participation of birds in international exhibitions in the EU was agreed by the Member States at the meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 6 September 2011.
