Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/919 of 30 June 2020 amending the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC as regards the BSE status of Serbia (notified under document C(2020) 4236) (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies⁽¹⁾, and in particular the third subparagraph of Article 5(2) thereof,

Whereas:

1. Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides that Member States or third countries or regions thereof (countries or regions) are to be classified according to their bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) status into one of three categories: negligible BSE risk, controlled BSE risk and undetermined BSE risk.

2. Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 provides that if the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has placed an applicant country in one of the three BSE categories, a re-assessment of the BSE categorisation at Union level may be decided. Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 refers to the OIE, as that organisation plays a leading role in the categorisation of OIE Member Countries and zones by their BSE risk ranking, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code⁽²⁾ of the OIE.

3. Commission Decision 2007/453/EC⁽³⁾ lists the BSE status of countries or regions according to their BSE risk in Parts A, B or C of the Annex to that act. The countries and regions listed in Part A of that Annex are regarded as having a negligible BSE risk, those listed in Part B thereof are regarded as having a controlled BSE risk, while Part C of that Annex provides that countries or regions not listed in Part A or B are to be regarded as having an undetermined BSE risk.

4. Serbia currently falls within Part C of the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC as a country with an undetermined BSE risk.

5. On 28 May 2019, the OIE World Assembly of Delegates adopted Resolution No 19 Recognition of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Risk Status of Members⁽⁴⁾, in view of an entry into force on 31 May 2019. That Resolution recognised Serbia ‘Excluding Kosovo administered by the United Nations’ as having a negligible BSE risk, in accordance with the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE. After reassessment of the situation at Union level, stemming from that OIE Resolution, the Commission has considered that the new OIE BSE status of this third country should be reflected in the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC.

6. The list of countries or regions in the Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC should therefore be amended so that Serbia, as referred to in Article 135 of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States of the one part, and the Republic of Serbia, of the other part⁽⁵⁾, is listed in Part A of that Annex under countries or regions with a negligible BSE risk.

7. The Annex to Decision 2007/453/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

8. The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: