Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/323 of 11 February 2025 concerning certain emergency measures relating to foot and mouth disease in Germany and repealing Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/186 (notified under document C(2025) 1015)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (‘Animal Health Law’)⁽¹⁾, and in particular Article 259(1), point (c), thereof,

Whereas:

1. Foot and mouth disease is an infectious viral disease affecting animals in the mammal order of Artiodactyla and can have a severe impact on the concerned animal population and the profitability of farming causing disturbance to movements of consignments of those animals and products thereof within the Union and exports to third countries.

2. In the event of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in animals of listed species, there is a serious risk of the spread of that disease to other establishments keeping animals of listed species.

3. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687⁽²⁾ supplements the rules for the control of the listed diseases referred to in Article 9(1), points (a), (b) and (c), of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and defined as category A, B and C diseases in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882⁽³⁾. In particular, Articles 21 and 22 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 provide for the establishment of a restricted zone in the event of an outbreak of a category A disease, including foot and mouth disease, and for certain measures to be applied therein. Article 21(1) of that Delegated Regulation provides that the restricted zone is to comprise a protection zone, a surveillance zone, and, if necessary, further restricted zones around or adjacent to the protection and surveillance zones.

4. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/186⁽⁴⁾ was adopted on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and it lays down certain emergency measures relating to infection with foot and mouth disease virus in Germany in response to the outbreak confirmed on 10 January 2025 in the federal state of Brandenburg, close to that state’s border with the federal state of Berlin. More particularly, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/186 provides that the protection and surveillance zones to be established by Germany in the federal state of Brandenburg, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, following that outbreak are to comprise at least the areas listed in the Annex to that Implementing Decision.

5. Since the adoption of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/186, the emergency measures to be applied in the restricted zones, and the timeline for their implementation, have been reviewed. As a consequence, the duration of those measures needs to be extended. Therefore, the areas listed as protection and surveillance zones for Germany, should be defined both spatially and temporally in Annex I to this Implementing Decision, in order to prevent the spread of the disease in Germany and to the rest of the Union, as well as to third countries. Providing for clarity on the exact scope of these areas, as well as on the measures to be applied therein, by setting them out in a legal act of the Union is also required in order to avoid unjustified disruptions in the movements of animals and products in the Union, as well as to third countries.

6. Furthermore, considering that the ongoing epidemiological investigation is still being conducted by the competent authority of Germany, and pending its conclusion, and in order to avoid any unjustified disruptions as regards the movements of animals and products in the Union, as well as to third countries, it is appropriate to apply further measures, namely those that are applicable to further restricted zones, as provided for in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, following the expiry of the emergency measures in the surveillance zone (the further measures). The further measures should be applied in an area defined both spatially and temporally in relation to the protection and surveillance zones foreseen before.

7. Accordingly, in order to prevent any unnecessary disturbance to trade within the Union and to avoid any unjustified barriers to trade by third countries, it is necessary to rapidly review at Union level the measures applicable in the restricted zones for foot and mouth disease, which comprise protection and surveillance zones, as well as to provide for further measures to be applied, in the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg in Germany in collaboration with that Member State.

8. Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/186 should, therefore, be repealed and replaced by this Decision.

9. 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: