Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 92/65/EEC as regards the animal health requirements governing intra-Union trade in and imports into the Union of dogs, cats and ferrets

The aim of this proposal is to amend Council Directive 92/65/EEC of 13 July 1992 laying down animal health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of animals, semen, ova and embryos not subject to animal health requirements laid down in specific Community rules referred to in Annex A(I) to Directive 90/425/EEC.

Directive 92/65/EEC lays down inter alia the animal health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Union of dogs, cats and ferrets. Those requirements refer to the relevant animal health requirements laid down in Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the animal health requirements applicable to the non-commercial movement of pet animals.

The repeal of Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals makes it necessary to amend Directive 92/65/EEC in order to delete and replace the references to Regulation (EC) No 998/2003. In addition, Directive 92/65/EEC should also be amended to take account of the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and Regulation (EC) No 1255/97, which applies to the transport of dogs, cats and ferrets carried out within the Union.

Moreover, experience in the application of Directive 92/65/EEC has shown that operators find it difficult to comply with the requirement laid down in that Directive that a clinical examination is carried out on animals 24 hours before their dispatch. The recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health for imports of dogs and cats provide for a clinical examination to be carried out 48 hours before shipment of the animals. It is therefore appropriate to extend the time limit laid down in Directive 92/65/EEC to 48 hours and to amend that Directive accordingly.

This proposal and the proposal repealing and replacing Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 [see Related URL] are presented together in order to be adopted simultaneously.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)090: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:090:FIN

European Commission: COM(2012)89: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-commercial movement of pet animals http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0089:FIN:EN:PDF

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