HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"EN
20.1.2012 Official
Journal
of
the
European
Union
L
17/1
II
(Non-legislative acts)
REGULATIONS
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 45/2012
of 19 January 2012
amending the Annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards the content of the
movement documents
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Manual recording of non-electronic identifiers requires
considerable effort on the part of keepers and represents
a potential source of errors.
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union,
(5) The
particular
situation
for
animals
born
until
31 December 2009 was taken into account as regards
the requirement to record individual animal codes in the
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 of
movement document. The risks associated with
17 December 2003 establishing a system for the identification
movements of such animals to a slaughterhouse are
and registration of ovine and caprine animals and amending
limited and do not justify the supplementary adminis
Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and Directives 92/102/EEC
trative burden posed by that requirement. Animals
and 64/432/EEC (
moved directly to a slaughterhouse in the same

1 ), and in particular Article 10(1) thereof,
Member State were therefore exempted from that
requirement regardless of the date of movement of the
animals.
Whereas:
(6) In
order
to
further
reduce
the
administrative
burden
for
operators, the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 21/2004, as
(1) Regulation
(EC)
No
21/2004
provides
that
each
Member
amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No
State is to establish a system for the identification and
933/2008 ( 2 ), provides that the requirement of
registration of ovine and caprine animals in accordance
recording the individual animal code in the movement
with the provisions of that Regulation.
document is not obligatory for animals born until
31 December 2009, until 31 December 2011, for all
movements other than to a slaughterhouse directly or
(2) That
system
is
to
comprise
four
elements,
namely:
means
via a channelling procedure.
of identification to identify each animal (‘means of identi
fication’), up-to-date registers kept on each holding,
(7) During
the
time
this
transitional
period
has
been
in
force,
movement documents and a central register or a
no major failures in the system have been reported to the
computer database. The Annex to that Regulation sets
Commission services as a result of the implementation of
out the requirements for those elements.
this derogation.
(3) Regulation
(EC)
No
21/2004
provides
that,
as
from (8) However,
in
some
Member
States,
due
to
the
particular
31 December 2009, electronic identification is to be
way ovine and caprine animals are kept, data shows that
obligatory for all animals born after that date.
animals born until 31 December 2009 will still form a
However, the majority of animals born until that date
substantial part of the ovine and caprine population until
are still only identified with non-electronic identifiers.
31 December 2014. The risks associated with their
movements would be constantly decreasing, propor
tionally to the decrease in the number of such animals.
However, manual recording of non-electronic identifiers
(4) The
individual
animal
code
contained
in
the
non-elec
in those cases would still represent a substantial adminis
tronic identifiers can only be recorded manually.
trative burden on keepers of such animals.
( 1 ) OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8.
( 2 ) OJ L 256, 24.9.2008, p. 5.

---

L 17/2
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
20.1.2012
(9) Movements
of
such
animals
should
therefore
continue
to (12) The
measures
provided
for
in
this
Regulation
are
in
be exempted from the requirement to record individual
accordance with the opinion of the Standing
animal codes in the movement document until
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,
31 December 2014. The burden imposed on keepers
by such recording after that date, as well as the
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
potential sources of error, would then be within
acceptable levels.
Article 1
In Section C.3 of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 21/2004,
point (b) is replaced by the following:
(10) Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 should therefore be
amended accordingly.
‘(b) until 31 December 2014 for all other movements.’
Article 2
(11) In
the
interest
of
legal
certainty,
it
is
appropriate
that
this
Regulation apply retroactively from 1 January 2012, in
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
order to ensure continuity in the application of the
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
exemption from the requirement to record individual
animal codes in the movement document.
It shall apply from 1 January 2012.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 19 January 2012.
For the Commission
The President
José Manuel BARROSO

---