8.1.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 5/1

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 (4) provides that poultry and poultry products (‘the commodities’) are only to be imported into and transit through the Union from the third countries, territories, zones or compartments listed in columns 1 and 3 of the table in Part 1 of Annex I thereto.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 also lays down the veterinary certification requirements for the commodities concerned. Those requirements take into account whether or not specific conditions are required due to the disease status of those third countries, territories, zones or compartments. Those specific conditions, as well as the model veterinary certificates required to accompany imports of those commodities, are set out in Part 2 of Annex I to that Regulation.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 lays down rules for the control of Salmonella in different poultry populations in the Union. It provides that admission to, or retention on, the lists of third countries provided for in Union legislation, for the relevant species or category, from which Member States are authorised to import table eggs from poultry covered by that Regulation is subject to the submission to the Commission by the third country concerned of a control programme for Salmonella with equivalent guarantees to those contained in the national control programmes for Salmonella in the Member States. Guarantees and information in that regard are also included in the relevant model veterinary certificates for those commodities set out in Part 2 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 798/2008.

(4)

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (5) has introduced a request for the authorisation of imports of eggs for human consumption and poultry meat into the Union. The Commission has positively evaluated the submitted information as regards the animal health conditions in that third country required for import and transit of these commodities. The animal health requirements for imports of fresh poultry meat to the Union are more stringent than those for eggs for human consumption due to the possible increased risk for disease transmission linked to that commodity. An audit of the Food and Veterinary Office is scheduled for 2016 in order to fully assess the poultry health status and conditions for imports of poultry meat. Pending that audit, it is appropriate to limit the authorisation of imports into the Union to table eggs for human consumption.

(5)

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has submitted to the Commission its control programme for Salmonella in laying flocks of Gallus gallus. This programme was found to provide guarantees equivalent to the guarantees provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 and should therefore be approved.

(6)

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is listed in Commission Decision 2011/163/EU (6) and has a residue monitoring plan approved for eggs.

(7)

As a consequence of the equivalence of the control programme for Salmonella, the imports of table eggs from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should be authorised. The entry for former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Part 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 798/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8)

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