Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/216 of 11 January 2024 amending the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 concerning listed diseases of aquatic animals and the list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases

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 8(2), Article 8(3), and Article 8(4), point (b) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2016/429 lays down rules for the prevention and control of diseases, which are transmissible to animals or humans, including rules for the prioritisation and categorisation of listed diseases that are of concern at Union level. Those rules for the prevention and control of listed diseases apply to species and groups of species, which can transmit the listed diseases, by virtue of either being susceptible to them or by acting as vectors. Those species and groups of species are listed in the table in the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 (2), in accordance with the criteria laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429.

(2) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has provided scientific advice in its Scientific Opinions of 1 August 2023, concerning species of fish (3), molluscs (4), and crustaceans (5), which may act as vectors of diseases falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/429.

(3) It is, therefore, timely and important, to review the list of vectors of the aquatic diseases listed in the table set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882, taking into account the scientific advice provided by EFSA, as well as the criteria laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 which specifically stipulates that the list is to comprise those animal species, or groups of animal species which pose a considerable risk for the spread of specific listed diseases. According to the working definition set out in the EFSA Scientific Opinions, vector species are those species which have been demonstrated to transmit the causative agent of a listed disease to susceptible species. Such vector species clearly present a considerable risk for the spread of listed diseases.

(4) In so far as the risk posed by the vector species which have been identified in the EFSA Scientific Opinions can be managed by the competent authorities of Members States, those vector species should be listed in the fourth column of the table set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882. In addition, the vector species which are currently listed in that column, and which have not been identified by EFSA as having demonstrated the ability to transmit the causative agent of a listed disease of aquatic animals to susceptible species, should be deleted from that column. The list of vector species for the aquatic diseases set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 should, therefore, be amended accordingly.

(5) Moreover, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has recently reviewed the aquatic species, which are susceptible to infection with Marteilia refringens. A revised list of species which are susceptible to that disease is set out in Article 11.4.2. of the Aquatic Animal Health Code (6). As this disease is also currently listed in the table set out in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882, the Commission has reviewed the Report of the WOAH ad hoc group on susceptible species to infection with WOAH listed diseases (7), which led to the revised list of species, which is set out in the Aquatic Animal Health Code.

(6) Following that review by the Commission, it is appropriate to amend the list of species and groups of species, which is set out in the third column of the table in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882, concerning infection with Marteilia refringens. This amendment takes the latest scientific knowledge into account and seeks to achieve an appropriate level of convergence with WOAH standards, while still taking previous risk management decisions concerning two species of mussels, namely Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis, into account.

(7) That list should therefore reflect the list of susceptible species set out in Article 11.4.2. of the WOAH Aquatic Animal Health Code, with the exception of the species Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 11 January 2024.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/429/oj.

(2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 of 3 December 2018 on the application of certain disease prevention and control rules to categories of listed diseases and establishing a list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases (OJ L 308, 4.12.2018, p. 21), ELI: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2018/1882/oj

(3) Species which may act as vectors or reservoirs of diseases covered by the Animal Health Law: Listed pathogens of fish. EFSA Journal 2023; 21(8): 8174

(4) Species which may act as vectors or reservoirs of diseases covered by the Animal Health Law: Listed pathogens of molluscs EFSA Journal 2023; 21(8): 8173

(5) Species which may act as vectors or reservoirs of diseases covered by the Animal Health Law: Listed pathogens of crustaceans EFSA Journal 2023; 21(8): 8172

(6) 2023 OIE – Aquatic Animal Health Code, 25th edition

(7) https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2022/10/a-ahg-susceptibility-mollusc-marteilia-refringens-nov-dec-2021-may-june-2022.pdf