Under discussion...

The outcome of the European Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH) meeting on the export of live animals from GB, which we discussed here is outlined in more detail on the ProMed website. We are grateful for sight of this.

"The Commission gave a brief overview of the Community legislation on
bovine tuberculosis noting that calves under 42 days of age are
exempted for the requirement of the pre-movement testing and that in
this case, current EU provisions rely only on the status of the herd.
In addition, the Commission presented for discussion 4 possible
alternative provisions which could be implemented, either one at a
time or in combination, in order to prevent the spread of TB from
areas with high prevalence of the disease via intra-Community trade
in calves under 42 days of age, and in particular apart from the
mandatory officially tuberculosis-free herd origin:

1. Pre-movement test (intradermal skin test or gamma interferon test)
of individual animals concerned;
2. Low prevalence region origin (below 1 or 0,5 percent or other);
3. Recent herd test (such as, less then 6 months) with strictly
defined frequency of testing the herd (annual, twice a year, etc.);
4. Channelling procedure (post-movement test at destination or
dispatched to a holding at destination from which they can only be
moved directly to a slaughterhouse).

Conclusions-----------

There was general consensus on:
- the need to ensure that the officially bovine tuberculosis-free (TB
OF) status is properly granted to the herds, as this is the basic
requirement in order to ensure safe trade;
- the pre-movement testing is not suitable for animals younger than
42 days of age due to the lack of sensitivity of the test when used
on these animals;
- there is a need to have proportionate and effective measures in
order to address the risk posed by these animals that cannot be
tested before movement.

An acceptable regime for animals below 42 days of age would be as follows:
Bovine animals for breeding and production less than 42 days old
shall only be dispatched to other Member States if they come from an
officially tuberculosis-free bovine herd as defined in Article
2(2)(d) of Directive 64/432/EEC, and:

1. The holding of origin is situated in a Member State or a region of
a Member State as defined in Article 2(2)(p) of Directive 64/432/EEC
in which on average, determined at 31 December of each year, the
annual percentages of bovine herds confirmed as infected with
tuberculosis is not more than 0.5 percent of all herds within the
Member State or region thereof, or
2. All animals in the holding of origin, with the exception of
animals under 6 weeks old, have been subjected with negative results
to the routine intradermal tuberculin test in accordance with Annex B
to Directive 64/432/EEC at an interval of more than 3 months and less
than 6 months during the last 12 months, or
3. All animals in the holding of origin, with the exception of
animals under 6 weeks old, have been subjected with negative results
to the intradermal tuberculin test in accordance with Annex B to
Directive 64/432/EEC, carried out in the 30 days prior to the
movement, or
4. The animals are consigned, through a channelling procedure under
the control of the competent authority of the place of destination,
to a holding from where they can only be removed:
a. to be transported directly to the slaughterhouse for slaughter in
accordance with the first indent of Article 7 of Directive
64/432/EEC, or
b. to be introduced not earlier than at the age of at least 42 days
into another herd in accordance with the procedure provided for in
point 1(c) of Section I of Annex A to Directive 64/432/EEC [see
commentary. - Mod.AS]

On 3 Sep 2008 the conclusions of the meeting were presented to the
Standing Committee for Food Chain and Animal Health under point 4D of
the Committee's agenda."

It is our understanding that this matter will be revisited in October.