PURPOSE: to delete references to Union zootechnical legislation from the text of Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 90/425/EEC and 91/496/EEC.

PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the Commission adopted recently a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health, plant reproductive material, plant protection products.

That new Regulation is intended to repeal Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules and Directives 89/608/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC and 97/78/EC. It is also intended to incorporate certain of the rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 and in those Directives, with the necessary adaptations. However, the breeding of animals is not intended to fall within its scope.

The Commission also submitted to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the zootechnical and genealogical conditions for trade in and imports into the Union of breeding animals and their germinal products.

For the effective application of Union rules on the zootechnical and genealogical conditions for trade in and imports into the Union of breeding animals and their germinal products laid down in that Regulation, provisions on official controls on breeding animals and general rules on administrative assistance and cooperation, similar to those set out in Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 have been laid down, with the necessary adaptations, in that Regulation.

CONTENT: for legal clarity and certainty and pending the repeal of Directives 89/608/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC and 97/78/EC by the new Regulation on official controls, it is proposed to delete the references to "zootechnical" from these Directives.

The Commission will make the necessary proposals in due time in order to ensure that the provisions on official controls in the field of zootechnics are included in the forthcoming Regulation on official controls.