Commission Decision of 20 November 2008 on guidelines for the purpose of the risk-based animal health surveillance schemes provided for in Council Directive 2006/88/EC (notified under document number C(2008) 6787) (Text with EEA relevance) (2008/896/EC)

5. The health status of the farms and mollusc farming areas

Part B of Annex III to Directive 2006/88/EC differentiates between the following health status categories:

Category I	(a) Declared disease-free in accordance with Article 49(1)(a) or (b) or Article 50(1)(a) or (b) of Directive 2006/88/EC. Such status is determined by the fact that: (i) none of the species susceptible to the disease(s) in question is present in the Member State, zone or compartment, and where relevant in the water source of that Member State, zone or compartment; or (ii) the pathogen is known not to be able to survive in the Member State, zone or compartment, and where relevant in the water source of that Member State, zone or compartment. (b) Declared disease-free in accordance with Article 49(1)(c) or Article 50(1)(c) of Directive 2006/88/EC. The status is based on targeted surveillance complying with the conditions laid down in Part II of Annex V to Directive 2006/88/EC.
Category II	Not declared disease-free but subject to a surveillance programme approved in accordance with Article 44(1) of Directive 2006/88/EC.
Category III	Not known to be infected but not subject to surveillance programme for achieving disease-free status.
Category IV	Known to be infected but subject to an eradication programme approved in accordance with Article 44(2) of Directive 2006/88/EC.
Category V	Known to be infected. Subject to minimum control measures as provided for in Chapter V of Directive 2006/88/EC.

Where appropriate, inspections carried out in the framework of a risk-based animal health surveillance scheme may be combined with:

(a)

inspections carried out in the framework of surveillance or eradication programmes approved in accordance with Directive 2006/88/EC (for zones or compartments falling within categories II or IV);

(b)

any surveillance carried out to maintain the disease-free status (for zones or compartments falling within category I – declared disease-free in accordance with Article 49(1)(a) or (b) or Article 50(1)(a) or (b) of Directive 2006/88/EC);

(c)

any surveillance carried out as part of control measures pursuant to Chapter V of Directive 2006/88/EC (for zones or compartments falling within category V).

When drawing up risk-based animal health surveillance schemes, Member States should take account of the following:

(a)

for farms or mollusc farming areas situated in areas which have a health status falling within categories II and IV, the inspection frequency required by surveillance or eradication programmes approved in accordance with Directive 2006/88/EC is higher than the frequency recommended by Part B of Annex III to that Directive; it is therefore not necessary for Member States to lay down specific requirements concerning the inspection frequency for farms and mollusc farming areas situated in areas covered by such programmes;

(b)

the need for Member States to lay down specific requirements on the frequency of inspections under a risk-based animal health surveillance scheme exists mainly for farms or mollusc farming areas situated in areas which have a health status falling within categories I, III and V, depending on the particular circumstances and national measures;

(c)

consideration should be given to the fact that a farm or mollusc farming area may have a different health status in relation to different diseases; this may be the case for farms and mollusc farming areas keeping species which are susceptible to more than one of the listed non-exotic diseases(1).

(1)

For example, a rainbow trout farm might be free of infectious salmon anaemia (Category I), be under Category II (under an approved surveillance programme) for viral haemorrhagic septicaemia and have unknown status as regards infectious haematopoietic necrosis (Category III).