Member States shall draw up a contingency plan specifying the national measures required to maintain a high level of foot-and-mouth disease awareness and preparedness, and environmental protection and to be implemented in the event of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The contingency plan shall provide for the access to all facilities, equipment, personnel and other appropriate materials necessary for the rapid and efficient eradication of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, it shall ensure coordination with neighbouring Member States and encourage cooperation with neighbouring third countries.

The contingency plan shall ensure that all necessary arrangements are made to prevent any avoidable damage to the environment in the event of an outbreak, while ensuring at the same time the highest disease control level, and minimise any damage caused as a result of an outbreak, in particular if it is necessary to bury or burn the carcasses of dead or killed animals on site.

The criteria and requirements for drawing up the contingency plan shall be those set out in Annex XVII. Those criteria and requirements may be amended taking into account the specific nature of foot-and-mouth disease and progress made in the development of disease control and environmental protection measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 89(2).

The Commission shall examine the contingency plans in order to determine whether they permit the objective provided for in paragraph 1 to be attained and shall suggest to the Member State concerned any amendments required, in particular to ensure that such plans are compatible with those of the other Member States.

The contingency plans shall be approved in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 89(2).

Member States shall ensure that significant modifications in their approved contingency plans are notified to the Commission without delay.

The revised contingency plans may subsequently be approved in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 89(2), to take into account developments in the situation.

In any case, every five years each Member State shall update its contingency plan in particular in the light of real-time alert exercises referred to in Article 73, and submit it to the Commission for approval in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 89(2).