Article 12U.K.Measures with respect to suspect animals
1.Any animal suspected of being infected by a TSE shall be placed under an official movement restriction until the results of a clinical and epidemiological examination carried out by the competent authority are known, or killed for laboratory examination under official control.
If BSE is suspected in a bovine animal at a holding in a Member State, all other bovine animals from that holding shall be placed under an official movement restriction until the results of the examination are available.
If BSE is suspected in an ovine or caprine animal at a holding in a Member State on the basis of objective evidence such as the results of tests capable of differentiating in a practical way between the various TSEs, all other ovine and caprine animals from that holding shall be placed under an official movement restriction until the results of the examination are available.
If there is evidence that the holding where the animal was present when BSE was suspected is not likely to be the holding where the animal could have been exposed to BSE, the competent authority may decide that only the animal suspected of being infected shall be placed under an official movement restriction. If considered necessary, the competent authority may also decide that other holdings or only the holding of exposure shall be placed under official control depending on the epidemiological information available.
Under the procedure referred to in Article 24(2) and by way of derogation from the requirements of the second, third and fourth subparagraphs of this paragraph, a Member State may be exempted from the application of official restrictions on the movement of animals if it applies measures offering equivalent safeguards.
2.Where the competent authority decides that the possibility of infection with a TSE cannot be ruled out, the animal shall be killed, if it is still alive; its brain and all other tissues as the competent authority may determine shall be removed and sent to an officially approved laboratory, the national reference laboratory provided for in Article 19(1) or the Community reference laboratory provided for in Article 19(2), for examination in accordance with the testing methods laid down in Article 20.
3.All parts of the body of the suspect animal including the hide shall be retained under official control until a negative diagnosis has been made or shall be destroyed in accordance with Annex V, point 3 or 4.
4.Rules for the implementation of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2).