ANNEX I POULTRY, HATCHING EGGS, DAY-OLD CHICKS, SPECIFIED PATHOGEN-FREE EGGS, MEAT, MINCED MEAT, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED MEAT, EGGS AND EGG PRODUCTS

PART 2

Notes

General notes:

(a) Veterinary certificates based on the models in Part 2 of this Annex and following the layout of the model that corresponds to the commodity concerned shall be issued by the exporting country, territory, zone or compartment. They shall contain, in the order appearing in the model, the attestations that are required for any third country and, where applicable, those additional health requirements required for the exporting country, territory, zone or compartment.

Where additional guarantees are required by the EU Member State of destination for the commodity concerned, these shall also be entered on the original of the veterinary certificate.

(b) A separate, single certificate must be presented for each consignment of the commodity concerned, exported to the same destination from a territory appearing in columns 2 and 3 of Part 1 of this Annex and transported in the same railway wagon, lorry, aircraft or ship.

(c) The original of certificates shall consist of a single page printed on both sides or, where more text is required, such that all the pages form a whole and cannot be separated.

(d) The certificate shall be drawn up in at least one official language of the EU Member State where the border inspection takes place and in one official language of the EU Member State of destination. However, those Member States may allow another Community language instead of their own, accompanied, if necessary, by an official translation.

(e) Where additional pages are attached to the certificate for the purposes of identifying the items making up the consignment, such additional pages shall also be considered to form part of the original of the certificate, provided the signature and stamp of the certifying official veterinarian appear on each page.

(f) Where the certificate, including any additional pages as provided for in (e), comprises more than one page, each page shall be numbered ‘–x(page number) of y(total number of pages)–’ on the bottom and shall bear the code number of the certificate allocated by the competent authority on the top.

(g) The original of the certificate must be completed and signed by an official veterinarian not more than 24 hours prior to loading of the consignment for imports to the Community, unless otherwise stated. To that end, the competent authorities of the exporting country shall ensure that principles of certification equivalent to those laid down in Directive 96/93/EC are followed.

The colour of the signature shall be different from that of the printing. The same rule shall apply to stamps other than embossed stamps or watermarks.

(h) The original of the certificate must accompany the consignment as far as the EU border inspection post.

Additional notes for poultry and day-old chicks:

(i) The certificate shall be valid for 10 days from the date of issue, unless otherwise stated.

In the case of transport by ship, the term of validity shall be extended by the time taken by the voyage. To that end, the original of a declaration by the ship's master, drawn up in accordance with Annex II, shall be attached to the veterinary certificate.

(j) Poultry and day-old chicks shall not be transported with other poultry and day-old chicks that are either not intended for the European Community or of a lower health status.

(k) Poultry and day-old chicks shall not in the course of transport to the Community be moved through nor unloaded in a third country, territory, zone or compartment from which imports of such poultry and day-old chicks into the Community are not authorised.