CHAPTER IVDEPOPULATION AND EMERGENCY KILLING
Article 18Depopulation
1
The competent authority responsible for a depopulation operation shall establish an action plan to ensure compliance with the rules laid down in this Regulation, before the commencement of the operation.
In particular, the stunning and killing methods planned and the corresponding standard operating procedures for ensuring compliance with the rules laid down in this Regulation shall be included in the contingency plans required under Community law on animal health, on the basis of the hypothesis established in the contingency plan concerning the size and the location of suspected outbreaks.
2
The competent authority shall:
a
ensure that such operations are carried out in accordance with the action plan referred to in paragraph 1;
b
take any appropriate action to safeguard the welfare of the animals in the best available conditions.
3
For the purposes of this Article and in exceptional circumstances, the competent authority may grant derogations from one or more of the provisions of this Regulation where it considers that compliance is likely to affect human health or significantly slow down the process of eradication of a disease.
4
By 30 June each year, the competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 shall transmit to the Commission a report on the depopulation operations carried out during the previous year and make it publicly available via the Internet.
With regards to each depopulation operation, that report shall include, in particular:
a
the reasons for the depopulation;
b
the number and the species of animals killed;
c
the stunning and killing methods used;
d
a description of the difficulties encountered and, where appropriate, solutions found to alleviate or minimise the suffering of the animals concerned;
e
any derogation granted in accordance with paragraph 3.
5
Community guidelines for the drawing up and implementation of depopulation action plans may be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 25(2).
6
Where appropriate, in order to take account of the information collected by the ADNS, a derogation from the reporting obligation laid down in paragraph 4 of this Article may be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 25(2).
Article 19Emergency killing
In the case of emergency killing, the keeper of the animals concerned shall take all the necessary measures to kill the animal as soon as possible.