Regulation (EU) 2016/429 lays down rules for the prevention and control of diseases which are transmissible to animals or humans, including rules for the prioritisation and categorisation of listed diseases that are of concern at Union level. Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 provides that disease-specific rules for the prevention and control of diseases apply to the listed diseases, as referred to in that Article and in Annex II to that Regulation. Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 was amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/16292, and those amendments apply from 21 April 2021.

Rules for the prevention and control of listed diseases should only apply to species and groups of species which can transmit such listed diseases, by virtue of either being susceptible to them or by acting as vectors.

Listed diseases require different types of management measures, as set out in the disease prevention and control rules provided for in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and having regard to the potential seriousness of their impact on public or animal health, the economy, society or on the environment. Those measures range from basic responsibilities and obligations, such as reporting and the notification of the occurrence or suspicion of a listed disease and eradication programmes, to in–depth Union–wide disease-specific surveillance and eradication measures, as well as measures related to the movement of animals and products of animal origin in the Union and their entry into the Union.

Certain criteria are laid down in Articles 8(2) and (3) and 9(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and in Annex IV thereto, for the purpose of listing specific species or groups of species subject to the disease prevention and control rules laid down in that Regulation, as well as the methods of applying the disease prevention and control rules to the listed diseases.

The Commission, with the assistance of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and with the benefit of scientific knowledge provided by the EU Animal Health Reference Laboratories, carried out a systematic assessment of listed diseases which require Union intervention. It also took into account available information from the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The systematic assessment by the Commission also took into account various factors, such as the species susceptible to certain listed diseases, disease reservoirs and disease vectors, and whether or not the listed disease is currently present in the Union, and how the listed disease is transmitted between animals, and from animals to humans, and its potential impact on animal and human health, including its morbidity and mortality rates. The systematic assessment also considered the wider impact of these listed diseases, such as their impact on the economy, society, animal welfare, the environment and biodiversity.

For the purposes of the systematic assessment, EFSA delivered scientific opinions on infection with Brucella abortus, B. melitensis and B. suis3, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (M. bovis, M. caprae and M. tuberculosis)4, infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24)5, anthrax6, surra (Trypanosoma evansi)7, Ebola virus disease8, paratuberculosis9, Japanese encephalitis10, West Nile fever11, infection withMycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC (Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia)12, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis/infectious pustular vulvovaginitis13, bovine viral diarrhoea14, bovine genital campylobacteriosis15, trichomonosis16, enzootic bovine leukosis17, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia18, ovine epididymitis (Brucella ovis)19, Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis20, equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern and Western)21, infection with Aujeszky's disease virus22, infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus23, avian mycoplasmosis (Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. meleagridis)24, infection with Salmonella Pullorum, S. Gallinarum and S. arizonae25, infection with low pathogenic avian influenza viruses26, infestation with Varroa spp. (Varroosis)27, infection with Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans28 and Koi herpes virus disease29 in accordance with Article 8(3) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Annex IV thereto, and it followed the method set out in its Scientific Opinion, adopted on 5 April 2017, on an ad hoc method for the assessment on listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law30.

As Regulation (EU) 2016/429 applies from 21 April 2021, the measures provided for in this Regulation should also apply from that date.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,