To: All holders of live fish import licences, All organisations on the attached list

Our Ref: DWW 647
Date: 07/04/2004

ADDITIONAL FISH HEALTH GUARANTEES

Dear Sir/Madam

1. I am writing to let you know that following negotiations with the EU Commission, the UK has been granted additional guarantees to help safeguard against the introduction of certain fish diseases through trade in live fish from other Member States and non-EU countries. The new measures, which are laid down in Commission Decision 2004/453/EC http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2004/l_156/l_15620040430en00050028.pdf , were adopted at a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) on 22 March. The document will be published as a Commission Decision in due course and there may be some minor changes to the text of the final version.

2. The immediate effect of the measures will be to require live imports into the UK from EU and non-EU sources to comply with the additional guarantees through new animal health certification requirements that come into force in May 2004. (Further guidance on the new certification arrangements will be issued shortly.)

Background

3. Under article 12 and 13 of Council Directive 91/67, Member States may apply to the Commission for recognition of control programmes and additional guarantees to maintain freedom from and prevent the spread of the List III diseases specified in the Directive. The UK made application to the Commission in the early 1990s for recognition of national control programmes in respect of Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN), Bacterial Kidney Disease (BKD), Spring Viraemia of Carp (SVC) and Gyrodactylus salaris (GS) and we were granted guarantees and safeguards in respect of SVC in 1993 (Decision 93/44 as amended) and GS in 1996 (Decision 2003/513).

4. Little progress was made by the Commission in considering the UK’s application in respect of the other diseases until last year when, as part of the negotiations on the harmonisation of controls on the import of live fish from non-EU countries (Commission Decision 2003/858) the Commission agreed to consider the outstanding applications and review current guarantee and safeguard measures. The UK submitted revised applications to the Commission in respect of the longstanding national control programmes we have been operating for all four diseases and SANCO 10022 rev 4 is the result. Other Member States made similar applications.

Main features of the new controls

5. The Commission was only prepared to recommend adoption of additional guarantees in respect of Member States already free of a disease and wishing to maintain that freedom, or Member States not free of a disease but having in place a programme for eradicating the disease in order to achieve freedom. The Commission was not prepared to recommend adoption of programmes or additional guarantees in respect of a disease considered to be endemic in a territory and/or which may be controlled by means other than trade restrictions.

6. The new measures detail the requirements which must be met for a territory to be considered free of a disease (Annex I) and the minimum requirements which must be applied in a programme aimed at control and eradication of a disease (Annex II). The requirements are based on a combination of existing EU/national controls and guidance issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). We are considering whether any further adjustments need to be made to current programmes operating in the UK.

7. The table in Annex I Chapter II lists the areas of the UK which have gained formal recognition of freedom from the four diseases referred to above. The table in Annex II, Chapter II lists the parts of the UK where eradication programmes have been approved in respect of some of these diseases. The UK’s application for additional guarantees in respect of the IPN control programme for the freshwater environment in Great Britain was not approved because the Commission considered that eradication was not achievable under the national control programme. We are considering the implications of this decision with SEERAD and the other Fisheries Departments in the UK.

Additional Guarantees

8. Annex III is the model animal health certificate that lists the additional guarantee conditions which have been granted to the UK and certain other Member States. All consignments of live fish from EU or non-EU sources entering those areas of the UK recognised as having either freedom from disease or a programme to eradicate disease will have to comply with these certification requirements.

9. The guarantees require the competent authority of the exporting state to certify that the fish come from a source with an equal or higher health status than the country (or territory) of destination, similar to the arrangements which have operated up to now in respect of the Community safeguard provisions on SVC and GS. However, some significant changes have been made in respect of guarantees relating to Gyrodactylus salaris (GS). Details are as follows:

10. Under the existing safeguard (Decision 2003/513) the introduction of live salmonids into the UK is prohibited except from other areas recognised by the Community as being free of GS (currently Ireland and parts of Finland). (The import into the UK of live salmonids from third countries is currently prohibited by national law.) Under the new measures (SANCO 10022 rev 4) the movement of salmonids into the UK will be permitted from EU and non-EU territories but only if they

• come from a territory considered free of GS or from a continental (i.e. inland) farm in water catchment areas declared free of GS which is also subject to surveillance and rigorous testing to confirm absence of the disease; or

• coastal farms in areas of salinity below 25 parts per thousand where waters draining into the estuary are declared free of GS; or

• coastal farms where salinity is greater than 25 ppt and no fish of the susceptible species have been introduced to the farm in the previous 14 days.

NB

The new controls on GS will also apply to the movement of other species of fish in contact with salmonids from exporting sites.

Fish originating in coastal zones are not permitted to transfer to continental zones unless authorised by the competent authority of the receiving state (i.e. the transfer must be coastal to coastal).

11. The guarantees generally make provision for transfers from areas considered free of GS. The provision relating to marine sites with salinity greater than 25 ppt is a different approach and stems from guidance in the OIE Aquatic Animal Health Code. Latest scientific evidence suggests that this level of salinity kills the GS parasite rapidly and that 25ppt should therefore be considered to the natural barrier to disease transmission in the seas. UK fish health scientists have studied the package of measures relating to GS and concluded that they present a negligible risk of introduction of the parasite into the UK (no more than from other possible means of transfer into the UK).

New animal health certification

12. The new animal health certification arrangements in respect of imports of live fish from non-EU countries which come into force on 1 May were agreed in Commission Decision 2003/858. This document is in the process of being amended to take account of the additional guarantees referred to above. The new certification will replace current licensing arrangements which apply to species of live fish other than tropical ornamental fish (and certain other categories). Current licensing arrangements will continue to apply to the latter. Further guidance on the new certification arrangements in respect on non-EU and EU trade will be issued shortly.

13. If you have any comments on this letter or need clarification on any point please contact Karl Nsiah on 020 7270 8233 or Caroline James on 020 7270 8826.

Yours faithfully

David Mullin

David V Mullin
Fisheries Division IIA
(Aquaculture, Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries)

DISTRIBUTION

All holders of live fish import licences

Association of London Government
Association of Port Health Authorities
Association of Sea Fisheries Committees
Atlantic Salmon Trust
British Marine Finfish Association
British Ports Authority
British Trout Association
British Trout Farmers Re-stocking Association
Carp Society
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Country Land and Business Association
Crown Estates Office
English Carp Heritage Organisation
English Nature
Federation of British Ports
Fishmonger’s Company
Fish Veterinary Society
Institute of Fisheries Management
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services
Local Government Association
London Port Health Authority
National Angling Alliance
National Consumers Council
National Farmers Union
National Federation of Anglers
National Federation of Sea Anglers
National Federation of Consumer Groups
National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations
National Federation of Fishmongers
National Federation of Inland Wholesale Fish Merchants
Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association
Salmon and Trout Association
Sea Fish Industry Authority
Seafood Processors Association Ltd
Shellfish Association of Great Britain
UK Association of Frozen Food Producers
UK Fish Merchants and Processors Association