(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Regulation (EU) 2016/429 lays down rules for the prevention and control of animal diseases which are transmissible to animals or humans, including rules for surveillance, Union surveillance programmes, approval of disease-free status by the Commission and for the maintenance of disease-free status.

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 supplements the rules on surveillance, eradication programmes and disease-free status for certain listed diseases and emerging diseases of terrestrial, aquatic and other animals laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/429. 

(3) Infestation with Echinococcus multilocularis is listed in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 as a disease of relevance to some Member States and for which measures are needed to prevent it from spreading to parts of the Union that are officially disease-free or that have eradication programmes for the disease concerned. 

(4) Union rules for the control of infestation with Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs had been laid down in Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/772. 

(5) Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 was repealed by Article 270(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 as from 21 April 2021. However, Article 277 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 provides that notwithstanding that repeal, Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 is to continue to apply until 21 April 2026 in respect of non-commercial movements of pet animals, in place of Part VI of Regulation (EU) 2016/429. 

(6) The rules on surveillance, including diagnostic methods, the disease specific requirements for disease-free status and the specific criteria for maintenance of disease-free status for Echinococcus multilocularis laid down in Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/772 have proven to be effective in controlling infestation with Echinococcus multilocularis. Accordingly, the main provisions of those rules should be maintained in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689, as amended by this Regulation but updated to take account of the practical experience acquired through the application of those Regulations. Therefore, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 should be amended to provide detailed rules on surveillance, including diagnostic methods, the disease specific requirements for disease-free status and the specific criteria for maintenance of disease-free status for Echinococcus multilocularis. 

(7) As certain Member States have been recognised officially free from infestation with Echinococcus multilocularis and have been listed accordingly in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/878, it should also be ensured that the Member States and zones thereof with an approved disease-free status before the date of application of Regulation (EU) 2020/689 are deemed to have an approved disease-free status in accordance with that Regulation. 

(8) As the transitional period related to the repeal of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 is to cease to apply after 21 April 2026 and in order to prevent infestation with Echinococcus multilocularis from spreading to parts of the Union that are officially disease-free, this Regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency and apply from 22 April 2026,