(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 the registration and approval of germinal product establishments, and for the traceability and animal health requirements for movements of consignments of germinal products within the Union. (2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686

(2) was adopted within the framework of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and lays down supplementing rules for the approval of germinal product establishments, record keeping and traceability of germinal products, as well as animal health and certification requirements for movements within the Union of germinal products of certain kept terrestrial animals.

(3) Articles 16 and 18 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 provide that centre veterinarians and team veterinarians are to ensure that donor animals show neither symptoms nor clinical signs of any category D diseases and that none of the category D diseases relevant for bovine, porcine, ovine or caprine animals has been reported in the establishment of origin, quarantine accommodation or semen collection centre for a period of at least 30 days prior to the date of collection of germinal products. Those requirements concern also infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) and infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus. Recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) do not provide, for those two diseases, the requirement of not being reported for a period of at least 30 days prior to the date of collection of germinal products. 

(4) Infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) and infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus are two very similar diseases from an epidemiological point of view, and they concern the same listed species. Both are vector-borne diseases with specific frequent testing requirements in the event that the diseases are reported during a period of at least 60 days prior to and during collection of the semen, oocytes or embryos in a Member State or zone thereof. Testing of semen donor animals of bovine, ovine and caprine species at semen collection centres for category D diseases other than infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) and infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus is mostly carried out at annual basis, while testing for infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) and infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus, if reported in a Member State or zone thereof, should be carried out at least every 7 or 28 days in the case an agent identification test is used, or in the period between 28 and 60 days from the date of each collection of the semen in the case a serological test is used. This fact, and the need to align the Union requirements to the WOAH recommendations, justify a different approach for those two diseases compared to other category D diseases to be introduced in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686. Therefore, the requirement of no reported case of infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) or infection with epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus in the establishment of origin, quarantine accommodation and semen collection centre for a period of at least 30 days prior to the date of collection of germinal products should be deleted and Articles 16 and 18 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 should be amended accordingly. 

(5) In addition, the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 ( 3 ), as recently amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/169 ( 4 ), re-categories infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) as a category D+E disease, when it had previously been categorised as a category C+D+E disease. That amendment to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 applies from 1 November 2026. As a consequence of such re-categorisation, the rules for infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) relating to official disease-free status or to eradication programmes, including the requirements for movements of germinal products when entering into a disease-free Member State or zone thereof or into a Member State or zone thereof subjected to an eradication programme laid down in Part II, Chapter 2, Section 4, of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 ( 5 ) and in Annex V, Part II, thereto, were amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/797 ( 6 ). Those amendments to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 apply from 1 November 2026. Therefore, the requirements laid down in those provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/689 related to the official disease-free status of a Member State or zone thereof or to carrying out an eradication programme for infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) cease to apply from 1 November 2026. Accordingly, Annex II, Part 5, Chapter II, to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 should be amended by deleting the references to a diseasefree status and to an eradication programme for that disease. 

(6) Article 38 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 lays down the animal health requirements for movements to other Member States of germinal products of animals of the families Camelidae and Cervidae, including requirements related to infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24). Those requirements should be aligned with the requirements for donor bovine, ovine and caprine animals laid down in Article 16 of and Annex II, Part 5, Chapter II, to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686, as amended by this Delegated Regulation. 

(7) Annex II, Part 4, to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 lays down additional animal health requirements for equine donor animals. In accordance with point 1(a)(iii) of Chapter I and point 2(c) of Chapter II of Part 4 of that Annex, donor equine animals must be subjected to a test for contagious equine metritis (Taylorella equigenitalis). In accordance with the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals of the WOAH, Chapter 3.6.2 on Contagious Equine Metritis (May 2022 version), for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing it is not required to use transport medium to convey swabs to the laboratory and such swabs for PCR are to be tested no more than 7 days after sampling. Therefore, Part 4 of Annex II to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 should be amended by deleting the obligation to use a transport medium from the methodology for PCR testing for contagious equine metritis (Taylorella equigenitalis). 

(8) Annex II, Part 5, Chapters II and III, to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 lay down requirements as regards infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) and infection with the epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus. The requirements for those diseases should be amended taking account of the re-categorisation from a category C+D+E disease to a category D+E disease of infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) in the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882. 

(9) As the amendments made to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/169 concerning the re-categorisation of infection with bluetongue virus (serotypes 1-24) as a category D+E disease apply from 1 November 2026, this Delegated Regulation should also apply from that date. 

(10) Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/686 should, therefore, be amended accordingly,