Division 2

When an official veterinarian visits a suspected holding to confirm or rule out ASF:

• a check of the production and health records of the holding must be carried out, if these records are available; an inspection in each subunit of the holding must be carried out to select the pigs to be clinically examined.

The clinical examination must include taking the body temperature and must primarily concern the following pigs or group of pigs:

• sick or anorexic pigs,

• pigs recently introduced from confirmed outbreaks or from other suspected sources,

• pigs kept in subunits recently visited by external visitors who had recent close contact with ASF-suspected or infected pigs or for whom other particularly risky contacts with a potential source of the ASF virus have been identified,

• pigs already sampled and serologically tested for ASF, in case the results of these tests do not allow ASF to be ruled out, and in-contact pigs,

• pigs recently recovered from the disease.

If the inspection in the suspected holding has not indicated the presence of the pigs or group of pigs referred to in the above subparagraph, the competent authority, without prejudice to other measures that may be applied in the holding in question in accordance with Directive 2002/60/EC and taking into account the epidemiological situation, shall:

• carry out further examinations in the holding in question in accordance with point 3, or

• ensure that blood samples for laboratory tests are taken from the pigs in the holding in question (in this case the sampling procedures laid down in point 5, and in section F(2) shall be used for guidance purposes), or

• adopt or maintain the measures laid down in Article 4(2) of Directive 2002/60/EC, pending further investigations in the holding in question, or

• rule out the suspicion of ASF.