Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97^f1, and in particular Article 4(2) thereof,

Having regard to the requests from Member States,

Whereas:

Certain Member States have requested, pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000, that the maximum period laid down for applying eartags to bovine animals be extended to six months where the animals are kept under specific management conditions and where the area's specific natural handicaps and the animals' highly aggressive behaviour make it difficult and even dangerous to apply eartags in the 20 days after the animals are born.

Extension of the maximum period for applying eartags should be allowed in those circumstances and subject to certain safeguards. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that the quality of information provided by the database for bovine animals is not adversely affected and that no bovine animals to which eartags have not been applied are moved.

This extension should apply only to holdings that have been individually authorised by the Member State concerned in accordance with clearly defined criteria.

Since the measures provided for in this Decision should apply to all Member States, Commission Decision 98/589/EC of 12 October 1998 concerning an extension of the maximum period laid down for the application of eartags to certain bovine animals belonging to the Spanish herd^f2, which sets out specific provisions for Spain, should be repealed.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: