# Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, Division 4: Sampling rules applicable to the animals referred to in points 2 and 3

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

The animals shall be over 18 months of age or have more than two permanent incisors erupted through the gum.
The age of the animals shall be estimated on the basis of dentition, obvious signs of maturity, or any other reliable information.
The sample selection shall be designed with a view to avoid the over-representation of any group as regards the origin, age, breed, production type or any other characteristic.
The sampling shall be representative for each region and season. Multiple sampling in the same flock shall be avoided, wherever possible. The monitoring programmes must be designed by the Secretary of State, with the consent of each other authority which, in relation to any part of Great Britain, is the appropriate authority so as to achieve, wherever possible, that in successive sampling years all officially registered holdings with more than 100 animals and where TSE cases have never been detected are subject to TSE testing.
The appropriate authority shall put in place a system to check, on a targeted or other basis, that animals are not being diverted from sampling.
However, an appropriate authority may exclude from the sampling any remote areas with a low animal density and where no collection of dead animals takes place, provided that when taken with other such exclusions not more than 10% of the ovine and caprine population in the United Kingdom is excluded.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2001/999/annex/III/chapter/A/division/II/division/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2001-999/annex-III/chapter-A/division-II/division-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.