# Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/688 of 17 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards animal health requirements for movements within the Union of terrestrial animals and hatching eggs (Text with EEA relevance), Article 91: Responsibility of the competent authority for animal health certification

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

1. Before signing an animal health certificate, the official veterinarian shall carry out the following types of documentary, identity and physical checks and examinations in order to verify compliance with the requirements:
(a) in relation to kept ungulates, an identity check and a clinical examination of the animals of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(b) in relation to breeding poultry, productive poultry and less than 20 heads of poultry other than ratites, a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment, an identity check of the animals of the consignment and a clinical inspection of the flock of origin and of the animals of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(c) in relation to poultry intended for slaughter, a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment, an identity check of the animals of the consignment and a clinical inspection of the flock of origin for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(d) in relation to day-old chicks, a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment of the flock of origin for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(e) in relation to captive birds:
(i) an identity check of the animals of the consignment;
(ii) a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment and a clinical inspection of the flock of origin and of the animals of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(f) in relation to hatching eggs of poultry, a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment of the flock of origin and where applicable the records kept at the hatchery of dispatch, an identity check of the hatching eggs and
either
(i) a clinical inspection of the flock of origin for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
or
(ii) monthly health inspection visits of the health status of the flock of origin and an evaluation of its current health status as assessed by up-to-date information supplied by the operator;
(g) in relation to hatching eggs of captive birds, a documentary check of the health and production records kept at the establishment, an identity check of the hatching eegs and a clinical inspection of the flock of origin for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(h) in relation to honeybees and bumble bees an identity check and
either
(i) a visual examination of the animals, their packaging and any accompanying feed or other material for the purpose of detection of occurrence of American foulbrood, Aethina tumida (Small hive beetle) and Tropilaelaps spp. for honeybees or Aethina tumida (Small hive beetle) for bumble bees;
or
(ii) in relation to queen honeybees to be certified under derogation provided for in Article 49, a documentary check of the records of the monthly health inspection during the production season. a visual examination of their individual cages for the purpose of verification of the maximum number of attendants per cage and a visual examination of the animals, their packaging and any accompanying feed or other material for the purpose of detection of occurrence of American foulbrood, Aethina tumida (Small hive beetle) and Tropilaelaps spp.;
(i) in relation to primates, a documentary check of the health records, an identity check and a clinical examination, and where this is not possible, a clinical inspection, of the animal(s) of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(j) in relation to dogs, cats, ferrets and other carnivores, an identity check and a clinical examination, and where this is not possible, a clinical inspection, of the animals of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species;
(k) in relation to terrestrial animals from a confined establishment moving to a confined establishment in another Member State, a documentary check of the health records, an identity check and a clinical examination, and where this is not possible, a clinical inspection, of the animals of the consignment for the purpose of detection of clinical signs or suspicion of listed diseases relevant for the species.
2. The official veterinarian shall carry out the documentary, identity and physical checks and examinations as provided for in paragraph 1 and issue the animal health certificate:
(a) within the last 24 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, or where applicable the establishment approved for assembly operations, in relation to kept ungulates except equine animals;
(b) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin in relation to equine animals, or, in the case of equine animals referred to in Article 92(2), on the last working day before departure;
(c) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to breeding poultry, productive poultry, less than 20 heads of poultry other than ratites and captive birds;
(d) within the last 5 days before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to poultry intended for slaughter;
(e) within the last 24 hours before departure from the establishment of origin in relation to day-old chicks;
(f) in relation to hatching eggs of poultry:
(i) within the last 72 hours before departure of the hatching eggs from the establishment of origin, in the case of the documentary checks, the identity checks, the clinical inspection of the flock of origin and the evaluation of its current health status as assessed by up-to-date information supplied by the operator;
(ii) within the last 31 days before departure of the hatching eggs from the establishment of origin, in the case of monthly health inspection visits of the flock of origin;
(g) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to hatching eggs of captive birds:
(h) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to honeybees and bumble bees and within the last 24 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to queen honeybees to be certified under derogation;
(i) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to primates;
(j) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to dogs, cats, ferrets and other carnivores;
(k) within the last 48 hours before departure from the establishment of origin, in relation to terrestrial animals from a confined establishment to a confined establishment in another Member State.
3. The animal health certificate shall be valid for 10 days from the date of issuing, without prejudice to the derogations established under Article 92.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2020/688/article/91 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2020-688/article-91
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.