Division 2 Record checks and clinical and laboratory examinations at the approved groups of aquaculture establishments referred to in Article 8 shall be carried out as follows:

the relevant records kept by or on behalf of each aquaculture establishment in the group of aquaculture establishments in accordance with Article 186 of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and with Article 24 of this Regulation, must be examined to assess if there are indications of increased mortality or of the presence of a listed or emerging disease which must be taken into account when deciding which aquaculture establishment in the group is required to be visited for the purpose of risk-based surveillance;

when the examination of records referred to in point (a) indicates increased mortality or the presence of a listed or emerging disease in a particular aquaculture establishment within the group, that establishment must be visited for the purpose of risk based surveillance; the steps outlined in point 1(b) to (g) must be followed during that visit;

when the examination of records referred to in point (a) does not indicate increased mortality or the presence of a listed or emerging disease in any aquaculture establishment within the group, the risk-based surveillance visit or visits shall be carried out either:

1. (i)

   after risk assessment, in the aquaculture establishment or aquaculture establishments within the group which pose the highest risk of disease introduction; or

2. (ii)

   to the establishment which has had the greatest number of movements of aquaculture animals for further farming, since the last risk-based surveillance visit was carried out.

In either case, the steps outlined in point1 (c) to (g) must be followed during the risk-based surveillance visit.