(1)

Directive 96/23/EC requires that third countries from which Member States are authorised to import animals and animal products covered by that Directive submit residue monitoring plans providing the required guarantees (‘the plans’). The plans are to cover at least the groups of residues and substances listed in Annex I to Directive 96/23/EC.

(2)

Commission Decision 2011/163/EU (2) approves the plans submitted by certain third countries concerning animals and animal products, which are listed in the Annex to that Decision.

(3)

Certain third countries are using only raw material either from Member States or from other third countries approved for imports of such raw material to the Union, in accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2011/163/EU for the production of products intended for export to the Union. For the sake of clarity, entries for those countries should be marked with ‘Δ’, signifying triangular trade for the relevant species or commodity in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(4)

Third countries not having presented a plan for bovine, ovine/caprine, porcine, equine or poultry, but request to manufacture composite products destined to be exported to the Union by using processed animal products from those species, should, upon request, be allowed to prepare such composite products provided that they source those processed animal products either from a Member State or an approved third country subject to compliance with animal health and public health requirements set out in Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) 2019/625 (3) and (EU) 2020/692 (4) and Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/2235 (5) and (EU) 2021/404 (6). For the sake of clarity, entries for those countries should be marked with an ‘O’ in the column only for the relevant animal species requested in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(5)

Third countries having presented a plan for either aquaculture products, milk or eggs, and request to manufacture composite products, should be allowed to prepare composite products destined to be exported to the Union containing such processed products, by using any of those processed products, provided that processed products for which they have not presented a plan are sourced from Member States or approved third countries. For the sake of clarity, entries for those countries should be marked with an ‘O’ for the remaining of those categories in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(6)

The listing of third countries for molluscs is necessary due to the change in the certification requirements for farmed molluscs. At present, there is no requirement under Directive 96/23/EC, for third countries to submit to the Commission plans for molluscs. The only relevant residue monitoring for the production of farmed molluscs concerning contaminants is carried out pursuant to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/627 (7), and the third countries satisfying those conditions are listed in Annex VIII to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 (8). Since those third countries fulfil the requirements of Articles 56 to 59 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/627 including on the residue monitoring, therefore for the sake of clarity, those countries should be marked with an ‘M’ in the column ‘Aquaculture’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU, signifying ‘molluscs’.

(7)

Certain countries requested to export to the Union composite products containing processed products from molluscs originating either from Member States or approved third countries listed in Annex VIII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405. Countries marked with an ‘X’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU for at least one of the following commodities: bovine, ovine/caprine, equine, porcine, poultry, aquaculture, milk, eggs or game, have provided the sufficient guarantees related to their official control system in place. Therefore, all those countries should be marked with a ‘P’ in the column ‘Aquaculture’ of that table allowing them to use processed products from molluscs originating either from Member States or approved third countries for the production and export of composite products containing processed products from molluscs.

(8)

In the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU, the category ‘Aquaculture products’ is divided into four sub-categories, in order to align these sub-categories with the ones covered by model certificates for entry into the Union set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2235 (9), and the corresponding lists of third countries authorised for the entry into the Union of such products laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405.

(9)

Recent experience has shown that such sub-categorisation of aquaculture products does not provide the necessary clarity for control staff at the Union border control posts. Therefore, it is appropriate to revert to a single column for ‘Aquaculture’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(10)

Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam have submitted plans, which cover aquaculture products. The plans provide sufficient guarantees and should therefore be approved.

(11)

Albania, Armenia, Argentina, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus, Switzerland, Chile, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Serbia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uruguay have submitted plans, which only cover finfish. The plans provide sufficient guarantees and should therefore be approved, with a scope limited to finfish.

(12)

Brunei, Belize, Cuba, Guatemala, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Venezuela have submitted plans, which only cover crustaceans. The plans provide sufficient guarantees and should therefore be approved, with a scope limited to crustaceans.

(13)

Iran has submitted a plan, which only covers roes and caviar and crustaceans. This plan provides sufficient guarantees and should therefore be approved, with a scope limited to roes and caviar and crustaceans.

(14)

Andorra, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Morocco, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, San Marino, Thailand, and Kosovo have not presented plans for certain species of animals and animal products pursuant to the requirements of Article 7 of Directive 96/23/EC. However, those countries have provided sufficient guarantees in accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2011/163/EU, to export such products to the Union, originally sourced from a Member State or an approved third country. Therefore, those third countries should be approved for triangular trade.

(15)

Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, the United Kingdom, Guernsey, Greenland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States, Uruguay and Vietnam are listed in Annex VIII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 as authorised third countries for the entry into the Union of live, chilled, frozen or processed bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods. Therefore, those third countries should be marked with an ‘M’ in the column ‘Aquaculture’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(16)

Andorra, the United Arab Emirates, Albania, Armenia, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Brunei, Brazil, Botswana, Belarus, Belize, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Faroes Islands, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iran, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Moldova, Montenegro, Madagascar, North Macedonia, Myanmar, Mauritius, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Paraguay, Serbia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, San Marino, Eswatini, Taiwan, Tanzania, Venezuela and South Africa have requested to export composite products containing processed products derived from molluscs. Those countries have provided guarantees in accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2011/163/EU to use only molluscs originating, either from Member States or from approved third countries listed in Annex VIII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405 and should be marked with a ‘P’ in the column ‘Aquaculture’ of that table.

(17)

The United Arab Emirates have submitted to the Commission a plan for honey covering only one region. That plan provides sufficient guarantees and should therefore be approved. An entry for the United Arab Emirates for honey should be included in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU, limited to that region.

(18)

Chile and Greenland are listed in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU for their export towards the Union of ovine and caprine meat. However, Chile and Greenland have informed the Commission that they are no longer interested to export caprine meat to the Union. The entries for Chile and Greenland for ovine and caprine meat in that table should therefore be restricted to ovine meat.

(19)

Guernsey is listed in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU for its export towards the Union of bovine meat and milk. However, Guernsey informed the Commission that it is no longer interested to export bovine meat to the Union. The entry for Guernsey for bovine meat and milk in that table should be restricted to milk.

(20)

Singapore and Thailand have not submitted to the Commission a plan for eggs. However, Singapore and Thailand have provided guarantees to use only eggs originating, either from Member States or third countries authorised for entry into the Union of such products and they have informed the Commission that such eggs to be exported to the Union will not be limited to composite products containing processed egg products. Consequently, the entries for Singapore and Thailand for eggs should be marked with ‘Δ’ in the table of Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(21)

The United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka have not provided plans for milk from bovine, ovine and caprine species pursuant to the requirements of Article 7 of Directive 96/23/EC. However, they have provided guarantees to use only milk products originating, either from Member States or approved third countries for the production of composite products to be exported to the Union. Consequently, the entries for the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka for milk products should be marked with an ‘O’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU including eggs products, as those third countries have at least an ‘X’ for either milk of camel (United Arab Emirates), or aquaculture products (Sri Lanka) in that table.

(22)

Malaysia has not provided a plan for milk and eggs pursuant to the requirements of Article 7 of Directive 96/23/EC. However, Malaysia has provided guarantees to use only milk and eggs originating either from Member States or approved third countries for the production of composite products to be exported to the Union. Consequently, the entry for Malaysia for milk and eggs should be marked with an ‘O’ in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU.

(23)

Sierra Leone is currently listed in the table of the Annex to Decision 2011/163/EU for honey and Uganda for aquaculture products. As those third countries have not submitted to the Commission plans for the respective products, those entries should be deleted from that table.

(24)

Decision 2011/163/EU should therefore be amended accordingly.

(25)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

(1)

the following articles are inserted after Article 2:

(2)

the Annex is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Decision.