FMD UPDATES – RECOGNITION OF REGIONALISATION IN GERMANY AND EXTENSION OF RESTRICTIONS TO AUSTRIA

RECOGNITION OF REGIONALISATION IN GERMANY

Great Britain has now recognised regionalisation for the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in Germany that was confirmed on 10 January 2025.

The relevant lists and safeguard declarations published at Imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products: topical issues – GOV.UK have been amended accordingly and include details of the extent of the containment zone from which exports to Great Britain remain restricted.

Trade of affected commodities can now resume from the areas outside of the containment zone, provided that all other import conditions are met. For the purposes of certification, the UK considers the area outside the containment zone to be free of FMD for at least 24 months.

Please note that import restrictions in place for other diseases remain, including for Bluetongue and African Swine Fever.

Defra have also issued a press notice, which can be found here.

For certificates of bovine, ovine and caprine semen, ova and embryos, the appropriate ISO code as described in column 1 of the following lists: bovine semen, ovine and caprine semen, bovine embryos, and ovine and caprine ova and embryos should be added to Box I.8 of the relevant certificate and to the first paragraph of the animal health attestations.

This provides the relevant assurance that the products originate from animals outside of the containment zone

Supporting documentation:

Certain animal by-products (ABP), from FMD susceptible animals, require supporting documentation to provide assurance that the products have either undergone acceptable risk mitigation treatments or where applicable, originate from animals outside of the restricted zones in Germany.

‘FMD-susceptible animals’ means a cow, bull, sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, any other ruminant, any swine (that is, a member of the suborder Suina of the order Artiodactyla) or elephant.

Types of supporting documentation

Type A (processing/treatment)

• copies of manufacturing records showing relevant parameters of the production process that relate to the specific goods in the consignment

or

• commercial document or statement signed by a person with knowledge of and responsibility for the relevant parts of the production process on company letter headed paper, that specifies the production parameters that relate to the specific goods in the consignment.

Type B (origin of material)

• commercial document or statement signed by a person with knowledge of and responsibility for the relevant parts of the production process on company letter headed paper, that declares the product does not contain ABP originating from animals inside FMD restricted zone

ABPs requiring supporting documentation

Only the listed ABPs require supporting documentation.

The following ABPs originating from inside the restricted zones require Type A supporting documentation:

• fat derivatives
• pig bristles (in addition to health certificate)
• processed petfood (other than canned or extruded dry petfood)
• rendered fats for use outside the feed chain
• treated wool and hair
• treated game trophies or other preparations of susceptible animals, being solely comprised of bones, horns, hooves, claws, antlers or teeth, except those referred to in Section 5, point 1 of Annex XIV to Regulation 142/2011.

The following ABPs originating from outside the restricted zones require Type A or Type B supporting documentation:

• bones and bone products, horns and horn products and hooves and hoof products intended for use other than as feed material organic fertilisers or soil improvers
• fat derivatives – low risk only (for use other than in animal feed)
• processed pet food (other than canned and extruded dry petfood)
• rendered fats for uses outside the feed chain
• treated game trophies or other preparations being solely comprised of bones, horns, hooves, claws, antlers or teeth, except those referred to in paragraph (1) of Section 5 of Chapter II of Annex 14 to Regulation 142/2011
• treated hair and wool
• treated pig bristles

The following ABPs originating from outside the restricted zones require Type B supporting documentation:

• colostrum, colostrum products – low risk only (not for use in animal feed)
• milk, milk-based products and milk-derived products – low risk only (not for use in animal feed)
• processed manure
• treated game trophies comprised of hides and skins except those referred to in paragraph (1) of Section 5 of Chapter II of Annex 14 to Regulation 142/2011
• treated hides and skins of ungulates except:

1.   hides and skins having undergone the complete process of tanning
2.   wet blue
3.   pickled pelts
4.   limed hides which have been treated with lime and in brine at a pH of 12 to 13 for at least eight hours

Submitting the documents

The documents must be uploaded and attached to the CHED import notification the trader creates in IPAFFS, in the ‘Additional Documentation’ section before they submit it unless the goods are already detained at the BCP. This does not apply to treated wool and hair which is not subject to official controls at a BCP.

 

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (FMD) RESTRICTIONS: AUSTRIA

A case of FMD has been reported in Levél, Győr-Moson-Sopron County, near the Austrian border. Given the proximity of the outbreak to Austria, a decision has been taken to extend the FMD restrictions already in place for Hungary and Slovakia, to Austria.

This means that from 27 March 2025, there are restrictions in place on the import of the following commodities from Austria:

• live (including non-domestic) ruminant and porcine animals, including wild game, and their germplasm
• fresh meat from ruminant and porcine animals (including chilled and frozen)
• meat products from ruminant and porcine animals that have not been subject to specific treatment D1, D, C or B (including wild game)
• milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 2010/605
• certain animal by-products
• hay and straw

Please also note that personal import restrictions due to FMD additionally apply to Austria from 28 March 2025: Bringing food into Great Britain: Meat, dairy, fish and animal products – GOV.UK