2025/613

25.3.2025

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2025/613

of 24 March 2025

concerning certain emergency measures relating to foot and mouth disease in Hungary and repealing Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496

(notified under document C(2025) 1898)

(Only the Hungarian and Slovak texts are authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (‘Animal Health Law’) (1), and in particular Article 259(1), point (c), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Foot and mouth disease is an infectious viral disease affecting animals in the mammal order of Artiodactyla and can have a severe impact on the concerned animal population and the profitability of farming causing disturbance to movements of consignments of those animals and products thereof within the Union and exports to third countries.

(2) In the event of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in animals of listed species, there is a serious risk of the spread of that disease to other establishments keeping animals of listed species.

(3) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 (2) supplements the rules for the control of the listed diseases referred to in Article 9(1), points (a), (b) and (c), of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and defined as category A, B and C diseases in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 (3). In particular, Articles 21 and 22 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 provide for the establishment of a restricted zone in the event of an outbreak of a category A disease, including foot and mouth disease, and for certain measures to be applied therein. Article 21(1) of that Delegated Regulation provides that the restricted zone is to comprise a protection zone, a surveillance zone, and, if necessary, further restricted zones around or adjacent to the protection and surveillance zones.

(4) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 (4) was adopted on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, and it lays down certain interim emergency measures relating to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in an establishment keeping bovine animals in the County of Győr-Moson-Sopron in Hungary, which was confirmed on 6 March 2025, in close proximity to the border with Slovakia. More particularly, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 provides that the protection and surveillance zones established in Hungary, and the surveillance zone established in Slovakia, in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, following that outbreak, are to comprise at least the areas listed in the Annex to that Implementing Decision. In addition, Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 provides that the measures required to be applied in those zones, must be applied at least until the dates listed in that Annex.

(5) Since the adoption of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496, the emergency measures required to be applied in the protection and surveillance zones listed in the Annex thereto, and the timeline for their application, have been reviewed, in particular with respect to the preliminary cleaning and disinfection of the affected establishment. As a consequence, the duration of those measures must be extended. Therefore, the areas listed as protection and surveillance zones for Hungary, and as a surveillance zone for Slovakia, should be defined both spatially and temporally, taking into account the reviewed timeline for the those measures, in the Annex to this Implementing Decision, in order to prevent the spread of the disease from the affected establishment in Hungary to other parts of that Member State, to other Member States or to third countries. It is also necessary to provide clarity at Union level, by adopting a Union legal act, setting out the exact scope of those areas, as well as on the measures to be applied therein, in order to avoid any unjustified disruptions to the movements of animals and products thereof in the Union, as well as exports to third countries.

(6) Accordingly, it is necessary to rapidly review at Union level the measures applicable in the restricted zone for foot and mouth disease, which comprise protection and surveillance zones in Hungary, and the surveillance zone in Slovakia, in collaboration with those Member States.

(7) Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 should therefore be repealed and replaced by this Decision.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

1.   Hungary and Slovakia shall immediately establish a restricted zone, which comprises a protection zone and a surveillance zone in Hungary, and a surveillance zone in Slovakia, in accordance with Article 21 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687.

2.   Hungary and Slovakia shall ensure that:

(a) the protection and surveillance zones referred to in the paragraph 1 comprise at least the areas listed in the Annex; and that

(b) the measures required to be applied in the protection and surveillance zones, are applied at least until the dates listed in the Annex.

Article 2

Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 is repealed.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to Hungary and the Slovak Republic.

Done at Brussels, 24 March 2025.

For the Commission

Olivér VÁRHELYI

Member of the Commission

(1)  

OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1

, ELI:

http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/429/oj

.

(2)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687 of 17 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and the Council, as regards rules for the prevention and control of certain listed diseases (

OJ L 174, 3.6.2020, p. 64

, ELI:

http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2020/687/oj

).

(3)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1882 of 3 December 2018 on the application of certain disease prevention and control rules to categories of listed diseases and establishing a list of species and groups of species posing a considerable risk for the spread of those listed diseases (

OJ L 308, 4.12.2018, p. 21

, ELI:

http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2018/1882/oj

).

(4)  Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/496 of 11 March 2025 concerning certain interim emergency measures relating to foot and mouth disease in Hungary (

OJ L, 2025/496, 12.3.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/496/oj

).

ANNEX

Protection and surveillance zones established around the confirmed outbreak

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/613/oj

ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)