16.2.2018   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 43/6

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 lays down the general tasks, duties and requirements for European Union (EU) reference laboratories for food and feed and for animal health. The designated EU reference laboratories are listed in Annex VII to that Regulation, including that responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 establishes the EU reference laboratory for TSEs and its specific tasks.

(3)

The designation of the EU reference laboratory for TSEs, currently located in the United Kingdom, will be discontinued on 31 December 2018 as a consequence of the United Kingdom notification in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

(4)

It is necessary to maintain an EU reference laboratory for TSEs in order to ensure the high quality and reliability of diagnosis techniques for TSEs as well as their uniform application throughout the Union. The Commission therefore launched on 29 May 2017 a call for applications to select and designate an EU reference laboratory for TSEs. Following completion of the selection procedure, the selected consortium between the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta (IZSPLVA) and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), led by the former, should be designated as EU reference laboratory for TSEs.

(5)

Regulations (EC) No 999/2001 and (EC) No 882/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

In order to avoid any disruption of activities of the EU reference laboratory for TSEs and to allow the newly designated EU reference laboratory sufficient time to be fully operational, it is appropriate that the measures provided for in this Regulation apply as from 1 January 2019.

(7)

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