31.12. 86 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 382/5 COUNCIL DECISION of 16 December 1986 introducing a Community financial measure for the eradication of African swine fever in Portugal (86/649/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (!), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2), Whereas African swine fever has been present in Portugal for many years; Whereas, in order to prevent the disease from spreading to its territory, the Community granted financial support for a period of five years by means of Council Decision 80/877/EEC of 15 September 1980 on financial aid from the Community for the eradication of African swine fever in Portugal (3); Whereas the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal sets as a specific objective to be achieved by the Portuguese Republic that of continuing and intensifying the campaign against African swine fever; Whereas the efforts already made have served to stabilize the incidence of the disease; whereas the resources deployed must, however, be maintained and reinforced in order to eradicate African swine fever from the entire territory of Portugal and thus contribute to the establishment of the internal market; Whereas the Portuguese authorities have appealed to the Community for a contribution towards the expenditure involved in the continuation and reinforcement of the eradication programme undertaken in 1981; Whereas, in order to benefit from the results obtained, this request should be granted so that the systematic action already undertaken can be maintained and consolidated; Whereas the reinforced eradication plan must include measures ensuring the effectiveness of the action undertaken; whereas a procedure closely associating the Member States and the Commission should be introduced by means of which such measures can be adopted and adapted as the situation develops; () O] No C 203, 12. 8. 1986, p. 8. (2) O] No C 322, 15. 12. 1986. (3) O)J No L 250, 23.9.1980, p. 12. Whereas the Member States should be kept regularly informed of the progress of the measures undertaken, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 The Portuguese Republic shall draw up a reinforced plan for the eradication of African swine fever and the restructuring of pig farms so as to protect the health of their livestock. Article 2 The plan referred to in Article 1 must, apart from an indication of the organization that is to implement and coordinate it, provide for: 1. Measures to eliminate outbreaks of African swine fever, and more particularly: (a) the immediate slaughter and destruction of all pigs on those holdings where a clinical case of African swine fever is diagnosed and on those holdings which, as a result of an epizootiological investigation, can be considered as contaminated. Slaughter and destruction shall be effected in such a way as to avoid any danger of spreading the virus; (b) the cleansing and disinfection of, and elimination of insect and rodent pests from, holdings after the elimination of the pigs; (c) immediate and adequate compensation for the owners of holdings whose pigs have been slaughtered in accordance with (a); (d)a delay for health reasons before restocking of holdings, the duration of such delay being at least one month after slaughter and the completion of the operations provided for in paragraph (b) for holdings operating in enclosed premises and at least three months for other holdings; (e) the gradual restocking of holdings by the prior introduction of ‘sentinel’ pigs, in which the absence of African swine fever antibodies has been checked prior to their entry into the holding and again one month later; (f) continuous serological surveillance of holdings until they are fully restocked.