24, 12. 97 Official Journal of the European Communities L 353/45 COMMISSION DECISION of 16 December 1997 amending Decision 96/385/EC approving the plan for the control and eradication of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom (Text with EEA relevance) (97/870/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 89/662/EEC of 11 December 1989 concerning veterinary checks in intra- Community trade with a view to the completion of the internal market (), as last amended by Directive 92/118/EEC (%), and in particular Article 9 (4) thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market (*}), as last amended by Directive 92/118/EEC, and in particular Article 10 (4) thereof, Whereas according to the second subparagraph of Article 9 (1) of Directive 89/662/EEC and the second subpara- graph of Article 10 (1) of Directive 90/425/EEC, the Member State of origin or dispatch is required to imple- ment on its territory the appropriate measures to prevent all situations likely to constitute a serious hazard to animals or to human health; Whereas the plan for the control and eradication of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom presented to the Commission by the United Kingdom on 3 June 1996, as amended on 19 June 1996, was approved by Commission Decision 96/385/EC (*); Whereas the United Kingdom, in the abovementioned plan, proposed that the actions of the selective culling programme should consist in essence of: (a) identifying cases of BSE in cattle born in the period from 1 July 1989 to June 1993; 395, 30. 12. 1989, p. 13. 62, 15. 3. 1993, p. 49. 224, 18. 8. 1990, p. 29. 151, 26. 6. 1996, p. 39. AAQA cece 0000 e e ey i atel (b) tracing all other cattle born on the same farms as those cattle in the same period (birth cohort) and slaughtering those animals; Whereas in some instances calves are separated from their dams and moved from the herd in which they were born (natal herd) to rearing premises before they receive solid feed; whereas the most likely source of infection is con- taminated feed; whereas, therefore, those calves, if they later contract bovine spongiform encephalopathy, are most likely to have become infected on the rearing premises and not in their natal herd; Whereas an inspection mission on the assessment of the progress made in the implementation of the programme to eradicate BSE in the United Kingdom was conducted by the Food and Veterinary Office of the Commission from 3 to 6 March 1997 and from 9 to 13 June 1997 whereas it was observed that in Great Britain cohorts were only being generated from animals in the herds in which a BSE case was born; whereas it was, for epidemiological reasons, recommended that the generation of cohorts should not be limited to animals born in those natal herds but should be extended to other herds where the BSE case was first exposed to potentially contaminated feed and to animals which were moved into those natal herds; Whereas Article 3 of Decision 96/385/EC requires the United Kingdom to notify the Commission of any inten- tions to modify the plan; whereas according to the same Atrticle, that Decision should be re-examined as soon as possible following such notification; Whereas the United Kingdom notified the Commission on 4 June 1997 of some operational changes which they proposed to make to the selective culling programme; whereas the United Kingdom on 17 October 1997 formally submitted to the Commission an amendement to insert the following new paragraph 10.10A in the selec- tive culling programme: ‘In some cases the BSE case received no solid feed in its natal herd. In operating the cull it will be assumed, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, that infection took place on the first premises on which the BSE case received solid feed; and that other calves reared with it on those premises, irrespective of their