30. 12. 97 Official Journal of the European Communities L 354/19 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2629/97 of 29 December 1997 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals (Text with EEA relevance) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products ('), and in particular Article 10 (a), (b) and (c) thereof, Whereas eartags should include information on the Member State of origin together with information on the individual animal; whereas the most appropriate codified form of such information is the two-letter country code together with a maximum of 12 digits; whereas certain Member States should be authorized to maintain their current system during a transitional period; Whereas bar codes may be authorized in addition to the country code and up to 12 digits; Whereas it is appropriate to define certain minimum uniform rules for the design and lay-out of eartags; Whereas the provisions concerning the content of the eartags should be reviewed in the light of the establish- ment of the computerized database provided for in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 820/97; Whereas that information contained in the passport and the register must be in a form which allows animals to be traced; Whereas that information must be consistent with that to be included in the computerized database provided for in Council Directive 64/432/EEC of 26 June 1964 on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine (3, as last amended by Directive 97/12/EC () Whereas in view of the control measures relating to Community aid schemes, it is necessary to include in the passport certain information relating to the premiums, as provided in Article 4 (b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968, on the common organization of () OJ L 117, 7. 5. 1997, p. 1. @) OJ 121, 29. 7. 1964, p. 1977/64. () OJ L 109, 25. 4. 1997, p. 1. the market in beef and veal (¥), as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 2321/97 () Whereas in view of the timetable for the application of Regulation (EC) No 820/97, this Regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency; Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: CHAPTER 1 Eartags Article 1 1.  Eartags shall contain at least the name, the code or the logo of the competent authority or of the central competent authority of the Member State which allocated the eartags, and the characters provided for in paragraph 2. 2.  The characters on the eartags shall be as follows: (a) the first two positions shall identify the Member State of the holding where the animal is first identified. For this purpose the two-letter country code set out in the Annex shall be used; (b) the characters following the country code shall be numeric and shall not exceed 12. However, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom may maintain their current system of an alpha-numeric code for the 12 digits following the country code until 31 December 1999. 3. In addition to the information provided for in para- graph 1, a bar code may be authorized by the central competent authorities of the Member States. Article 2 Eartags shall meet the following requirements: (a) they shall be of flexible plastic material; () OJ L 148, 26. 6. 1968, p. 24. () OJ L 322, 25. 11. 1997, p. 25.