The Council has endorsed the general approach of the Commission's amended proposal. In its general structure, the common position differs from the amended proposal by integrating into the body of the text a number of animal health conditions, depending on the type of movement, which were originally in the Annex. The aim of this amendment is to distinguish the basic elements of the act, of a legislative nature, clearly from the technical elements coming under the implementing measures (comitology). The common position also clarifies certain points of the Commission's amended proposal:
-it amends the directive applicable to trade in these animals (92/65/EEC) so as to ensure immediate consistency between the two texts;
-it lays down, in certain cases, derogations from the general principle of anti-rabies vaccinations for young animals;
-it proposes anti-rabies vaccinations for ferrets as a general principle underlying all movements of those animals;
- there is a transitional period of five years at the end of which the special provisions relating to movements to the three sensitive Member States - the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Sweden - are to be reconsidered in the light of the evolution of the rabies situation in the EU;
-it clarifies the additional guarantees granted to certain Member States for a transitional period of five years.
These amendments are the result of a carefully-balanced compromise, and do not jeopardise the thrust of the proposal and its long-term objectives.
Finally, the European Parliament considered it useful to make the identification of dogs and cats by tattooing transitional. The Council agrees to that approach, but postponed a decision on the choice of identification methods. Accordingly, the Council did not consider it necessary to specify immediately that only transponders complying with the ISO standard may be used. The decision is postponed to a subsequent review. �