The Commission accepts two of the amendments made by the European Parliament:
- the recognition of electronic identification only after eight years;
- the introduction of the codecision procedure for possibly adopting an extension of the special status of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden on expiry of the five-year transitional period.
The remaining amendments were rejected. These include:
- the removal of the exemption from rabies vaccination for young animals. The risk represented by movements of non-vaccinated young animals between continental Member states was regarded as negligible during discussions at the council, and the Commission concurs with that approach;
- the establishment of a number of animals to distinguish non-commercial movements from commercial movements;
- basing classification of third countries solely on recognition as rabies-free, when the mechanism adopted at EU level is based on minimum acceptable risk.
- the institutional amendments on the Commission's powers and on comitology are also rejected.�