Public health: monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents (amend. Decision 90/424/EEC, repeal. Directive 92/117/EEC)

The Commission accepted nearly all amendments requested by the European Parliament at its first reading and revised its proposal consequently. Nearly all amendments of the European Parliament included in the Commission proposal have been taken into account in the common position. The common position does not incorporate European Parliament amendments that were rejected by the Commission. Additional changes have been included in the common position as a result of discussions in the Council after the first reading of the European Parliament. There is no difference of opinion between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission regarding the basic principles that the Directive should establish. In particular, the three Institutions agree that: - data need to be comparable; - monitoring should in principle cover all stages of the food chain; - the scope of the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance needs to be flexible. The Commission will propose the harmonisation of routine monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents, including the harmonisation of laboratory methods to be used in testing, if and to the extent necessary to ensure that data are comparable. When doing so, it will take due account of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, and the need to avoid creating undue financial or administrative burdens for competent authorities. The Commission will propose measures in accordance with existing Community legislation to permit the gathering of the data needed for the adoption of the first control targets under the Regulation before the Directive takes effect. The Council and the Commission consider that the resources available need to be sufficient to cover the co-financing of measures to control zoonoses.�