Animal health requirements: bovine semen, trade and imports (amend. Directive 88/407/EEC)

The committee adopted the report by Heinz KINDERMANN (PES, D) amending the proposal under the consultation procedure. It wanted the decision as to whether or not the establishment of semen storage centres should be approved on the territory of a Member State to be left to the Member State concerned, while at the same time pointing out that any refusal of approval must not interfere with the free movement of goods within the EU. Should a Member State decide to approve semen storage centres, it would have to guarantee permanent official supervision of such centres and the traceability of the semen. One amendment specified that, to prevent infection, movement of semen must be in one direction only (the "one-way principle") and there must be no possibility of the semen being returned to the storage centre. Furthermore, semen must be traded only between two approved collection or storage centres and must be transported in such a way as to ensure that it does not come into contact with any other batch of semen. Lastly, the committee rejected the idea of a six-month transition period for intra-Community trade in and imports of semen collected and certified in accordance with the directive formerly in force. It argued that trade in such semen should continue to be authorised without any time limit even after the new directive had entered into force, as destruction of such semen was not necessary on animal health grounds and did not make economic sense. With regard to certification, the committee proposed that, 18 months after the entry into force of the new directive, only semen collected, processed and stored before that date should be certifiable in accordance with the provisions of Directive 88/407/EEC formerly in force. �