Pre-Mission Questionnaire: Bivalve Molluscs

1. Legislation

1. Basic law: name and date it officially came into force
2. Relevant secondary legislation (regulations, ordinances etc. at national and regional level)
3. Instructions used by inspectors for "daily" use
4. Were requirements equivalent to those laid down by Directive 91/67/EC, concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animal and products, and 95/70/EC, introducing minimum Community measures for the control of certain diseases affecting bivalve molluscs, introduced in the national legislation ?

2. Competent authority

1. Name and competencies (legislation, supervision etc.) of the Competent Authority (CA) at the national level. Competencies regarding public health and animal health aspects should be clearly presented
2. Name and competencies of the services at the regional and local levels
3. Which tasks are carried out at the different levels (national/regional/local) and how is the control by the CA over the other levels organised, to guarantee a harmonised system in whole COUNTRY
4. Staff number (senior staff and inspectors) at the central and the regional/local level
5. Organigrammes of the CA and the regional/local services. The organigrammes should provide information on how the CA, the regional/local services and the laboratories (see � are interconnected

 

3. Laboratories

It concerns laboratories involved in tests on (a) microbiology, (b) biotoxins, (c) phytoplancton, (d) chemical pollutants, (e) mollusc diseases diagnosis.

1. Laboratories at the national level responsible for the testing
2. Laboratories at the regional/local level responsible for the testing
3. List of the types of analyses carried out by these laboratories. Are different laboratories responsible for different tests?
4. How is the supervision on the regional/local laboratories organised
5. Are the laboratories accredited or going to be accredited (EN 45001 or equivalent requirements) ?
6. Are the laboratories taking part to inter-calibration tests?

4. General statistics for COUNTRY

1. Annual production in 2000 of BM
2. Volume exported in 2000, the main destinations, main Species
3. List of approved factory vessels for live bivalve molluscs (LBM)
4. Number of fishing vessels for cooking of LBM, if applicable
5. List of approved production areas for LBM
6. Number of approved purification centres for LBM
7. Number of approved dispatch centres for LBM
8. List of approved establishments processing bivalve molluscs
9. List of Species of interest in view of the export to the EU of live bivalve molluscs

5. Provisions regarding animal health

1. Provisions regarding registration of the farms rearing bivalve molluscs and records keeping (entry and exit of live molluscs, mortality).
2. Provisions regarding notification of the diseases affecting bivalve molluscs, and list of notifiable diseases.
3. Provisions regarding the prevention and the control of the diseases of bivalve molluscs.
4. Details on the monitoring and sampling programme applied in bivalve mollusc farms, farming areas and harvested natural beds (including frequency and timetable of monitoring, procedures for taking samples and methods of diagnosis for each pathogen monitored).
5. List of the pathogens identified in COUNTRY. In addition, a copy of the FAO/OIE/WHO questionnaire for the last year available would be useful.
6. Results of the health monitoring in the areas proposed for export of live bivalve molluscs (list and maps of the areas to be provided).

6. Classification and monitoring of the production areas

1. Classification of the production areas

1. When was the classification done?
2. Criteria for the classification of the production areas (microbiological, chemical) �1.2|:

• Limits
• Frequencies
• Sampling methods
• Laboratory methods

please supply full details of method used for E.coli/faecal coliform analysis)

• Results

Analytical results for the previous 3 years, coded according to monitoring location and species, should be provided

3. Frequency of the test on radionuclides, and on contaminants listed in the Annex of Directive 79/923/EEC
4. Were the differences of species (e.g. oysters/clams/blue mussels) taken into account for the classification of the production areas ? (Cf. 6.1.2.)
5. What guarantees are put in place to ensure that no BM are caught outside the approved production areas ?

6. Monitoring of production areas

1. Monitoring of the phytoplancton situation

• Sampling method for collecting sea-water
• Preparation method for cell count (sedimentation, filtration)
• Frequency of sampling
• List of species
• Trigger levels for switching from "periodic monitoring" to "intensive sampling"
• Frequency of "intensive sampling"
• Criteria for return from "intensive monitoring" to "periodic monitoring"

2. Monitoring of the biotoxins

• Sampling method
• Sampling frequency
• Laboratory methods

3. Sampling points

• Number and distribution
• How and why were they identified (oceanographic, climatic factors) ?
• Is there a difference for the sampling points between "periodic monitoring" and "intensive monitoring"?
• Validation of the system

4. Do the authorities propose on-going controls directed at virus contamination ? If so :

What approach is proposed ? (full details)

What analytical methods are to be used ? (please supply full details of methods)

What results are already available ? (provide details)

7. Maps with the location of the production areas:

a list of the areas proposed for export, maps of these areas to include details on scale, shellfish bed locations, species, monitoring points (each with an identification code), population centres and location of corresponding sewage treatment system and effluent discharge point(s),

8. Closing/suspension of production areas

1. Criteria and limits for closing/suspending production areas

2. Criteria for re-opening production areas

3. Who is responsible for closure and re-opening of the production areas and what is the administrative procedure ?

4. How is the closing/suspension of the production area communicated to fishermen and establishments ?

5. What guarantees are put in place to ensure that no BM are caught during the closing/suspension period of the production areas ?

9. Classification and monitoring of the production areas for marine gastropods, tunicates and echinoderms

Provide details

10. Monitoring programme for wild scallops

Provide details

2. Requirements for transportation

Documents used during transport from the production area to the establishment

3. Results of the monitoring programme

Please provide the results concerning the period from 1 January to 31 December 2000.

4. Checks on final product

Please provide information on official checks (sampling undertaken and analyses requested by the CA) on final products, own checks (undertaken by establishment management) and supervision (by the CA) of the own checks system.

5. Approval procedure for establishments

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Last updated on 2001-NOV-30 by frf