Written question asked by Lord Dear (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour) on Thursday, 4 March 2010.

Equine Infectious Anaemia

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require all those importing equine animals from Romania, Italy and other high risk areas to produce a negative Coggins test alongside the compulsory horse passports for those animals.

Answer: The EU rules on free trade in livestock place responsibility on the "exporting" member state to control diseases on its territory and to certify that any consignments for export to another member state are safe. In addition and in recognition of the endemic equine infectious anaemia (EIA) situation in Romania, EU legislation requires all horses from Romania to be tested for EIA pre-export. As a further assurance, the rules allow the importing country to carry out checks for compliance with certification, which can include a blood test, on a proportion of consignments. A requirement to test all imported horses would be a burdensome restriction on trade, would be disproportionate to the risk, and would fall foul of EU trade rules.

Secondary information