On Thursday 31 August, the European Commission adopted provisional emergency measures in response to new outbreaks of African swine fever detected on pig farms in Italy.
Italy recently informed the Commission of the African swine fever situation on its territory following the confirmation of new outbreaks of the disease in pigs in the Lombardy region, where African swine fever had so far only been confirmed in wild boar. To prevent the spread of the disease, Italy has established a restricted zone in which the general disease control measures laid down in EU legislation are being applied.
To ensure that trade within the EU is not unnecessarily disrupted and that third countries do not impose unjustified trade barriers, the Commission is working with Italy to identify the restricted zone in the country at Union level.
Following previous experience in other affected Member States, the Commission has adopted certain provisional emergency measures against African swine fever in Italy. These measures will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, to be held from 14 to 15 September. Several other EU countries are affected by the disease, including Germany, Poland, Romania, Greece and the Baltic states. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)