Decree No. 218 of 2026 on Animal Health (Measures for the Control, Prevention and Containment of Foot-and-Mouth Disease).

This Decree, implementing provisions of article 7 of Animal Health Law, provides for limiting the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in animals and preventing the serious negative consequences brought about by the spread of the virus, with additional measures beyond those already taken. This Decree concerns the following cloven-hoofed animals: cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, camels, deer, antelopes, llamas and alpacas and wild animals. This Decree prohibits: the movement of cloven-hoofed animals to and from farms; the movement of all types of animal feed and veterinary medicines to and from farms; the grazing of cloven-hoofed animals; the movement of agricultural equipment and people to and from farms, as well as mass public gatherings of farm owners and farm workers in the territory of the Republic; for reasons other than animal health, visits to farms or places where cloven-hoofed animals are exhibited to the public, located in zones where restrictive measures for foot-and-mouth disease are applied; the movement of wool from farms; the movement of manure outside the zones where restrictive measures for foot-and-mouth disease are applied; the import from third countries and movement from other Member States of cloven-hoofed animals and the submission of an order for the purchase of cloven-hoofed animals from other Member States or from third countries. The Decree empowers the competent authority to determine the zones where the restrictive measures for foot-and-mouth disease apply and to carry out the process of harvesting, collecting, transporting, and handling roughage and seeds intended for animal feed.
As exemptions from the prohibitions, the Decree authorises the following actions: the movement of cloven-hoofed animals from holdings to slaughterhouses; the movement of pigs from breeding holdings to holdings of the same owner which do not fall within the zones where restrictive measures are applied for foot-and-mouth disease, on the basis of a health certificate issued by the holding veterinarian and under proof of vaccination of the pigs; the movement from the points of entry into the Republic to approved suppliers and from approved suppliers to the holdings, of all types of animal feed, including those that are not intended for cloven-hoofed animals; the movement of veterinary medicinal products from approved suppliers to holdings; the transport of water for watering cloven-hoofed animals; the movement of wool from holdings; the import from third countries or the movement from other Member States of cloven-hoofed animals. Similar provisions concern sheep and goats not infected for shearing of cloven-hoofed animals, whether located inside or outside the zones where the restrictive measures for foot-and-mouth disease are applied. The Decree also provides for authorising the shearing of cloven-hoofed animals only by owners, whether located inside or outside the zones where the restrictive measures for foot-and-mouth disease are applied.