Commission Decision 98/272/EC on epidemio-surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Decision 94/474/EC.

Member States shall ensure that it is compulsory for the suspected presence of any TSE in any animal to be notified immediately to the competent veterinary authority. BSE shall be suspected in bovine animals aged over 20 months displaying behavioural or neurological signs where the disease cannot be ruled out either on the basis of response treatment or following laboratory examination. Scrapie shall be suspected in ovine and caprine animals aged over 12 months displaying behavioural or neurological signs where the disease cannot be ruled out either on the basis of response to treatment or following laboratory examination. Any animal which shows clinical signs giving rise to the suspicion of a TSE shall be placed under official movement restrictions pending the outcome of a clinical and epidemiological investigation by the competent authority. In order to give early warning of the emergence or occurrence of BSE or scrapie, each Member State shall carry out an annual programme of monitoring in accordance with the minimal requirements laid down in the Annex. The Annex attached also specifies the information that shall be contained on the annual report to be submitted by Member States to the Commission (art. 4, par. 2).