S.L. 437.50 Art. 59Recovery of status following eradication of foot- and-mouth disease with vaccination.

(1) Malta, or any region thereof regionalised in accordance with rule 43, shall recover its previous foot-and-mouth disease and infection free status following the control and eradication of one or more outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination under the following conditions:

(a) all the measures provided for in rules 34, 42, 52, 53, 54 and 55 have been completed, and

(b) at least one of the following conditions applies:

(i) the relevant recommendations in the foot-and-mouth disease Chapter, as last amended, of the Animal Health Code of the OIE are met;

(ii) at least three months have elapsed since the slaughter of the last vaccinated animal and serological surveillance has been carried out in accordance with the guidelines established in accordance with rule 65(3);

(iii) at least six months have elapsed since the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease or the completion of emergency vaccination, what ever event occurred later, and in accordance with the guidelines established in accordance with rule 65(3), a serological survey based on the detection of antibodies against non-structural proteins of the foot-and-mouth disease virus has demonstrated the absence of infection in vaccinated animals.

(2) Decisions on recovering a foot-and-mouth and infection free status shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to rule 78(2).