11 April 2025: insertion of closing dates in Austria’s entry in the 'fresh meat of ungulates' list following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease
Updated 11 April 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-veterinary-surgeon-ovs-notes/11-april-2025-insertion-of-closing-dates-in-austrias-entry-in-the-fresh-meat-of-ungulates-list-following-an-outbreak-of-foot-and-mouth-disease
Purpose
To inform you of the insertion of a closing date in Austria’s entry in the fresh meat of ungulates listing, following a recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) on the Hungary-Austrian border.
Background
Hungary notified WOAH of an outbreak of FMD on 7 March 2025.
As a result of this outbreak Hungary has lost its FMD-free status.
Hungary reported a further outbreak of FMD on 26 March 2025. The outbreak was detected in cattle on a farm in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, within 10 kilometres of the border with Austria.
Due to the proximity of this outbreak with Austria, the UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance amended its country listings on 27 March 2025 to suspend imports of several commodities from FMD-susceptible animals from the whole territory of Austria (OVS note 2025/25).
As part of this, imports of fresh meat of ungulates susceptible to FMD were suspended, through removal of the model certificates BOV, OVI, RUF, RUW, POR, SUF and SUW from Austria’s entry in the fresh meat of ungulates list.
Having assessed the risk, the UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance has today (10 April 2025) amended the fresh meat of ungulates list again.
The new list reinstates the BOV, OVI, RUF, POR and SUF certificates to Austria’s entry, but with a closing date of 24 February 2025 inserted in column 7.
As a result of the insertion of this closing date, consignments of fresh meat, meat products and meat preparations from FMD-susceptible animals from Austria which are currently being held at border control posts (BCPs) may be released if they meet all the following conditions:
- the consignments contain or were made from fresh meat obtained from animals slaughtered before 24 February 2025 (any consignments containing fresh meat with a slaughter date on or after 24 February 2025 should be rejected)
- the accompanying certificate was signed before 26 March 2025 (any consignments certified on or after 26 March 2025 should be rejected)
- all requirements for the import of such products into GB are met
Consignments currently being held at BCPs which do not meet all the conditions should be rejected and dealt with in line with OCR rules for rejected consignments.
All future imports from Austria of consignments containing fresh meat of FMD-susceptible animals remain prohibited and cannot be certified, regardless of the slaughter date.
The certificates covering fresh meat of wild game animals (RUW and SUW) have not been reinstated.
This means imports from Austria of those commodities covered by these certificates continue to be restricted entirely, regardless of the date of slaughter.
Any consignments of such commodities being held at BCPs should be rejected.
Actions for OVSs
To note the contents of this OVS note.
Contact point for enquiries
Email:
Imports and EU Trade Team