(1)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/329 (2) designated the consortium led by Wageningen Livestock Research and also composed of Aarhus University and Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, as a European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare responsible for supporting horizontal activities of the Commission and of the Member States in the area of welfare requirements for animals, which is referred to in Article 1(2)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. According to the tasks set out in the European Union reference centres’ multiannual work programme, the activities of this European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare focus on the welfare of pigs.

(2)

Subsequently, in accordance with Article 95 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, the Commission carried out a public call for the selection and designation of a second European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, which should support the horizontal activities of the Commission and of the Member States in relation to the application of the rules laying down welfare requirements for poultry and other small farmed animals.

(3)

The evaluation and selection committee appointed for that public call concluded that the consortium led by the Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Alimentation (France), and also composed of the Institut de Recerca I Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (Spain), Aarhus Universitet – Institut for Husdyrvidenskab (Denmark), and Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna (Italy) complies with the requirements laid down in Article 95(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and could be responsible for the tasks set out in Article 96 of that Regulation, as regards poultry and other small farmed animals.

(4)

That consortium should therefore be designated as a European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare in relation to poultry and other small farmed animals, responsible for supporting tasks insofar as they will be included in the European Union reference centres’ annual or multiannual work programmes. The annual or multiannual work programmes are required to be established in conformity with the objectives and priorities of the relevant work programmes adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

(5)

Article 95 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires that the designation of a European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare is to be limited in time or reviewed regularly. Therefore, the designation of the European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for poultry and other small farmed animals should be reviewed every five years.

(6)

The designated European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for poultry and other small farmed animals should be given sufficient time to prepare its work programme for the next budgetary period. Therefore, this Regulation should apply from 1 January 2020,