This Directive defines the minimum Community measures for the control of the fish diseases. Member States shall ensure that all farms rearing or keeping fish susceptible to list I or list II diseases: are registered by the official service; and a record must be kept. When fish on a farm are suspected of being infected with a list I disease, Member States shall ensure that the official service immediately activates official investigation arrangements to confirm or rule out the presence of the disease. As soon as the presence of a list I disease has been officially confirmed, Member States shall ensure that all fish must be immediately withdrawn, in the case of inland farms all pools must be drained for the purposes of cleaning and disinfection, all eggs and gametes, dead fish and fish showing clinical signs of disease shall be regarded as high-risk material and must be destroyed under the supervision of the official service, all live fish shall either be killed and destroyed.
Member States shall ensure that in each Member State a national reference laboratory is designated, with facilities and expert personnel enabling it to show at all times, and especially when the disease in question first appears, the type, sub-type and variant of the relevant pathogen and to confirm results obtained by regional diagnostic laboratories. Each Member State shall draw up a contingency plan specifying how it will implement the measures laid down in this Directive. (21 articles and 4 Annexes)