Project description

Agriculture and the production of foodstuffs of animal origin are important economic sectors for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to facilitate the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU, the Twinning: "EU's support to capacity building and gradual Union acquis alignment in the veterinary sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina" (BA 18 IPA AG 02 19) was tendered to support the veterinary authorities there. (Twinnings are EU-funded partnership projects between EU member states and EU candidate countries). We are carrying out this project together with VET International France (agency of the French Ministry of Agriculture) and the Veterinary and Food Safety Department of the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture.

The tasks and objectives of the project are to harmonise the laws and regulations in the veterinary sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina with EU standards and to carry out appropriate training. Three main areas have been defined:

• Animal health: The focus here is on animal labelling, the traceability of animal transports and the control and monitoring of animal diseases. Biosecurity is also of great importance here. The legal basis here is the AHL (Animal Health Law) and the OCR (Official Controls Regulation) of the EU.
• Animal welfare: In this area, the regulations for pets and farm animals are adapted to EU standards (Animal Welfare Law).
• Animal waste and animal by-products: The strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has already been drawn up in an EU project, is being reviewed for its degree of implementation and effectiveness and further steps are to be developed.

Benefits of the project

On the one hand, the project supports the development of the cross-border movement of goods and, on the other, it is intended to help improve the reporting of diseases, outbreak management and the control of animal diseases. Austria also benefits greatly from improved animal disease control in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as animal diseases have repeatedly shown that they can spread rapidly across borders.