Negotiations on the conditions of entry into the European Union for the ten candidate countries were completed some time ago. These conditions are set out in the treaties of accession signed with the candidate countries. With effect from 1 May 2004, the ten accession countries, comprising Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, will become member states of the European Union and, as such, may, subject to meeting appropriate standards, trade with the other member states of the EU without the requirement for border controls for the purposes of animal and public health.
The standards with regard to trade are contained within Community legislation providing for health and safety controls on production and on intra-Community trade in animals, animal and plant products and foods. These controls apply in particular to the structure of and hygiene in establishments and the control and the health marking of the products.
It has been a key element of the enlargement negotiations in the agriculture sector that the candidate countries transpose the EU's veterinary legislation into their national legislation and undertake its full and effective implementation from the date of accession. The objective has been to ensure that enlargement does not result in a dilution of existing EU levels of public health, food safety, animal health and animal welfare. Furthermore, candidate countries have been required to ensure that their external borders satisfy the levels of controls required within the EU and that full and effective enforcement of the internal market control systems takes place from the day of accession.