Recital 21

(21)Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 lays down more stringent animal health requirements for pet animals moved into Member States from countries or territories other than those listed in Part C of Annex II thereto. Those requirements include checks on the effectiveness in individual animals of the anti-rabies vaccination by titration of antibodies in a laboratory approved in accordance with Council Decision 2000/258/EC of 20 March 2000 designating a specific institute responsible for establishing the criteria necessary for standardising the serological tests to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccines ¹⁴ . That requirement should therefore be maintained in Annex IV to this Regulation and a condition should be included that the test should be performed in accordance with the methods laid down in the relevant Chapter of the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).