Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/821 ammends restricted zones in Czechia, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and France under the Animal Health Law framework.
April 7, 2026 – The EU has officially published the Implementing Decision that amends the Annex to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2447, establishing an EU-wide framework of emergency measures for outbreaks of avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry farms. The amendment updates the restricted zones, including protection zones with a 3km radius, as well as surveillance zones with a 10 km radius, both established around confirmed HPAI outbreaks in six member states.
The Decision does three things: first, it adds new restricted zones for five newly confirmed outbreaks, one in Nymburk, Czech Republic, two in Tuscany, Italy, and two in Mazovia and Warmia-Mazuria, in Poland. It also extends the duration of existing restricted zones in Denmark (DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00008, 00011, 00012 and 00013, in Næstved, Faaborg-Midtfyn, Slagelse and Ringsted) and Germany (outbreak DE-HPAI(P)-2026-00036, in Brandenburg), where disinfection of affected enterprises was completed later than initially projected. The Decision also shortens the duration of zones associated with outbreak PL-HPAI(NON-P)-2026-00174 in West Pomerania, Poland, where disinfection was completed ahead of schedule.
HPAI remains active across multiple EU member states simultaneously, with the current wave affecting poultry establishments in Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Northern Ireland. These amendments reflect real-time epidemiological developments, with the shortening of zones in West Pomerania and the extension of zones in Denmark and Brandenburg, hinting at positive and negative development of the outbreak in the respective regions.
