
Article 1 

1. The body referred to in Annex I shall be designated as the reference body responsible for collaborating in rendering uniform the testing methods and the assessment of the results for pure-bred breeding animals of the bovine species.
2. The duties of the body designated in paragraph 1 shall be as set out in Annex II.
Article 2 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 23 July 1996.
For the Council
The President
I. YATES
ANNEX I

Name of the body:
INTERBULL CentreDepartment of Animal Breeding and GeneticsSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesBox: 7023;S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.

ANNEX II

The duties of the body designated in Article 1 (1) of the Decision are as follows:

1.. to be the documentation and information centre for the methods of testing and assessing the genetic value of pure-bred breeding animals of the bovine species for the Member States of the European Union as laid down in Decision 86/130/EEC. This duty will be accomplished by:

— regularly receiving the results of genetic assessments and the data on which they were based,
— comparing the various methods of testing and assessing the genetic value of pure-bred breeding animals of the bovine species;
2.. at the request of the Member States of the Commission:

((a)) to provide assistance in order to contribute to the harmonization of the various methods of testing and assessing the genetic value of pure-bred breeding animals of the bovine species, in particular by recommending the calculation methods to be used;
((b)) to provide assistance in order to permit the comparison of the results of the methods of testing and assessing the genetic value of animals in the various Member States, in particular by:

— developing control protocols, to enable assessments to be made in the various Member States so as to improve the relevance of results and the effectiveness of selection programmes,
— carrying out an international assessment of livestock on the basis of the genetic assessments made in the various Member States,
— disseminating the individual results of the international assessments,
— publishing the conversion formulae and all related genetic work;
((c)) to help the bodies referred to in point I of the Annex to Decision 86/130/EEC to take part in a comparison of the results of the assessment of genetic value at international level;
((d)) to evaluate the problems of assessing pure-bred breeding animals and attempt to resolve the problems linked to the genetic assessments carried out in the various Member States.
