1. The specified risk material shall be removed and destroyed in accordance with points 2, 3, 4 and 8 of Annex V.
That specified risk material or the material processed therefrom may be placed on the market or, if need be, exported only for final destruction in accordance with points 3 and 4 or as appropriate 7(c) or 8 of Annex V. It may not be imported into the Community. Transit of specified risk material through Community territory must take place in accordance with the requirements of Article 3 of Directive 91/496/EEC.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to tissues from animals which have undergone an alternative test approved for that distinct purpose in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2) and listed in Annex X, Chapter C, point 5, and applied under the conditions listed in point 5 of Annex V - and where the results of the test were negative.
The Member States which authorise that alternative test must inform the other Member States and the Commission.
3. In Member States, or regions thereof, which are placed in categories 2, 3, 4 and 5 referred to in Annex II, Chapter C, the laceration, after stunning, of central nervous tissue by means of an elongated rod-shaped instrument introduced into the cranial cavity shall not be used on bovine, ovine or caprine animals whose meat is destined for human or animal consumption.
4. The data relating to age set out in Annex V shall be adjusted regularly. Such adjustments shall be based on the latest proven scientific findings concerning the statistical probability of the occurrence of a TSE in the relevant age groups of the Community's bovine, ovine and caprine population.
5. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 4, a decision may be adopted, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2), with regard to the date of effective enforcement of Article 7(1) or, as appropriate, in the third countries, the date of banning the use of mammalian protein in feed for ruminants in each country or region placed in category 3 or 4, in order to limit the application of this Article to animals born before that date in those countries or regions.
Similarly, by way of derogation from paragraphs 1 to 4, after consultation of the appropriate scientific committee and on the basis of an assessment of the incident, propagation and human exposure risk, a decision may be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2) to allow the use for food, feed and fertilisers of vertebral column and dorsal root ganglia from bovine animals in or coming from each country or region thereof placed in category 5.
6. Rules for the implementation of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2).