Commission tightens bird flu zones in Germany and extends Danish restrictions

The European Commission has redrawn the EU’s avian influenza restriction map for Germany, adding protection and surveillance zones in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein following new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in establishments where poultry are kept. The change is made by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2528 of 9 November 2026, notified under document C(2026) 8073 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 12 November 2026. The same act extends the Danish protection and surveillance periods around two outbreaks located in the municipalities of Lolland and Guldborgsund.

The decision amends the Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2447, the standing Union instrument laying down emergency measures in relation to HPAI outbreaks in certain Member States. Its Article 1 replaces that Annex in full, and Article 2 addresses the decision to the Member States. The legal basis is Article 259(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/429 (the Animal Health Law); the operative zone rules derive from Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, whose Article 21 obliges the competent authority to establish a restricted zone comprising a protection zone and a surveillance zone after an outbreak of a category A disease. In the annexed tables, protection zones are drawn as 3 km radii and surveillance zones as 10 km radii around the GPS coordinates of each confirmed outbreak.

The Annex had last been amended by Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2483 of 30 October 2026 (OJ L, 5.11.2026), adopted after outbreaks in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Since then, Germany has notified the Commission of new outbreaks — one in Lower Saxony and one in Schleswig-Holstein. The Commission examined the German control measures and satisfied itself that the boundaries of the zones are at a sufficient distance from the affected establishments. The measures were approved by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, and the decision is signed for the Commission by Olivér Várhelyi, Member of the Commission.

New zones in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein

Two German outbreak entries are new to the Annex, both in the protection-zone table and restated in the surveillance-zone table:

• DE-HPAI(P)-2026-00043 (Lower Saxony): Landkreis Aurich — the municipalities of Dornum and Großheide — and Landkreis Wittmund — Nenndorf and Westerholt — within a 3 km radius centred on coordinates 53.63 / 7.4; measures apply until 25 November 2026, with the surrounding 10 km surveillance zone until 4 December 2026 (including Baltrum, Hage, Hagermarsch, Lütetsburg, Esens and Schweindorf).
• DE-HPAI(P)-2026-00044 (Schleswig-Holstein): Kreis Segeberg — Hagen and parts of Armstedt, Borstel, Föhrden-Barl, Fuhlendorf and Hitzhusen — and Kreis Steinburg — parts of Brokstedt and Quarnstedt — within a 3 km radius centred on 53.95 / 9.83; measures apply until 26 November 2026, with the 10 km surveillance zone until 5 December 2026.

The two earlier German entries are carried over with unchanged end dates: DE-HPAI(P)-2026-00041 in Kreis Segeberg (Bark, Forstgutsbezirk Buchholz, Fredesdorf, Kükels, Todesfelde, Wahlstedt, Wittenborn) runs until 15 November 2026, and DE-HPAI(P)-2026-00042 in Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg (Wanderup, Jerrishoe, Großenwiehe, Handewitt) until 16 November 2026.

Danish zones extended after delayed disinfection

Denmark informed the Commission that cleaning and disinfection at the establishments hit by outbreaks DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00016 and DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00017 was completed later than expected, so the duration of the restrictions must be extended under Articles 39 and 55 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687. The new end dates are:

• DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00016 (Lolland, centre 54.8750 / 11.3974): protection zone until 21 November 2026 (previously 20 November); surveillance zone until 30 November 2026.
• DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00017 (Guldborgsund, centre 54.9211 / 11.8447): protection zone until 19 November 2026 (previously 18 November); surveillance zone until 28 November 2026.
• DK-HPAI(P)-2026-00015 (Slagelse, centre 55.2411 / 11.4217): protection zone until 18 November 2026; surveillance zone until 27 November 2026.

The rest of the map

The replaced Annex also restates zones in other Member States, which are unaffected in substance. Three Dutch outbreaks remain listed — NL-HPAI(P)-2026-00021 in Fryslân and Groningen, NL-HPAI(P)-2026-00022 in Noord Holland and NL-HPAI(P)-2026-00023 in Groningen — with protection zones running to 17, 17 and 19 November 2026 respectively. Bulgarian protection zones in the Plovdiv and Stara Zagora regions run to between 16 and 21 November 2026, and the Belgian surveillance zones tied to BE-HPAI(NON-P)-2026-00150 expired on 6 November 2026. Part C, for further restricted zones, records “none”.

Why it matters

The Commission justifies acting at Union level by the need to prevent unnecessary disturbance to trade inside the Union and to avoid unjustified trade disruptions imposed by third countries — the core commercial risk for a sector concentrated in the poultry-dense districts of north-west Germany and Denmark. Because the Annex is replaced wholesale, the decision fixes, in one legal act, both the exact municipal boundaries of every restricted area and the date on which each restriction can be lifted, giving farms, hauliers and exporters a single reference point. Recital 14 stresses the urgency of the epidemiological situation, so the amendments take effect as soon as possible.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2528, 12 November 2026, Legislation, p. 1 (official reference: Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2528; ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2026/2528/oj).