1. (a) Poultry shipped into the State of Texas shall be accompanied by an official health certificate issued by an accredited veterinarian within 30 days prior to shipment and shall have an entry permit in accordance with §51.2 of this title (relating to General Requirements). The health certificate shall state:

   1. (1) Poultry have been inspected and are free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease;
   2. (2) Poultry have been vaccinated only with approved vaccines as defined in this regulation;
   3. (3) Poultry have not originated from an area that has had active Laryngotracheitis or chicken embryo origin Laryngotracheitis vaccine virus within the last 30 days; and
   4. (4) Poultry have passed a negative test for pullorum-typhoid within 30 days prior to shipment or that they originate from flocks which have met the pullorum-typhoid requirements of the Texas Pullorum-Typhoid Program and/or the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

   5. (5) Live domestic poultry from states not affected with Avian Influenza may enter Texas under the following circumstances:

      1. (A) The domestic poultry originates from a flock that is certified in accordance with the National Poultry Improvement Plan as U.S. Avian Influenza Clean, U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Clean, or U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Monitored; or
      2. (B) The domestic poultry is from an Avian Influenza negative flock that participates in an approved state-sponsored Avian Influenza monitoring program and participation in the program and the general description of the birds, test date, test results, and name of testing laboratory are documented on the CVI; or
      3. (C) The domestic poultry originate from a flock in which a minimum of 30 birds, 4 weeks of age or older, or the complete flock, if fewer than 30, are serologically negative to an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) or Agar Gel Immunodiffusion (AGID) test for Avian Influenza within 30 days of entry or a minimum of 10 birds (e.g. two pools of 5 birds per house) are tested negative on trachea swabs to a real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RRT-PCR) test within 30 days of entry or negative to other tests approved by the Commission; the general description of the birds, test date, test results, and name of testing laboratory are documented on the CVI.

2. (b) Movement of poultry from disease affected states.

   1. (1) Live domestic poultry from states affected with Avian Influenza may enter Texas for immediate slaughter and processing only under the following circumstances:

      1. (A) A minimum of 30 birds per flock are serologically negative to an ELISA or AGID test for Avian Influenza within 72 hours of entry, or a minimum of 10 birds (e.g., two pools of 5 birds per house) are tested negative on tracheal swabs to a RRT-PCR test within 72 hours of entry or negative to other tests approved by the TAHC; and
      2. (B) Specific written permission has been granted.

   2. (2) Live domestic poultry from states affected with Infectious Laryngotracheitis or poultry that has been vaccinated with chick embryo vaccine may enter Texas for immediate slaughter and processing only under the following conditions:

      1. (A) The request for authorization to bring poultry into the state must be in writing and shall include a proposed route to slaughter that would not pose a disease risk to Texas poultry;
      2. (B) The initial request must be approved by the executive director prior to entry of the poultry;

   3. (3) Live domestic poultry from states affected with egg drop syndrome virus or poultry that has been vaccinated against the virus may enter Texas for immediate slaughter and processing only under the following conditions:

      1. (A) The request for authorization to bring poultry into the state must be in writing and shall include a proposed route to slaughter that would not pose a disease risk to Texas poultry;
      2. (B) The initial request must be approved by the executive director prior to entry of the poultry;
3. (c) An official health certificate is not required on poultry consigned to slaughter establishments, which maintain federal or state ante and postmortem inspection, provided the shipment is accompanied by a waybill indicating the plant of destination.
4. (d) Baby poultry will be exempt from this section if from an NPIP, or equivalent, hatchery, and accompanied by NPIP Form 9-3 or 9-3i; or, if covered by an approved "Commuter Poultry Flock Agreement" on file with the state of origin and the commission.
5. (e) Live poultry, unprocessed poultry, hatching eggs, unprocessed eggs, egg flats, poultry coops, cages, crates, other birds, and used poultry equipment affected with, or recently exposed to, infectious, contagious, or communicable disease, or originating in state quarantined areas or federal quarantined areas shall not enter Texas without express written consent from the commission.

Source Note:The provisions of this §51.15 adopted to be effective June 3, 2002, 27 TexReg 5182; amended to be effective August 25, 2002, 27 TexReg 7515; amended to be effective March 16, 2004, 29 TexReg 2627; amended to be effective March 4, 2007, 32 TexReg 753; amended to be effective October 14, 2007, 32 TexReg 7043; amended to be effective December 10, 2025, 50 TexReg 7879.