Article 1
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/520 is amended as follows: (1) in Article 1, the introductory phrase is replaced by the following: ‘This Regulation lays down rules for Member States ( *1 ) concerning: ( *1 ) In accordance with the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 5(4) of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in conjunction with Annex 2 to that Protocol, for the purposes of this Regulation, references to Member States or to the Union include the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland.’;" (2) in Article 12, point (a) is replaced by the following: ‘(a) the first element of the identification code shall be the country code of the Member State where the means of identification was first applied to the animals, in the format of either: (i) the two-letter code in accordance with ISO standard 3166-1 alpha-2, except for Greece, for which the two-letter code ‘EL’ shall be used, and for the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland, for which the two-letter code ‘XI’ shall be used; or (ii) the three-digit country code in accordance with ISO standard 3166-1 numeric, except for the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland, for which ‘899’ shall be used;’.