Fresh Meat (Beef Controls) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Part III Beef Assurance Scheme

Registration of herds

4.—(1) The owner of any herd may apply to the Department in writing for that herd to be registered as a member of the Beef Assurance Scheme.

(2) The Department shall maintain a register for the purposes of paragraph (1) and it shall enter in that register any herd—

(a) in respect of which an application has been made under paragraph (1); and

(b) which, at the time of the application, meets the conditions of eligibility set out in Part I of Schedule 1.

(3) The Department shall remove from the Register any herd—

(a) where it appears to it that, at any time before registration the herd did not meet the conditions of eligibility set out in Part I of Schedule 1; or

(b) which fails to meet the conditions of continued eligibility set out in Part II of Schedule 1.

Duties of owners of registered herds

5.—(1) The owner of a registered herd shall ensure that any bovine animal from that herd sent for slaughter for human consumption meets the conditions set out in Part III of Schedule 1 and where the animal does so, a veterinary inspector or other officer of the Department shall certify that fact in writing.

(2) The owner of a registered herd shall ensure that the carcase of any slaughtered bovine animal from that herd which is admitted to a slaughterhouse meets the conditions set out in Part IV of Schedule 1 and, where the animal does so, a veterinary inspector or other officer of the Department shall certify the fact in writing.

Interpretation of Part III

6.  In this Part—

“the Beef Assurance Scheme” means the Scheme for the registration of herds under and for the purposes of this Part and for the certification of animals belonging to such herds;

“beef herd” means a herd of bovine animals kept wholly or mainly for the production of meat;

“dairy herd” means a herd of bovine animals kept wholly or mainly for the production of milk;

“herd” means one or more bovine animals in the same ownership;

“Register” means the register kept by the Department under regulation 4(2) and “registered” in relation to any herd means for the time being entered in the Register under that paragraph;

“veterinary inspector” means a person appointed by the Department to be an inspector for the purposes of the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1), being a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons or any veterinary practitioner qualified as approved by the Department.

(1)

S.I. 1981/1115 (N.I. 22) to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations