Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order.)
This Order empowers an inspector or other authorised officer of the Department of Agriculture to apply a mark or an ear tag or other means of identification to any bovine, caprine, ovine or porcine animal. The Order also prohibits the alteration, removal, obliteration, defacing or duplication of any such mark or means of identification without the Department of Agriculture’s permission.
Any person who without lawful authority, or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes Article 3(2) of this Order shall be guilty of an offence against the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. The penalty for such an offence is, on summary conviction, either imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000) or in the case of an offence committed with respect to more than 5 animals, not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000) for each animal.