Welfare of Farmed Animals (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 No. 270 (“the principal Regulations”). The amendments give effect to the provisions of Council Directive 2001/88/EC and Commission Directive 2001/93/EC both of which amended Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs.

In respect of holdings which are newly built, or rebuilt or brought into use for the first time after 1st June 2003 all the provisions contained in the Regulations will apply. In respect of those holdings, which are already in use on that date certain provisions will not apply immediately. These are set out in regulation 1(2) and (3).

The main changes introduced by the Regulations are:

(a) a duty on the person who employs or engages persons to attend to pigs to ensure that they have received instructions and guidance on these Regulations. This duty is an addition to the duty contained in regulation 10 of the principal Regulations to ensure that the person attending to the animals is acquainted with any welfare codes, has access to a copy and has received instruction and guidance on the codes;

(b) additional requirements for accommodation;

(c) changes to the requirement for lighting. This should be read in conjunction with paragraph 16 of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations and with the welfare code prepared pursuant to section 3 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972;

(d) the introduction of maximum widths of openings and minimum slat widths for concrete slatted floors. This provision will not apply to existing holdings until 2013;

(e) the introduction of more detailed provisions relating to environmental enrichment for pigs;

(f) the prohibition on constant or sudden noise or noise above 85dBA;

(g) the introduction of more detailed provisions relating to surgical interventions such as tail docking and tooth clipping;

(h) the requirement that boar pens used for natural service must have a minimum unobstructed floor area of 10m². This provision will not apply to existing holdings until 2005;

(i) the introduction of a requirement for sows and gilts to be group housed;

(j) the introduction of new requirements for floor areas for sows and gilts. These provisions will not apply to existing holdings until 2013;

(k) an increase in the minimum weaning age for piglets from 21 to 28 days except for those using all-in-all-out production systems.