The Public Health (Aircraft) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008

PART I N.I. PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement N.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Public Health (Aircraft) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 and shall come into operation on 11th December 2008.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in operation at 11.12.2008, see reg. 1

Interpretation N.I.

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“additional measures” means such of the additional measures specified in Schedule 2 with respect to plague, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, rabies, or viral haemorrhagic fever as are appropriate.

“aerodrome” except in regulation 4(4), means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft, and includes any area or space, whether on the ground, on the roof of a building or elsewhere, which is designed, equipped or set apart for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft capable of descending or climbing vertically, but shall not include any area the use of which for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft has been abandoned and has not been resumed;

“animals” has the same meaning as in Article 2(1) of the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1);

“authorised officer” means the medical officer, or any other officer authorised under regulation 4, to enforce and execute any of these Regulations;

“baggage” means the personal effects of a traveller or of a member of the crew;

“Board” means a Health and Social Services Board;

“Board area” means the area of a Board determined by order under Article 16 of the Health and Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972(2);

“captive birds” includes poultry;

“commander” means the person for the time being in command of an aircraft;

“competent authority” means a competent authority identified in accordance with Article 19 of the IHR (general obligations) and with a role as described at Article 22 of the IHR (role of competent authorities);

“crew” means the personnel of an aircraft who are employed for duties on board;

“customs airport” has the meaning assigned to the term “customs and excise airport” in section 21(7) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979;

“customs officer” means an officer of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

“day” means an interval of twenty-four hours;

“disinsecting” means the operation in which measures are taken to kill the insect vectors of human disease;

“excepted area” means all the territory of Belgium, Metropolitan France, Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;

“Health part of the General Aircraft Declaration” means a declaration containing the information specified in Schedule 1, being a part of the Aircraft General Declaration reproduced at Annex 9 to the IHR to be completed and delivered in accordance with Article 38 of the IHR;

“IHR”means the International Health Regulations (2005) of the WHO adopted by the fifty-eighth World Health Assembly on 23rd May 2005(3);

“immigration officer” means any person appointed to act as an immigration officer under the Immigration Act 1971(4);

“infected aircraft” means—

(a)

an aircraft which has on board on arrival a case of plague, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, rabies or viral haemorrhagic fever; or

(b)

an aircraft on which a plague-infected rodent is found on arrival; or

(c)

an aircraft which has had a case of smallpox on board during its voyage;

and which has not before arrival been subjected in respect of such case to appropriate measures equivalent to those provided in these Regulations;

“infected person” means a person who is suffering from plague, cholera, yellow fever smallpox, rabies, or viral haemorrhagic fever or who is considered by the medical officer to be infected with such disease or with some other infectious disease other than venereal disease;

“in flight” means the time elapsing between the closing of the doors of the aircraft before take-off and their opening on arrival;

“isolation” when applied to a person or group of persons, means the separation of that person or group of persons from other persons, except the health staff on duty, in such a manner as to prevent the spread of infection;

“medical officer” means the medical officer for a Board area or any other medical practitioner appointed by the Board under regulation 5;

“medical practitioner” means a registered medical practitioner;

“National IHR Focal Point” means the body designated by the United Kingdom for communications with the WHO IHR Contact Point under the IHR;

“postal parcel” means an addressed article or package carried internationally by postal or courier services;

“responsible authority”, in relation to an aerodrome, means the authority charged under regulation 4 with the duty of enforcing and executing these Regulations;

“suspected person” means a person (not being an infected person) who is considered by the medical officer as having been exposed to an infectious disease and is considered capable of spreading that disease;

“suspected aircraft” means an aircraft—

(a)

from which a case of cholera occurring on board during the voyage has been removed before the arrival of the aircraft, and which has not before arrival been subjected in respect of such case to appropriate measures equivalent to those provided for in these Regulations or;

(b)

which has on board on arrival a person whom the medical officer considers may have been exposed to infection from lassa fever, rabies, viral haemorrhagic fever or marburg disease ;

“voyage” in relation to an aircraft, means the flight of the aircraft from its point of origin via any intermediate points to its point of termination;

“World Health Assembly” has the meaning set out in the Constitution of the WHO adopted by the International Health Conference held in New York from 19th June 1946 and signed on 22nd July 1946;

“WHO” means the World Health Organization, a specialized agency within the terms of Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations, established by the Constitution of the World Health Organization;

“WHO IHR Contact Point” means the unit within WHO accessible for communications with the National IHR Focal Point;

(2) Any reference, however expressed, in these Regulations to a person leaving an aircraft shall not be construed as a reference to that person leaving an aircraft and continuing his journey in that aircraft.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 2 in operation at 11.12.2008, see reg. 1

Regulations not to apply to aircraft of the armed forces N.I.

3.  Without prejudice to any statutory provision or rule of law which applies in relation to Her Majesty’s armed forces, nothing in these Regulations shall apply to any aircraft forming part of Her Majesty’s armed forces or of the armed forces of any country within the Commonwealth or of the armed forces of any other country for the time being designated for the purposes of all the provisions of the Visiting Forces Act 1952(5) under section 1(2) of that Act, or to the officers and crew of such aircraft or to any aerodrome under the control of such forces.

Commencement Information

I3 Reg. 3 in operation at 11.12.2008, see reg. 1

(1)

S.I. 1981/1115 (N.I. 22)

(2)

S.I. 1972/1265 (N.I. 14)

(3)

See the IHR reproduced at document A58/55 of the fifty-eighth World Health Assembly on the WHO website at www.who.int/est/ihr/IHRWHA58_3-en.pdf

(4)

1971 c. 77

(5)

1952 c. 67