The Pigs (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995

IDENTIFICATION OF PIGS

Identification marks

5.—(1) It shall not be lawful to move a pig with a view to its being moved to a place outside Great Britain unless before the movement commences it is marked with an identification mark (which shall be legible for the life of the pig to which it is applied) in the form of an ear tag or of a tattoo.

(2) The identification mark referred to in paragraph (1) above—

(a) shall comprise the country code `UK' and the herd mark of the holding on which the mark is applied; and

(b) may include a distinctive number allotted to the pig by the owner or person in charge of it prefixed, in the case of an ear tag, by the letter “P”.

(3) It shall not be lawful to move a pig between holdings in Great Britain unless before the movement commences it is marked either—

(a) with an identification mark which complies with the preceding paragraphs, or

(b) with an identification mark which will last at least until the pig reaches its destination and which, either by itself or by reference to a document accompanying the pig during the movement, enables the holding from which the pig was last moved to be identified.

(4) Save in accordance with an authority issued by a veterinary inspector, it shall not be lawful for any person—

(a) to remove from a pig an identification mark which has been applied or attached to it in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this article; or

(b) to replace an identification mark applied or attached to a pig in accordance with those provisions otherwise than in replacement of one which has become illegible or which has been lost.

Ear tags

6.—(1) It shall not be lawful for any person to attach to a pig an identification mark in the form of an ear tag unless the ear tag satisfies the provisions of paragraph (2) below; and in this Order references to an ear tag are to an ear tag which satisfies those provisions.

(2) An ear tag shall be so constructed as—

(a) not adversely to affect the well-being of the pig to which it is attached;

(b) to be incapable of being altered in such a way that the fact of alteration cannot be readily observed; and

(c) to be incapable of re-use.