The Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries (England) Order 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order revokes and remakes the Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/1898).

Article 4 requires the occupier of a poultry hatchery with a total incubator capacity of 1000 eggs or more to notify the Secretary of State. Article 5 requires the occupier of a holding on which breeding flocks of 250 poultry or more are kept to notify the Secretary of State.

The Order implements the national control programme for domestic fowl of the species Gallus gallus—

(a) required by Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the control of salmonella and other specified food-borne zoonotic agents (OJ No L 325, 12.12.2003, p1); and

(b) approved by the European Commission in accordance with Article 6 of that Regulation.

The national control programme is available from Surveillance, Zoonoses and Emerging Issues Division, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 1A Page Street, London SW1P 4PQ or from the Defra website (www.defra.gov.uk).

The Order enforces Commission Regulation (EC) No 1003/2005 implementing Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 as regards a Community target for the reduction of the prevalence of certain salmonella serotypes in breeding flocks of Gallus gallus and amending Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 (OJ No L 170, 1.7. 2005, p.12).

Articles 6 to 12 apply to the occupier of a holding on which breeding flocks of domestic fowl of the species Gallus gallus are kept. Article 7 requires the occupier to notify the Secretary of State of the arrival of breeding flocks at the holding and article 8 requires him to notify when those flocks will move to the laying phase or laying unit and reach the end of the production cycle. Article 9 requires him to take samples from those flocks and article 10 requires him to submit those samples to an approved laboratory for testing for salmonella. Articles 11 and 12 impose record-keeping requirements on the occupier.

Article 13 sets out the duties of an approved laboratory to prepare and test the samples and report the results of tests to the occupier.

Article 14 prohibits the administering of any antimicrobial to domestic fowl of the species Gallus Gallus, other than in accordance with Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1177/2006 implementing Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards requirements for the use of specific control measures in the framework of the national programmes for the control of salmonella in poultry (OJ No L 212, 2.8.2006, p.3). Article 15 prohibits the administering of any live salmonella vaccine to such species, other than in accordance with Article 3(1) of that Regulation.

Article 16 imposes record-keeping requirements on the occupier of a poultry hatchery.

The Order is enforced by the local authority. Breach of the Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981 (c.22), punishable in accordance with section 75 of that Act.

A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the above address and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the Office of Public Sector Information website.