The Ringing of Certain Captive-bred Birds (England and Wales) Regulations 2017

Citation, commencement, extent and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Ringing of Certain Captive-bred Birds (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 and come into force on 28th December 2017.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and apply in respect of any bird included in Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which—

(a) was bred in captivity, and

(b) has not been lawfully released into the wild as part of a re-population or re-introduction programme(1).

Ringing requirements

2.—(1) This regulation applies for the purpose of determining whether, for the purposes of section 6(5)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, a bird is ringed in accordance with regulations.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), a bird is ringed in accordance with regulations if the following conditions are satisfied—

(a) at least one of the bird’s legs is fitted with a ring by means of which the bird may be identified,

(b) the ring has no break or join,

(c) the ring has been commercially manufactured for the purpose of being fitted onto birds,

(d) the ring is no larger than the maximum ring size,

(e) the ring was obtained from a specified supplier on an application made by the keeper of the bird (or, where the bird had not yet hatched at the time of that application, the keeper of the egg which contains it), and

(f) the application for the ring included the following information—

(i) the age of the bird,

(ii) the sex of the bird (if known), and

(iii) details of the parents of the bird.

(3) A bird which is hatched outside England or Wales is ringed in accordance with regulations, notwithstanding that any of the conditions in paragraph (2)(d), (e) or (f) is not satisfied, if—

(a) in the case of a bird hatched in the European territory of any member State, it is ringed in accordance with—

(i) relevant provisions of the law of that territory implementing Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conservation of wild birds(2), and

(ii) any other relevant provisions of the law of that territory;

(b) in the case of any other bird, it is ringed in accordance with any relevant provisions of the law of the territory where it was hatched.

(4) In this regulation—

“maximum ring size”, in relation to a bird, means the ring size specified in relation to that bird in column (3) in the table in Schedule 1;

“regulations” means regulations made by the Secretary of State in relation to England and the Welsh Minsters in relation to Wales;

“relevant provisions” means provisions relating to the ringing of birds;

“specified supplier” means a supplier specified in Schedule 2.

Revocation and transitional provision

3.—(1) The Wildlife and Countryside (Ringing of Certain Birds) Regulations 1982(3) are revoked.

(2) Any bird which is ringed in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside (Ringing of Certain Birds) Regulations 1982 before these Regulations come into force is to be treated as if ringed in accordance with these Regulations.

Review: England

4.—(1) The Secretary of State, in relation to England, must from time to time—

(a) carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations, and

(b) publish a report setting out the conclusions of the review.

(2) The first review must be published before 28th December 2022.

(3) Subsequent reviews must be carried out at intervals of not exceeding 5 years.

(4) Section 30(3) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(4) requires that a review carried out under this regulation must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how Articles 2, 5 and 6 of the Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conservation of wild birds is implemented in other member States.

(5) Section 30(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires that a review carried out under this regulation must, in particular—

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision referred to in paragraph (1)(a),

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d) if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way which involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(6) In this regulation, “regulatory provision” has the same meaning as in sections 28 to 33 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (see section 32 of that Act).

Thérèse Coffey

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

4th December 2017

Hannah Blythyn

Minister for Environment Under authority of the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs One of the Welsh Ministers

4th December 2017