Contingency planning for power and equipment failures
31.—(1) Local authorities may exempt operators of central points of recording from the need to record electronically—
(a)an animal’s unique number on a movement document;
(b)an animal’s unique number in a holding register; or
(c)the numbers of animals in any batch bearing a particular flockmark or herdmark,
where a contingency plan has been agreed between the local authority and the operator of the central point of recording.
(2) A local authority may withdraw any such exemption if it is no longer satisfied with the operation or terms of the contingency plan.
(3) A contingency plan agreed under paragraph (1) must set out the conditions which must be met by the operator of the central point of recording and the circumstances in which, provided those conditions are met, the exemptions in paragraph (1) will apply. Those conditions must include a requirement for the operator of the central point of recording to notify the central database operator of the movements onto and off their premises, by any means permitted by the Welsh Ministers, within 3 days of the movement of the animals.
(4) The operator of a central point of recording must seek the prior consent of the local authority on every occasion when they wish to apply the exemptions in paragraph (1) and must cease to accept animals without recording the information referred to in paragraph (1) if that consent is refused.
(5) When animals arrive at a central point of recording which is applying the exemptions in paragraph (1) with the prior consent of the local authority, the operator of the central point of recording must—
(a)notify the central database operator of the identity of those animals recorded on the movement document accompanying them within 3 days of receiving the animals; or
(b)if the identity of those animals is not recorded on a movement document accompanying them in accordance with article 24(9) the operator of the central point of recording must provide the keeper of the holding from which the animals have arrived with written confirmation that the failure to provide the identities of the individual animals to the keeper has been approved by the local authority.