The Disease Control (Interim Measures) (Wales) (No. 2) Order 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which applies to Wales only revokes and replaces (with amendments) the Disease Control (Interim Measures) (Wales) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/280 (W.32), as amended by S.I. 2002/1038 (W.110), 2002/1356 (W.132) and 2002/2060 (W.209).

The Order comes into force on 6th September 2002 and will cease to have effect on 1st February 2003. (The Disease Control Order if it had not been revoked would have ceased to have effect on 1st December 2002).

The Order continues to provide for temporary disease control measures. It provides for movement restrictions on animals (articles 3 and 4) and in particular—

(a) provides that it shall be unlawful to move any animal unless under the authority of a licence issued by the National Assembly for Wales, the Secretary of State or an inspector appointed for the purposes of the Animal Health Act 1981 (1981 c. 22) (article 3(1)(a)); and

(b) imposes a 20 day standstill period (the “standstill requirement”) following the movement of animals on to premises during which no animal may be moved off those premises, subject to exemptions in respect of various specified movements (article 3(2) and(3)).

The principal amendment is the inclusion of additional exemptions (at articles 3(3)(g) and (h)) in relation to the standstill requirement whereby—

(a) movements of cattle and sheep intended for breeding before the later of 1st February 2003 or three months after their arrival on any premises; and

(b) the return from market to any premises of unsold breeding rams,

will not give rise to a standstill requirement on the premises onto which they are moved provided certain conditions are met. The main condition is that the breeding cattle or sheep or unsold breeding rams are placed in an isolation facility (a “breeding isolation facility”) immediately on their arrival and that they are kept there, together with any other animals already in that isolation facility and any animals brought into it from elsewhere on the premises, until the start of the 21st day after the day of their arrival.

Detailed requirements to be met and observed in relation to the breeding isolation facility in order for the new standstill exemption to be available are set out in article 3(9) and Part I of the Schedule. In addition, before the breeding isolation facility can be used for the purposes of the new exemption, it must have been inspected by a qualified veterinary surgeon who is required to complete a report on his inspection substantially in the form set out in Part II of the Schedule and send it to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the address shown on the form (article 3(9)(b) and (c)). The animals in the breeding isolation facility are also required to be inspected by a qualified veterinary surgeon during the period starting with the 14th day and ending with the 20th day after the day of the animals arriving on the premises and the facility is also required to be inspected by the veterinary surgeon during the same period.

The Order also continues to :

(i) prohibit the movement of animals to a slaughterhouse except where this is for the purpose of their being slaughtered within 48 hours of their arrival there (article 4);

(ii) provide a permit system for hunting with dogs (article 5);

(iii) set out general provisions in relation to licences, authorisations, permits and notices issued under the Order (articles 6 and 8);

(iv) set out arrangements in relation to changes of occupation of premises (article 7);

(v) set out powers of officers of the National Assembly for Wales and the Secretary of State and of local authority inspectors (article 9);

(vi) declare certain contraventions to be offences under the Order (article 10); and

(vii) provide for enforcement of the Order (article 11).

The Order also (at article 13) amends the Animal Gatherings (Interim Measures) (Wales) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/283, as amended by S.I. 2002/1358 and S.I. 2002/2060) by changing the date on which that order will cease to have effect from 1st December 2002 to 1st February 2003.

A regulatory appraisal has not been prepared for this Order.