The Importation of Animals Order 1977

Provisions relating to the unloading of animals, etc., at ports and airports

5.—(1) No person shall unload or attempt to unload imported animals from a vessel or aircraft in Great Britain, or cause or permit imported animals to be so unloaded, except in accordance with—

(a) the terms and conditions of the import licence relating to those animals; and

(b) the following provisions of this Article.

(2) It shall be the duty of the person in charge of quarantine animals to ensure that, whilst they are being unloaded, no person, other than a person authorised by a veterinary inspector, comes into contact with them.

(3) A veterinary inspector may inspect quarantine animals at any time after the vessel or aircraft which is carrying them arrives at a port or airport in Great Britain, and may require that the animals shall not be unloaded from that vessel or aircraft until after such inspection has been carried out.

(4) If an imported animal, other than an animal to which Article 4(5) above applies, dies at a port or airport in Great Britain, it shall be the duty of—

(a) the master of the vessel or the commander of the aircraft, as the case may be, in the case of an animal which dies before it has been unloaded, and

(b) the person in charge of the animal in any other case,

to report its death, together with any other relevant information connected therewith, to the Divisional Veterinary Officer; and the carcase of any such animal shall—

(i) in the case of an animal to which sub-paragraph (a) above applies, be unloaded only with the written consent of a veterinary inspector, and

(ii) be disposed of in accordance with any directions given by a veterinary inspector.

(5) Where the master of a vessel or the commander of an aircraft knows or suspects that an animal to which paragraph (4)(a) above applies was, at the time of its death on board that vessel or aircraft, affected with disease, he shall ensure that any animal which may have been in contact with it, or with its carcase, is, except in the case of emergency, unloaded in Great Britain only with the written consent of a veterinary inspector.

(6) Subject to paragraph (7) below, no dung, fodder, litter or thing used in connection with or for or about imported animals shall be unloaded from a vessel or aircraft in Great Britain, except with the consent in writing of a veterinary inspector, and in accordance with any conditions subject to which that consent may be given.

(7) Paragraph (6) above shall not apply to any dung, fodder, litter or thing used in connection with or for or about imported animals which is in a vehicle or container—

(a) in which an imported animal, or the carcase of such an animal, has been confined throughout its carriage by sea or air to Great Britain; and

(b) from which neither the animal or carcase, nor the dung, fodder, litter or thing, is removed before the vehicle or container is unloaded from the vessel or aircraft which brought it to Great Britain.