The Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England) (Laboratories, Circuses and Avian Quarantine) Regulations 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/1471) (“the principal Regulations”).

They apply and enforce Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1739/2005 laying down animal health requirements for the movement of circus animals between member States (OJ No. L279, 22.10.2005, p. 47). Regulation 5 of the principal Regulations is amended to make provision for the Secretary of State’s designation as competent authority for the purpose of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1739/2005, and for fees to be charged for expenses incurred in registering circuses and animal acts as required under that Commission Regulation (regulation 4). The Commission Regulation is added to the list of instruments imposing conditions on the movement of animals within the Community in Part I of Schedule 3 to the principal Regulations (regulation 13).

Regulations 5 and 14 of these Regulations amend regulation 9 of and Schedule 5 to the principal Regulations to provide for the approval of laboratories to carry out official testing for Salmonella in poultry for export within the European Community under the Poultry Health Scheme (a scheme established under regulation 9 of and Schedule 4 to the principal Regulations). Schedule 5 is also amended in relation to charges for laboratory approvals, to reflect these new arrangements, and to provide for charges to be made for inspections and the supply of quality assurance testing kits where such costs are not recovered through the annual approval fee.

These Regulations also apply and enforce Commission Regulation (EC) No. 318/2007 laying down animal health conditions for imports of certain birds into the Community and the quarantine conditions thereof (OJ No. L84, 24.3.2007, p. 7). Regulation 16(4) of the principal Regulations is amended so that it prohibits the import of captive birds unless they are from an approved breeding establishment within the meaning of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 318/2007 (regulation 6). Regulation 19 of the principal Regulations (“quarantine of captive birds”) is revised to reflect the new requirements for quarantine and to create offences accordingly (regulation 8). Measures to deal with the presence or the suspicion of avian influenza, Newcastle disease, and Chlamydophyla psittaci are provided for by amendment to regulation 21 of the principal Regulations (regulation 9). The import conditions in relation to captive birds set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 318/2007 are applied by introduction of additional paragraphs in Parts I and II of Schedule 7 (regulation 15). Schedule 8 is replaced with new provisions relating to approvals of quarantine centres and facilities, and fees, including new fees for such approvals (regulation 16).

Regulation 10 of these Regulations extends regulation 31 of the principal Regulations to provide for the determination and publication by the Secretary of State of a rate which may be charged for an inspector’s time carrying out specified inspection work under the principal Regulations. Some inspections of laboratories under the Poultry Health Scheme, inspections of avian quarantine centres and facilities, and official veterinary supervision of captive birds during quarantine may be charged at this rate.

Regulatory impact assessments have been produced in relation to the arrangements for approvals and charges introduced for avian quarantine, to the movement of circus animals, and for approvals and charges in relation to laboratories carrying out salmonella testing under the Poultry Health Scheme. Copies are available by post from the Defra Information Resource Centre, Lower Ground Floor, Ergon House, Horseferry Road, London SW1P 3JR, or can be downloaded via the Defra website, www.defra.gov.uk.