Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Made: 21st February 1997

Coming into operation: 11th April 1997

The Department of Agriculture, being a Department designated[^f00001] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[^f00002] in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Economic Community, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the said section 2(2) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 and shall come into operation on 11th April 1997.

Interpretation

2

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[^f00003] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to a measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Amendment of the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (the principal Regulations)

3

The Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995[^f00004] shall be amended as provided in regulations 4 to 9.

Registration of dealers

4

At the end of regulation 8 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1) the Department shall keep a register of dealers engaging in intra-Community trade who have applied for registration in accordance with that paragraph.

Approval of bodies, institutes or centres

5

At the end of regulation 9 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(4) For the purposes of Article 11 of Council Directive 92/65/EEC, the Department shall approve any equine semen collection centre or equine embryo collection team which has applied for that approval in accordance with Article 11 of that Directive and which meets the conditions applicable to it in respect of approval and the performance of its duties as required by Article 11 and Annex D to that Directive.

Illegal consignments

6

After regulation 13(1) there shall be inserted—

(1A) Where any animal detained or isolated, or any animal product detained, under paragraph (1)(a) has been in contact with any other animal or animal product, the Department may serve a notice on the person appearing to have charge of that other animal or animal product and sub-paragraphs (a) and, as the case may be, (b) or (c) of paragraph (1) shall apply in relation to such an animal or animal product as if it were an animal or animal product mentioned in paragraph (1).

Post import controls

7

In regulation 23, after paragraph (2), there shall be inserted—

(3) Where the Department exercises the powers granted under paragraph (2) to place any animal in quarantine or isolation, it may also, by notice served on the person appearing to have charge of any other animal which has been in contact with such an animal, require him to place that other animal in quarantine or isolation at such place as may be specified in the notice.

Community legislation

8

For Schedules 1, 2 and 4 there shall be substituted respectively the Schedules set out in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 to these Regulations.

Disapplication of legislation

9

In Schedule 5 for the entry which relates to the Artificial Reproduction of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1975[^f00005] there shall be substituted the entry set out in Schedule 4 to these Regulations.

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

SCHEDULE 3

SCHEDULE 4

Article 6 (1) will no longer apply to—

• (a) bovine semen which is the subject of Council Directive 88/407/EEC;

• (b) bovine embryos which are the subject of Council Directive 89/556/EEC;

• (c) porcine semen which is the subject of Council Directive 90/429/EEC;

• (d) equine ova and embryos which are the subject of Commission Decision 95/294/EC;

• (e) equine semen which is the subject of Commission Decision 95/307/EC;

• (f) ovine and caprine semen, ova and embryos which are the subject of Commission Decision 95/388/EC;

• (g) porcine ova and embryos which are the subject of Commission Decision 95/483/EC.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture on

R. S. Johnston — Assistant Secretary — 21st February 1997.

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (“the principal Regulations”) by replacing Schedules 1, 2 and 4 (regulation 8), and amending Schedule 5 to those Regulations to take into account changes in Community legislation since those Regulations were passed (regulation 9).

The Regulations also amend the principal Regulations by—

• (a) empowering the Department to approve equine semen collection centres and equine embryo collection teams in accordance with the conditions required by Council Directive 92/65/EEC (regulation 5);

• (b) extending the powers of the Department to enable it to detain, slaughter or destroy animals and animal products which have been in contact with animals or animal products which are likely to constitute a serious hazard to public or animal health (regulation 6);

• (c) extending the Department’s powers to impose post-import controls by enabling it to require the quarantine or isolation of animals which have come into contact with imported animals (regulation 7).

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 1972/1811

[^f00002]: 1972 c. 68

[^f00003]: 1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

[^f00004]: S.R. 1995 No. 52

[^f00005]: S.I. 1975/1834 (N.I. 17) to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations