The Animal Health (Import Controls) (Wales) Order 2025

Made: 31 July 2025

Laid before Senedd Cymru: 4 August 2025

Coming into force: 8 August 2025

The Welsh Ministers make this Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 10(1) of the Animal Health Act 1981[^f00001].

Title, extent, application and coming into force

1

• (1) The title of this Order is the Animal Health (Import Controls) (Wales) Order 2025.

• (2) This Order—

• (a) extends to England and Wales;

• (b) applies in relation to Wales;

• (c) comes into force on 8 August 2025.

Interpretation

2

In this Order—

• “animal by-products” (“sgil-gynhyrchion anifeiliaid”) means entire bodies or parts of animals, products of animal origin or other products obtained from animals, which are not intended for human consumption, excluding germinal products;

• “derived products” (“cynhyrchion deilliedig”) means products obtained from one or more treatments, transformations or steps in the processing of animal by-products;

• “meat product” (“cynnyrch cig”) means any food made from the meat or blood of an animal;

• “pig” (“mochyn”) means any animal of the Suidae family;

• “products from a susceptible animal” (“cynhyrchion o anifail sy’n dueddol i glefyd”) means any of the following, consisting, in whole or in part, of a body of a susceptible animal, or derived from a susceptible animal— products of animal origin; animal by-products, or derived products;

• “products of animal origin” (“cynhyrchion sy’n dod o anifeiliaid”) means any food of animal origin, including meat product;

• “susceptible animal” (“anifail sy’n dueddol i glefyd”) means a cow, bull, sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, or other ruminant, pig or elephant;

• “territory subject to special transitional import arrangements” (“tiriogaeth sy’n ddarostyngedig i drefniadau mewnforio trosiannol arbennig”) means— an EEA state; the Faroe Islands; Greenland; Switzerland.

Prohibition of personal imports of products from susceptible animals

3

Subject to article 4, no person may import products from a susceptible animal into Wales from a territory subject to special transitional import arrangements where that product is intended for personal use or consumption.

Exemptions from the prohibition in article 3

4

• (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the prohibition in article 3 does not apply to—

• (a) powdered infant milk, infant food or special foods required for medical reasons, which—

• (i) does not require refrigeration before opening;

• (ii) is a packaged proprietary brand product for direct sale to the final consumer, and

• (iii) is contained in unbroken packaging unless in the process of being consumed at the time of importation;

• (b) pet food required for health-related reasons, which—

• (i) is intended for the pet which accompanies the passenger at the time of travel;

• (ii) is shelf stable at ambient temperature;

• (iii) is a packaged proprietary brand product for direct sale to the final consumer, and

• (iv) is contained in unbroken packaging unless in the process of being consumed at the time of importation;

• (c) bread, cakes, biscuits, waffles, wafers, rusks, toasted bread or similar toasted product containing less than 20% of processed dairy products, and is—

• (i) shelf-stable at ambient temperature or has clearly undergone in its manufacture a complete cooking or heat treatment process throughout its substance so that any raw product is denatured;

• (ii) for human consumption, and

• (iii) securely packaged or sealed in clean containers;

• (d) chocolate or confectionary (including sweets) containing less than 50% of processed dairy products, if the product is—

• (i) shelf-stable at ambient temperature or has undergone in its manufacture a complete cooking or heat treatment process throughout its substance so that any raw product is denatured;

• (ii) for human consumption, and

• (iii) securely packaged or sealed in clean containers;

• (e) food supplements packaged for the final consumer containing in total less than 20% of processed animal products (including glucosamine or chondroitin) not including meat products, and

• (f) pasta or noodles containing less than 50% of processed dairy products, excluding pasta and noodles mixed or filled with meat product, which are—

• (i) shelf-stable at ambient temperature or has undergone in its manufacture a complete cooking or heat treatment process throughout its substance so that any raw product is denatured;

• (ii) for human consumption, and

• (iii) securely packaged or sealed in clean containers.

• (2) The exemptions in paragraph (1)(a) and (b) do not apply where a person imports more than 2kg of those products in aggregate.

Signed

Huw Irranca-Davies — Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, one of the Welsh Ministers — 31 July 2025

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order prohibits the importation into Wales of products from susceptible animals (defined in article 2 of this Order) which are intended for personal consumption or use. The prohibition applies to imports arriving from territories which are subject to special transitional import arrangements. These territories include all EEA states, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Switzerland. The prohibition imposed by this Order is necessary for the purposes of preventing the introduction or spreading of animal disease, including foot and mouth disease, African swine fever, lumpy skin disease and peste des petits ruminants. This Order extends to England and Wales but only applies to Wales.

Article 3 imposes the prohibition on the importation of products from susceptible animals which are intended for personal consumption or use.

Article 4 lists the products which are exempt from the prohibition imposed by article 3, and the conditions these products must satisfy to fall within the exemption.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to this Order. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this Order.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1981 c. 22(“the 1981 Act”). Section 10 was amended byS.I. 1990/2371and1993/1813. Functions of “the Ministers” under the 1981 Act (as defined in section 86(1) of that Act) were transferred, so far as exercisable by the Secretary of State for Wales in relation to Wales, to the National Assembly for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672). The joint functions of “the Ministers”, so far as exercisable by the Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Wales, were transferred to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by the Transfer of Functions (Agriculture and Food) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3141). All functions of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food were then further transferred to the Secretary of State by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dissolution) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/794). Functions of the Secretary of State were transferred to the National Assembly for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/3044). The functions of the National Assembly for Wales are now exercisable by the Welsh Ministers by virtue of section 162 of, and paragraph 30 of Schedule 11 to, the Government of Wales Act2006 (c. 32).