Cattle Identification Regulations 1998
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1998 No. 871
ANIMALSANIMAL HEALTH
The Cattle Identification Regulations 1998
Made 19th March 1998
Laid before Parliament 20th March 1998
Coming into force 15th April 1998
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State, being Ministers designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by the said section 2(2) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, make the following Regulations:
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Title and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 15th April 1998.
Interpretation and extent
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“appropriate Minister” means, in relation to England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and in relation to Scotland or to Wales, the Secretary of State;
“calf passport” means a document in such form as may be approved by the appropriate Minister in accordance with Article 6.2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97(laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals3) for the purposes of moving calves under 28 days old;
“cattle” means bovine animals including the species bison bison and bubalus bubalis;
“cattle passport” means a document containing the information set out in Article 6.1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97issued by the appropriate Minister and includes a calf passport;
“cattle tagging Orders” means—
(a) the Bovine Animals (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 19954;
(b) the Bovine Animals (Identification, Marking and Breeding Records) Order 19905;
(c) the Tuberculosis (England and Wales) Order 19846; and
(d) the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 19847;
“the Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97(establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products8;
“holding” means any establishment, construction or, in the case of an open-air farm, any place in Great Britain in which cattle are held, kept or handled;
“inspector” means a person appointed to be an inspector for the purposes of these Regulations by the appropriate Minister or a local authority;
“keeper” means any person responsible for animals, whether on a permanent or on a temporary basis, including during transportation or at a market;
“licensed slaughterhouse” means a slaughterhouse licensed under the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 19959;
“local authority” means—
(a) in any part of England where there is, within the meaning of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 199410, a unitary authority for that local government area, that authority;
(b) in any part of England where there is not a unitary authority—
(i) in a metropolitan district, the council of that district;
(ii) in a non-metropolitan county, the council of that county;
(iii) in each London borough (except in relation to imported animals) the council of that borough; or
(iv) in the City of London, and for all London boroughs in relation to imported animals, the Common Council;
(c) in Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 199411;
(d) in Wales, a county or county borough;
“official veterinary surgeon” means an official veterinary surgeon designated under regulation 8 of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995;
“valid”, in relation to a cattle passport, means a cattle passport which has been correctly completed and signed in the appropriate place by each keeper of the animal.
(2) These Regulations shall extend to Great Britain.
(3) Any approval, licence or notice issued under these Regulations, the Council Regulation or Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97shall be in writing, may be made subject to conditions and may be amended or revoked by notice in writing at any time.
PART II
EARTAGS
Enforcement of Article 4 of the Council Regulation (eartags)
3.—(1) The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food—
(a)
(a) shall be the competent authority for the purposes of approving eartags for the purposes of Article 4.1 of the Council Regulation; and
(b)
(b) on application from a manufacturer of approved eartags, shall allocate unique identification codes for the purposes of that Article, conforming with the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97.
(2) The person responsible for identifying cattle by means of an eartag applied to each ear in accordance with Article 4.1 of the Council Regulation shall be the keeper.
(3) In accordance with Article 4.2 of the Council Regulation the keeper shall apply the eartags to the animal—
(a)
(a) in the case of a dairy herd, within 36 hours of the birth of the animal;
(b)
(b) in the case of any other herd—
(i) within 30 days of the birth of an animal born before 1st January 2000, or
(ii) within 20 days of the birth of an animal born on or after 1st January 2000.
(4) Any person who fails to comply with the requirement in Article 4.1 of the Council Regulation to apply an eartag within the period specified in paragraph (3) above shall be guilty of an offence.
Form of eartags
4.—(1) Eartags applied under these Regulations shall be approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
(2) In accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97, both eartags shall bear the logo specified in Schedule 1 to these Regulations, the letters “UK” and the unique number allocated by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (and, in the case of a two-piece eartag, both pieces of the eartag shall bear the logo).
(3) The power in Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/97(a power to choose other material or model for the second eartag) may be exercised by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Movement from a holding
5.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, any person who moves an animal from a holding in breach of the third paragraph of Article 4.2 of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) In the case of an animal at a market which must be tagged in accordance with Article 4 of the Council Regulation and which is not so tagged, an inspector may issue a licence to the keeper permitting the animal to be moved from the market to a holding specified in the licence; and any person who moves an animal in breach of the licence or any condition of the licence shall be guilty of an offence.
Replacement eartags
6.—(1) The appropriate Minister shall be the competent authority for the purposes of Article 4.5 of the Council Regulations, and any person who either removes or replaces an eartag (or an eartag attached under the cattle tagging Orders) without permission in contravention of that Article or Article 4.4 of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) If a keeper of cattle (other than the operator of a slaughterhouse) discovers that an eartag applied under these Regulations has become illegible or has been lost, he shall, within 28 days of the discovery, replace it with an eartag of the same type and bearing the same number, and failure to do so shall be an offence.
(3) If a keeper of cattle discovers that an eartag applied under the provisions of the cattle tagging Orders has become illegible or has been lost, he shall, within 28 days of the discovery, either re-tag it with another single tag, or shall re-tag it with double tags in accordance with these Regulations, and any person failing to do so shall be guilty of an offence.
(4) If an animal brought in from another member State, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands tagged in accordance with the Council Regulation loses an eartag the keepers shall, within 28 days of the discovery, re-tag it either—
(a)
(a) using a replacement tag from the place where it was originally tagged and using the same number, or
(b)
(b) using two new eartags approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
and any person failing to do so shall be guilty of an offence.
Eartags missing at a slaughterhouse
7.—(1) If the operator of a slaughterhouse discovers that an animal which should have been tagged in accordance with these Regulations has only one eartag he may, under the authority of a licence granted by the appropriate Minister, slaughter the animal for human consumption without replacing the relevant eartag but may not otherwise slaughter the animal for human consumption.
(2) If the operator of a slaughterhouse discovers that an animal which should have been tagged in accordance with these Regulations has no eartags, he shall not slaughter it for human consumption but may return it to the previous keeper under the authority of a licence granted by the appropriate Minister.
(3) If the operator of a slaughterhouse discovers that an animal which should have been tagged under one of the cattle tagging Orders does not have an eartag he shall not slaughter it for human consumption except under the authority of a licence granted by the appropriate Minister.
(4) If any person slaughters an animal contrary to the provisions of this regulation the operator of the slaughterhouse shall be guilty of an offence.
(5) Without prejudice to paragraph (4) above, if an animal without either eartag is slaughtered in contravention of this regulation the operator of the slaughterhouse shall identify the carcase as an...
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