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Agricultural shows
25/07/2007
Agricultural shows will not now need to apply for a licence under the proposed Animal Gatherings (Scotland) Order.
Announcing the decision, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said he was satisfied that the existing regulatory regime provided sufficient disease control safeguards for such events without the need for licensing.
Proposals for tighter controls to be applied to animal gatherings were considered appropriate in the wake of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. The draft Animal Gatherings (Scotland) Order went out for consultation in November last year.
Show organisers were concerned that the proposals would cause heavy financial burdens on annual one-off events which were integral to rural community life.
Mr Lochhead said:
"I am confident that what is now being proposed will go some considerable way towards addressing the issues and concerns raised by those involved in running shows and exhibitions.
"Shows and exhibitions will now be exempt from the requirement to apply for a licence except for those where stock are to be bought and sold.
"With this exception, the Order will now apply only to gatherings associated with the activities of markets and collection centres.
"While there will be some tightening up of the statutory guidance issued to shows and exhibitions, the overall impact should be minimal."
Following the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, the statutory powers then available were considered inadequate to regulate animal gatherings. Provisions to address this were included in the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, providing the power to make an Order requiring animal gatherings to be licensed.
A draft Order was prepared and issued for consultation on November 16, 2006. As part of the consultation process, the National Farmers Union Scotland invited officials to address a public meeting of show organisers/secretaries to discuss in more detail the proposed legislation and the impact of the new requirements
The general consensus of show representatives was that the proposals were too restrictive and would impose heavy financial burdens on what are for the most part annual one-off events.
Following a review of the consultation responses and subsequent discussions with stakeholders, Scottish Ministers now take the view that shows and exhibitions can more appropriately continue to be covered by way of the statutory guidance issued under the current regulatory regime.
The main reasons for this decision are:
- Shows are generally annual events, involving high health status animals
- There is already a statutory requirement for the dates of any show or exhibition to be notified in advance to the local Divisional Veterinary Manager (DVM) of the Animal Health Agency
- It is now considered that with some amendments to the statutory guidance appropriate mechanisms already exist to manage the risks associated with shows and exhibitions. This approach ensures that local DVMs maintain the ability to amend any guidance issued dependent on local circumstances at the time
The new approach allows the Scottish Executive to bring forward an Animal Gatherings Order that will regulate the commercial activities associated with markets and collection centres while ensuring proportionate and flexible arrangements to minimise the disease risks associated with non-commercial activities at shows and exhibitions.
Officials will be writing to show secretaries individually to confirm that any changes to the current arrangements for shows and exhibitions will be minimal.