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CONSULTATION ON DRAFT FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2005

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PART 1
Introduction

Title, application and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Scotland) Regulations 2005; they apply only to Scotland and come into force on [ ] 2005.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations-

"the Act" means the Animal Health Act 1981;

"animal" means all four footed beasts;

"animal gathering" means an event at which animals are brought together, including a market, show or fair, but not any occasion at which animals are brought together on the premises on which they are kept;

"animal product" means anything originating or made (whether in whole or in part) from an animal or from a carcase;

"border inspection post" means, in relation to a species of animal, a place authorised to carry out checks on animals of that species on their import from outside the European Union ;

"carcase" means the carcase of an animal and includes part of a carcase, and the meat, bones, hide, skin, hooves, offal or other part of an animal, separately or otherwise, or any portion thereof;

"Chief Veterinary Officer" means the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Scottish Executive;

"Chief Veterinary Officer ( UK)" means the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs;

"collecting centre" means premises used for the intermediate reception of animals intended to be moved elsewhere;

"contact premises" means any premises declared to be contact premises under regulation 16(3);

"contaminated" means directly or indirectly exposed to the disease virus and "contamination" shall be construed accordingly;

"the Department" means the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department;

"depopulation holding" means a holding declared to be a depopulation holding under regulation 39(1)(b)(ii);

"the Directive" means Council Directive 2003/85/EC on Community measures for the control of foot-and-mouth disease repealing Directive 85/511/EEC and Decisions 89/531/EEC and 91/665/EEC and amending Directive 92/46/EEC;

"disease" means foot-and-mouth disease;

"dispose" means treat as Category 1, Category 2 or Category 3 material (as the case may be) under Regulation ( EC) No. 1774/2002 2 and the Animal By-Products Regulations (Scotland) 2003 3, and "disposal" shall be construed accordingly;

"Divisional Veterinary Manager" means the Divisional Veterinary Manager of the State Veterinary Service for the area in which premises are located;

"emergency slaughter" means slaughter in emergency circumstances of animals which are not infected or contaminated and includes slaughter for welfare purposes;

"emergency vaccination" means emergency vaccination in accordance with a decision under Article 50 of the Directive;

"falconry" means the use of falcons, hawks or other birds of the order Falconiformae to hunt for game or other wildlife;

"farmed game" means wild land mammals which are reared and slaughtered in captivity, excluding-
(a) mammals of the family Leporidae; and
(b) wild land mammals living within an enclosed territory under conditions of freedom similar to those enjoyed by wild game;

"farmed game handling facility" means any building, premises or place, other than a slaughterhouse, used for the purpose of slaughtering farmed game the flesh of which is intended for sale for human consumption;

"fodder" means animal feed and includes hay, straw and forage;

"free unit" means a separate epidemiological production unit declared to be a free unit under regulation 15(1);

"fresh meat" means meat, including chilled or frozen meat, which has not undergone any preserving process and includes meat vacuum wrapped or wrapped in a controlled atmosphere;

"holding" means any premises, including circuses, where susceptible animals are bred or kept (permanently or temporarily) but not slaughterhouses or border inspection posts;

"horse" means a domestic animal of the equine or asinine species or crossbreeds of those species;

"hyper-immune serum" means material containing antibodies to the disease, either produced from animals subject to repeated vaccination or by another method;

"incubation period" means-
(a) for bovine animals and swine, 14 days; and
(b) for other susceptible animals, 21 days;

"infected" means infected with disease and "infection" shall be construed accordingly;

"infected premises" means any premises declared to be infected premises under regulation 13(7);

"infection date" means, in respect of any premises, the earliest date disease was present there;

"inspector" means an inspector appointed under the Act and an officer of the Scottish Ministers appointed for the purposes of these Regulations, and when used in relation to a member of the staff of the Scottish Ministers, includes a veterinary inspector;

"keeper" means any person responsible for animals, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, but does not include any person who is responsible for animals solely because that person is transporting them;

"litter" means any substance which has been used for the bedding of animals;

"local authority" has the meaning assigned to that term by section 50(1) of the Act;

"market", when used as a verb, includes any transfer of ownership;

"meat preparation" means meat to which foodstuffs, seasonings or additives have been added or which has undergone a treatment insufficient to modify its internal cellular structure and so alter its characteristics;

"meat product" means a product for human consumption prepared from or with meat which has undergone treatment such that the cut surface shows that the product no longer has the characteristics of fresh meat, but not-
(a) meat which has undergone only cold treatment,
(b) minced meat,
(c) mechanically recovered meat, or
(d) meat preparations;

"mechanically recovered meat" means meat which-
(a) comes from residual meat on bones apart from-
(i) the bones of the head, and
(ii) the extremities of the limbs below the carpal and tarsal joints and, in the case of swine, the coccygeal vertebrae;
(b) has been obtained by mechanical means; and
(c) has been passed through a fine mesh such that its cellular structure has been broken down and it flows in purée form;

"milk" includes cream, separated milk, skimmed milk and buttermilk;

"milk product" includes butter, cheese, yoghurt, whey and any other product the main constituent of which is milk;

"minced meat" means meat which has been minced into fragments or passed through a spiral screw mincer and includes such meat to which not more than 1% salt has been added;

"National Expert Epidemiological Group" means the expert group for the United Kingdom composed of epidemiologists, veterinary scientists and virologists established in accordance with Article 78 of the Directive;

"originating in" means-

(a) in respect of a vaccination zone-
(i) kept there at any time, or
(ii) kept within its boundaries before it was declared to be such a zone and at any time on or after the date 21 days before that declaration,
(b) in respect of a holding, kept there-
(i) at any time it formed part of a vaccination zone, or
(ii) at any time before it formed part of a vaccination zone and at any time on or after the date 21 days before that declaration, and
(c) in respect of a protection or surveillance zone,-
(i) kept in that zone, or
(ii) having been kept within the boundaries of that zone at any time on or after the date 21 days before the earliest infection date in the protection zone (or in the case of a surveillance zone, the associated protection zone) and before its declaration;

"poultry" means domestic fowls, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea-fowls, pigeons, partridges and quails;

"premises" includes land, with or without buildings;

"protection zone" means a protection zone declared under regulation 28;

"protective vaccination" means vaccination carried out to protect susceptible animals against airborne spread or spread through fomites of the disease virus and where the vaccinated animals are not intended to be slaughtered to prevent the spread of disease;

"restricted zone" means a restricted zone declared under regulation 30;

"seasonings" means salt, mustard, spices and aromatic spice extracts, or aromatic herbs and aromatic herb extracts;

"separate epidemiological production unit" means a separate epidemiological production unit declared under regulation 15(1);

"slaughterhouse" means any building, premises or place (other than a farmed game handling facility) for slaughtering animals (whether or not intended for human consumption) and includes any connected place for the confinement of animals while awaiting slaughter;

"slaughter" includes killing within the meaning of that term in the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 4;

"suppressive vaccination" means vaccination carried out in a holding or area where there is an urgent need to prevent the spread of disease outside the holding or area by reducing the quantity of circulating disease virus there and where the vaccinated animals are intended for slaughter to prevent the spread of disease;

"supplementary movement control zone" means a supplementary movement control zone declared under regulation 12;

"surveillance zone" means a surveillance zone declared under regulation 28;

"survey" means a process involving clinical examination and/ or the taking of blood or tissue samples from susceptible animals, which samples are subjected to laboratory tests to determine the presence or absence of live virus, anti-bodies to live virus or anti-bodies produced in response to vaccination, in such numbers as required by Annex III of the Directive or as advised by the National Expert Epidemiological Group;

"susceptible animal" means cattle, sheep, goats, all other ruminating animals, swine, camels, llamas, alpacas and any other domestic or wild animal of the orders Rodentia or Proboscidae or of the suborder Tylopoda of the order Artiodactyla, or of the suborders Ruminantia or , Suina;

"suspected of being infected" means exhibiting clinical symptoms or showing post-mortem lesions or reactions to laboratory tests such that the presence of disease may reasonably be suspected;

"suspect premises" means any premises notified as suspect premises under regulation 6 or declared as suspect premises under regulation 9 or regulation 16;

"temporary control zone" means a temporary control zone declared under regulation 12;

"vaccinated" means treated with vaccine against the disease;

"vaccination surveillance zone" and "vaccination zone" mean, respectively, a vaccination surveillance zone and a vaccination zone declared under regulation 34;

"vehicle" includes any means of transport;

"wild animal infected area" means a wild animal infected area declared under regulation 31.

Contingency plan

3. The Scottish Ministers shall prepare and maintain a contingency plan as regards Scotland in accordance with the requirements of Article 72 of the Directive.

Licences, certificates, declarations and notices

4. (1) Licences granted under these Regulations
(a) shall be in writing,
(b) may, in addition to any conditions required by these Regulations, be made subject to such conditions as the Scottish Ministers consider necessary to control the disease,
(c) may be general or specific, and
(d) may be amended, suspended or revoked in writing at any time.

(2) Certificates issued under these Regulations shall be in writing.

(3) Declarations made under these Regulations shall be in writing and may be amended or revoked by further declaration at any time.

(4) Notices issued under these Regulations
(a) shall be in writing; and
(b) may be amended or revoked in writing at any time.

(5) The Scottish Ministers shall take such steps as they consider fit to ensure that certificates, licences, declarations and notices are brought to the attention of those who may be affected by them as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in particular, shall ensure that the extent of any zone or area, the nature of the restrictions and requirements applicable within it and the dates of its declaration and withdrawal are publicised.

(6) Except where otherwise directed by the Scottish Ministers, licences granted in England or Wales for the same purpose as a licence which may be granted under these Regulations shall be valid for that purpose in Scotland and its conditions shall apply there as if it was a licence granted under these Regulations.

Cleansing and disinfection

5. - Notwithstanding the requirements of the Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (Scotland) Order 2000 5, every person carrying out disinfection, or cleansing and disinfection, under these Regulations shall do so in accordance with Schedule 1.

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Page updated: Monday, August 1, 2005