Regulation 3 Enforcement of Article 4 of the Council Regulation (eartags)
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food—
shall be the competent authority for the purposes of approving eartags for the purposes of Article 4.1 of the Council Regulation; and
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.
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.
In accordance with Article 4.2 of the Council Regulation the keeper shall apply the eartags to the animal—
in the case of a dairy herd, within 36 hours of the birth of the animal;
in the case of any other herd—
within 30 days of the birth of an animal born before 1st January 2000, or
within 20 days of the birth of an animal born on or after 1st January 2000.
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.