{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/equine-viral-arteritis-order-northern-ireland-1996/article-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/equine-viral-arteritis-order-northern-ireland-1996/article-3.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1996/274",
  "legislation_title": "Equine Viral Arteritis Order (Northern Ireland) 1996",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/equine-viral-arteritis-order-northern-ireland-1996",
  "path": "article/3",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Notification of disease in horses",
  "text": "(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a person who knows or has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a stallion—\n(a) which is in his possession or under his charge; or\n(b) which he has examined or inspected,\nis or may be diseased, or is or may be a carrier of the virus, shall with all practicable speed notify that fact to a Divisional Veterinary Officer, to an inspector or to any member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.\n(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of a stallion which has been vaccinated against the disease and which, immediately prior to vaccination, has been tested for the disease with a negative result.\n(3) A person who knows or has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a mare which has been served, either naturally or by artificial insemination, within the previous 14 days—\n(a) which is in his possession or under his charge; or\n(b) which he has examined or inspected,\nis or may be diseased, shall with all practicable speed notify to a Divisional Veterinary Officer, to an inspector or to any member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary—\n(i) that fact;\n(ii) the name of the stallion used to serve the mare; and\n(iii) the name and address of the owner of that stallion.\n(4) A person who, following analysis by him of a sample of serum or semen taken from a stallion or a sample of serum taken from a mare which has been served, either naturally or by artificial insemination within the previous 14 days, reasonably supposes that the disease exists or that the stallion may be a carrier of the virus shall—\n(a) with all practicable speed notify that fact to a Divisional Veterinary Officer;\n(b) retain the sample analysed until its disposal is authorised in writing by a veterinary inspector; and\n(c) if required in writing to do so by a veterinary inspector, surrender any samples in whatever form they are to the Department.\n(5) This Article shall not apply where the disease or virus has been deliberately introduced into a horse or sample in a laboratory.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1996/274/article/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T02:35:15.394478+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}