{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/slaughter-of-animals-humane-conditions-regulations-1990/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/slaughter-of-animals-humane-conditions-regulations-1990/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1990/1242",
  "legislation_title": "The Slaughter of Animals (Humane Conditions) Regulations 1990",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/slaughter-of-animals-humane-conditions-regulations-1990",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations revoke and re-enact, with certain amendments, the provisions of the Slaughter of Animals (Prevention of Cruelty) Regulations 1958 (as amended).\nThe Regulations continue to contain requirements relating to—\n(1) the construction and the equipment of slaughterhouses, knackers' yards and lairages (Part II);\n(2) conditions to be observed in connection with the confinement and treatment of animals awaiting slaughter in a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard (Part III);\n(3) conditions to be observed in connection with the stunning and slaughter of animals in a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard (Parts IV and V);\n(4) additional conditions to be observed in connection with the slaughter of horses in a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard (Part VI);\n(5) records to be kept by the occupier of a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard (Part VII); and\n(6) offences and penalties (Part VIII).\nThe changes of substance made by these Regulations are the inclusion of—\n(1) a requirement that, after 5th July 1992, a stunning pen used for the purpose of the Regulations must be constructed so that it restricts the movement of the head of an animal confined in it so as to permit accurate stunning (regulations 2(1) and 15);\n(2) a requirement that, after 5th July 1990, fixed ramps (or other suitable facilities) for unloading animals out of vehicles must be provided in any premises which are constructed or adapted for use as a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard (regulation 3);\n(3) a requirement that sufficient space must be provided for animals confined in a lairage so as to allow them to stand up, lie down and turn around (regulation 8);\n(4) restrictions on the methods of handling animals including a prohibition on the hitting, prodding or handling of animals in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary pain or unnecessary distress (regulation 13);\n(5) a requirement that any electrical equipment used for stunning an animal is set to deliver a current which is sufficient to render it instantaneously insensible to pain and that such equipment must contain a device to prevent it from delivering a current below that which it has been set to deliver (regulation 14(b));\n(6) a prohibition on the stunning of any cattle with a mechanically operated instrument applied to the back of the head and on the stunning of any other animal in this way (except when access to the front of the head is prevented by the animals' horns) (regulation 16(1)(a));\n(7) requirements to prevent delays occurring between the stunning and the subsequent sticking of animals (regulation 18);\n(8) a prohibition on the religious slaughter of any cattle other than in an upright position in a restraining pen approved by the appropriate Minister (the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State for Wales) except that, until 5th July 1992, in slaughterhouses operating before 5th July 1990, certain specified casting pens and pens of other types which have been approved by the appropriate Minister under the 1958 Regulations may continue to be used for such slaughter (regulation 23); and\n(9) new requirements relating to slaughter by religious methods (regulation 25).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/1242/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:19:09.533875+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."
}