The Pigs (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995

In this Order—

• “approved disinfectant” means a disinfectant listed as approved in the case of Swine Vesicular Disease in Schedule 1 to the Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) Order 1978^f1 and “disinfect” means disinfect with an approved disinfectant;

• “collecting centre” has the meaning assigned to it in article 11 below;

• “farm” means any holding on which pigs are kept for the purpose of breeding or fattening them;

• “identification mark” means a mark complying with paragraph (1) or (3)(b) of article 5;

• “identification number of the holding” means the numeric code which is allotted to the holding by the appropriate Minister;

• “livestock” means cattle, sheep, pigs and goats;

• “market” means a market place or sale-yard or any other premises or place to which animals are brought from other places and exposed for sale; and includes any place adjoining those premises used by visitors to the market for parking vehicles and any lairage adjoining a market and used in connection with it;

• “slaughterhouse” means, in relation to England and Wales, a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard as defined in section 34 of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974^f2 and, in relation to Scotland, a slaughterhouse as defined in section 22 of the Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Act 1980^f3;

• “waste food” means—

  1. (a)

     any meat, bones, blood, offal or other part of the carcase of any livestock or of any poultry, or product derived therefrom or hatchery waste or eggs or egg shells; or

  2. (b)

     any broken or waste foodstuffs (including table or kitchen refuse scraps or waste) which contain or have been in contact with any meat, bones, blood, offal or with any other part of the carcase of any livestock or of any poultry;

  • but does not include meal manufactured from protein originating from livestock or poultry.

In this Order “holding” and other expressions which appear in the Order and in F2Council Directive 2008/71/EC on the identification and registration of pigs shall bear the meaning they have in that directive.

It shall be sufficient compliance with any provision of this Order requiring or permitting the making of an application, the issue of a licence, notice, approval, authority or authorisation, the depositing of a document or the sending or giving of a document to effect this by means of a facsimile transmission service.

It shall not be lawful for any person to move or cause to be moved a pig from a market or collecting centre to another market or collecting centre (other than a collecting centre for pigs intended for immediate slaughter).

It shall not be lawful for any person—

Subject to the following provisions of this article F2and to the provisions of article 8A, whenever any pig has been moved to any premises (other than a market, or collecting centre, artificial insemination centre, exhibition, show or place for veterinary treatment) it shall not be lawful to move any pig from those premises before the expiry of a period of 20 days from the day on which the pig first referred to was delivered to those premises.

The restriction contained in paragraph (1) of this article shall not apply to the making at any time of the following movements—

Notwithstanding the prohibition in paragraph (1) above, no account shall be taken of the following movements—

Whenever any pig has been moved to any premises (other than a collection centre), it shall not be lawful to move any pig from those premises for direct export or to move any pig to a collecting centre for export from there before the expiry of a period of 30 days from the day on which the first pig referred to was delivered to those premises.

This article has effect in relation to the movement of a pig—

It shall be the duty of the owner of a pig who intends to move it—

In the case of a return described in paragraph (1)(b) above, it shall be the duty of the person in charge of the premises from which the pig is to be moved to make a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 4 to this Order.

In the case of a movement on a return described in paragraph (1)(c) above, no further declaration or licence shall be required.

This article has effect in relation to movement of pigs from collecting centres licensed under article 14 below and markets and assembly centres approved under regulation 5 of the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1993^f1 in this article referred to as “collecting centres”.

It shall be the duty of the person in charge of the collecting centre to make a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 6 to this Order.

It shall be the duty of the person in charge of the collecting centre in the case of a movement to a farm, within the period of three days after the movement is commenced, to send a further copy of the declaration to the local authority of the area in which the collecting centre is situated.

Upon receipt of a declaration under paragraph (3) above a local authority shall, if the premises to which a pig is to be moved is in the area of another local authority, forthwith send a copy of the declaration to that authority.

It shall not be lawful for any person to hold a sale of pigs (whether at a market or elsewhere) save in accordance with a licence issued by an inspector of the local authority for the area in which the sale premises are situated.

A licence shall not be issued under paragraph (1) above, and a sale shall not be held, unless—

A licence authorising the holding of a sale on premises used as a market shall specify that it applies either—

which are accompanied by a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 2.

Nothing in this article shall apply to the holding during or at the end of any exhibition or show of pigs and at the premises on which the exhibition or show is held, of any sale of those pigs, if—

It shall not be lawful for any person to operate a collecting centre for pigs unless the centre is a market or assembly centre approved under regulation 5 of the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1993 or it is licensed under this article.

Subject to paragraph (4) below, an inspector of a local authority may issue a licence authorising the use of any premises as a collecting centre for pigs.

A licence under paragraph (2) above shall specify that it applies—

which are accompanied by a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 2 or a licence in the form set out in Schedule 7.

An inspector shall not issue a licence under paragraph (2) above unless—

fails to comply with any obligation imposed on him by any provision of article 3, article 4, article 9, F2... paragraphs (2) and (3) of article 11, and paragraph (7) of article 15, or

knowingly causes or permits the doing of anything which is a contravention of paragraph (a) above, or

knowingly causes or permits the doing of anything which is declared by this Order not to be lawful, or

makes any statement or gives any information for the purposes of this Order which he knows to be false in a material particular or, for those purposes, recklessly makes a statement or gives any information which is false in a material particular,

To the extent therein provided, the Orders specified in the following Table are hereby revoked.

Notwithstanding the revocation of the Movement and Sale of Pigs Order 1975 (as amended), where a licence or declaration is in force under that Order on the date when this Order comes into force, the provisions of that Order shall continue to have effect in relation to that licence or declaration.

in article 2(1) for the words “Part IV of the Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) Order 1972, as amended” there shall be substituted the words “the Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) Order 1978^f2”;

in article 9 for the words “paragraphs (5) and (6) of Article 8 of the Movement and Sale of Pigs Order 1975” there shall be substituted the words “any licence or declaration issued under the Pigs (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995”;

in article 15 paragraph (9) shall be deleted;

in article 17 at the beginning of paragraph (9) there shall be added the words “Subject to paragraph (9A) below,”; and

in article 17 after paragraph (9) there shall be added the following paragraph—

“(9A)

Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Article to the extent that they apply to pigs shall affect the provisions of the Pigs (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995 and any record required to be kept by this Article shall be in addition to any record required to be kept by that order.”.

Each owner or keeper of pigs must supply information to the local Divisional Veterinary Officer about the holding and notify them of any changes in that information (article 3).

A record of pig movements must be kept (in the form set out in Schedule 1 to the Order) and retained for 3 years. This record must include details of the identification marks of the pigs concerned (article 4).

All pigs which are moved must be marked with an identification mark. This may be either a temporary mark or a permanent tattoo or ear tag. Pigs to be exported must be marked by a permanent tattoo or ear tag identifying the holding on which the mark was applied, a distinctive number allotted to the pig and the country code (UK). Pigs moved between holdings in Great Britain must be marked either as if for export or with a mark sufficient to identify them during the journey (articles 5 and 6).

There is a prohibition on movement of pigs (other than slaughter pigs) between markets and collecting centres (article 7).

Pigs may only be moved from a farm for certain purposes or returned to it if they are accompanied by a declaration made by the owner (article 9 and Schedules 2, 3 and 4). It is prohibited to move any pigs off premises within 20 days of the movement of any pigs onto those premises. This prohibition does not apply in the case of a number of exempted movements (article 8).

Pigs may be moved from premises where waste food is kept only if they are accompanied by a declaration made by the owner or keeper and may be moved only to other premises in the same occupation or to a slaughterhouse for slaughter (article 10 and Schedule 5).

Movement of pigs from a collecting centre is permitted if they are accompanied by a declaration (article 11 and Schedule 6).

Movement of pigs from any other place is subject to licensing. Such licences are issued by the local authority or an inspector of the Minister (article 12 and Schedule 7).

Sales of pigs and collecting centres are subject to licensing (articles 13 and 14). Market records are required (article 15). There are detailed provisions relating to licences, declarations and records (article 16).

The forms of declaration and licence include requirements for cleansing and disinfection with an approved disinfectant of road vehicles used for moving pigs, impose restrictions upon the circumstances in which pigs can be moved in a road vehicle with other categories of pigs or with other things and on the transfer of pigs from one vehicle to another.

• Failure to comply with the Order is an offence under the Animal Health Act 1981 punishable under section 75 of that Act (article 19).

• A Compliance Cost Assessment has been prepared and a copy placed in the library of each House of Parliament.