S.I. No. 478/2006 - European Communities (Protection measures in relation to avian influenza in poultry and other captive birds) Regulations 2006

• (c) any equipment, materials or substances therein which are contaminated or likely to be contaminated with avian influenza viruses and which cannot be effectively cleansed and disinfected or treated shall be destroyed;

• (d) only approved disinfectants and concentrations may be used.

Repopulation of Holdings

• (a) repopulation does not take place for a period of 21 days following the date of completion of the final cleansing and disinfection in accordance with Regulation 38;

• (b) the local District Veterinary Office is notified of any poultry that die during the repopulation phase;

• (c) any person entering or leaving the holding complies with appropriate biosecurity measures aimed at preventing the spread of avian influenza;

• (d) during the repopulation phase, no poultry leave the holding without authorisation from an authorised officer;

• (e) a record is kept on the production data, including morbidity and mortality data which must be updated regularly;

• (f) any significant change in production data, as referred to at (e), and other abnormalities are immediately reported to the local District Veterinary Office.

• (2) Based on a risk assessment, an official veterinarian may direct that the provisions in paragraph (1) are applied to holdings other than commercial poultry holdings or other species on a commercial poultry holding.

PART 13 - VACCINATION

General prohibitions of vaccination

• (a) Articles 53 to 55 of the Council Directive dealing with emergency vaccination,

or

• (b) Articles 56 and 57 of the Council Directive dealing with preventative vaccination.

• (2) Where vaccination is permitted, the following arrangements will apply-

• (a) the handling, manufacture, storage, supply, distribution and sale of avian influenza vaccines shall be subject to official control;

• (b) only vaccines authorised in accordance with Directive 2001/82/EC⁶ on the Community code relating to veterinary medicinal products or Regulation (EC No 726/2004/EC⁷ laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency may be used.

PART 14 - Measures for pigs and other species

Measures concerning pigs and other species

41.(1) Where avian influenza is confirmed on a holding, the owner or person in charge of the holding or of any pigs on the holding shall-

• (a) cooperate with an authorised officer in the taking of samples from the pigs for laboratory testing, and

• (b) ensure that the pigs are not moved from the holding pending the results of tests and without the approval of an authorised officer.

• (2) Where laboratory tests provided for in paragraph (1) confirm positive findings for avian influenza viruses in pigs, the movement of those pigs to other pig holdings or to designated slaughterhouses may be authorised, provided that subsequent appropriate tests have shown that the risk of spread of avian influenza is negligible.

• (3) Where laboratory tests provided for in paragraph (2) confirm a serious health threat an official veterinarian shall direct that the pigs are to be killed as soon as possible under official supervision and in such a way as to prevent the spread of the avian influenza virus, in particular during transport, and in accordance with Directive 93/119/EC.

• (4) An official veterinarian may, following confirmation of avian influenza on any holding and based on a risk assessment, direct that the measures provided for in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) are to be applied to any other mammals present on the holding and may extend those measures to contact holdings.

• (5) The owner or person in charge of the holding or of any pigs on the holding shall apply measures to prevent any further spread of avian influenza to other species as may be directed by an official veterinarian.

• (6) Additional measures to prevent the spread of influenza viruses of avian origin to other species may be adopted in accordance with the procedures referred to in Article 64(3 of the Council Directive.

PART 15 - DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES, DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL AND REFERENCE LABORATORIES

PART 16 - COMPENSATION

• (a) poultry and other captive birds (other than pets) kept on commercial holdings which are killed or slaughtered under these Regulations, and

• (b) the product (other than a product of a wild bird or eggs of pigeons, doves peafowl, swans or birds of the species psittaciformes) of such poultry or other captive birds,

if the poultry, captive bird, or product is destroyed to alleviate the risk of avian influenza, to prevent the spread of that disease, to eradicate that disease or is affected with that disease.

• (2) Compensation payable will not exceed the open market value of the poultry captive bird, or product immediately before destruction as if not affected with disease.

• (3) In the interests of disease control and curtailing the spread of disease, the determination of compensation or ownership shall not delay the killing or slaughter of poultry or captive birds which shall proceed in accordance with the direction of an official veterinarian.

(4)If a person is convicted of an offence under these Regulations or under legislation transposing an act of the institutions of the European Communities relating to poultry, captive birds, or product, as a statutory consequence of conviction, he or she shall not be entitled to compensation in respect of the poultry, captive birds or product.

• (5) The Minister may postpone consideration or determination of an application for compensation pending the institution or determination of a prosecution for an offence in relation to poultry, captive birds or product that is the subject of the application.

Valuers

• (2) The owners or persons in charge of the poultry, captive birds or products which are subject to a claim for compensation, their employees, servants or agents shall give all assistance required and co-operate with a valuer or a person accompanying a valuer.

• (3) If the Minister or owner of the poultry, captive birds or products is dissatisfied with the determination of a valuer, he or she may, within 7 days of the date of the valuation, request a second valuation. However, depopulation shall proceed forthwith notwithstanding the appeal.

• (4) If a person requests a second valuation, the valuation shall be carried out by a valuer chosen by the Minister.

Arbitration

Abatement of Compensation

• (a) the applicant had failed to take reasonable measures to alleviate the risk or spread of disease,

• (b) the applicant had failed to take appropriate biosecurity measures,

• (c) the applicant has obstructed or impeded an authorised officer,

• (d) the applicant has delayed the depopulation of poultry or other captive birds or the destruction of products,

• (e) the applicant is not the owner of the poultry, captive bird or product to which the application relates,

• (f) the applicant has been convicted of an offence under -

• (i) these Regulations,

• (ii) the Animal Remedies Act 1993 , or

• (iii) regulations made under the European Communities Act 1972 relating to poultry, captive birds, wild birds or poultry products,

• (g) the poultry, captive bird or poultry product to which an application for compensation relates has been imported, sold, supplied, moved or otherwise dealt with in contravention of an enactment to which (f) refers.

PART 17 - Authorised Officers, Notices, Offences, Penalties and Saver

Powers of authorised officer

• (a) poultry includes a reference to other captive birds, and

• (b) disease includes a reference to avian influenza.

• (2) An authorised officer, being an inspector of the Minister, in exercising his or her powers under section 17A of the Diseases of Animals Act 1966 may, in making a clinical inspection of poultry or other captive birds, collect samples for laboratory examination.

Notices, Directions, Authorisations, Derogations

48 (1) Where a notice is issued under Regulation 6, 13, 25 or 34, notice of it shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil and in at least one newspaper published in the State and circulating in the areas referred to in the notice and by any other method the Minister considers appropriate.

• (2) A notice, direction, derogation or authorisation under Regulation 12, 14, 15, 21, 23 35 or 40 may be given generally by publishing notice of it in the Iris Oifigiúil and in at least one newspaper published in the State and circulating in the area to which the notice, direction, derogation or authorisation relates and by such other means as the Minister considers appropriate, or by an authorised officer giving it directly to a person or by leaving it at the holding concerned.

• (3) A notice, direction, derogation or authorisation under Regulation 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 16, 18, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39 or 41 may be given either directly to the person or may be left at the holding concerned by an authorised officer or by any other method as the Minister considers appropriate.

• (4) Where not explicitly provided for in a Regulation, an official veterinarian may nevertheless, issue a direction to a person relating to a requirement in the Regulation either by giving it directly to the person concerned or leaving it at the holding concerned or by any other method as the Minister considers appropriate.

Forgery

49 (1) A person shall not forge or utter, knowing it to be forged, any notice, direction authorisation or derogation issued under these Regulations (hereafter in this Regulation referred to as “a forged document”).

• (2) A person shall not alter with intent to defraud or deceive, or utter, knowing it to be so altered, a notice, direction, authorisation or derogation issued under these Regulations hereafter in this Regulation referred to as “an altered document”.

• (3) A person shall not have, without lawful authority, in his or her possession or under his or her control a forged document or an altered document.

Offences

Penalties, etc

• (2) An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

• (3) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a body corporate and it is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person who, when the offence was committed, was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, commits an offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she committed the first-mentioned offence.

• (4) If the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (3) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the functions of management as if such a member were a director or manager of the body corporate.

SProduction of notice in legal proceedings, etc.

• (2) A copy of a notice under these Regulations, which has endorsed on it a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the Minister (authorised in that behalf by the Minister) stating that the copy is a true copy of the notice may, without proof of signature of that officer, be produced in every court and in all legal proceedings and is evidence, unless the contrary is shown, of the notice.

• (3) The Minister may authorise in writing an officer of the Minister to issue a notice under these Regulations.

Revocations

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations transpose the measures set down in Council Directive 2005/94/EC in relation to suspected and confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry and other captive birds.

Footnotes