Farriers (Registration) Act 1975

Functions of Farriers Company

1

The Worshipful Company of Farriers (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) shall have the general function of securing adequate standards of competence and conduct among persons engaged in the shoeing of horses (hereinafter referred to as “farriers”) and shall promote, encourage and advance the art and science of farriery and education in connection with the said art and science.

Farriers Registration Council

2

• (1) There shall be established a body called the Farriers Registration Council (hereinafter referred to as “the Council”) which shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and shall have the general function of carrying out the powers and duties conferred upon it by this Act.

• (2) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for determining the constitution and powers of the Council and for regulating its proceedings.

Register of farriers

3

• (1) The registrar appointed by the Council in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall establish and maintain a register which shall be divided into Parts as hereinafter provided.

• (2) The registrar shall cause to be entered in the appropriate Part of the register the name and prescribed particulars of every person who, being qualified for registration, has applied in the prescribed manner for registration and has paid the prescribed fee.

• (2A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) The register shall be kept at the offices of the Council and shall be made available for public inspection at all reasonable times without charge.

• (4) The Council shall cause the register to be printed and published as often as it thinks fit.

Rules with respect to register

4

• (1) The Council may make rules with respect to the form and keeping of the register, the making of entries therein and the removal of entries therefrom and, in particular—

• (a) prescribing a fee to be charged on the entry of a name in the register or on the restoration of any entry to the register;

• (b) prescribing a fee to be charged in respect of the retention in the register of the name of a person in any year subsequent to the year in which he was first registered;

• (c) authorising the registrar, notwithstanding anything in this Act, to refuse to make in, or restore to, the register any entry until a fee prescribed by rules under this section has been paid.

• (2) Rules under this section may authorise the registrar to remove from the register the name of a person who, after such notices and warning as may be prescribed by the rules, fails to pay a fee prescribed under paragraph (b) of the foregoing subsection.

• (3) If, within such period as may be prescribed by rules under this section, any person whose name has been removed from the register in accordance with rules made by virtue of the last foregoing subsection pays the fee due from him, together with such additional sum (if any) as may be so prescribed, his name shall be restored to the register and, if the Council so directs, shall be deemed for all purposes not to have been removed therefrom.

• (4) Rules under this section prescribing fees may provide for the charging of different fees in different cases and may provide that fees shall not be chargeable in prescribed cases.

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fraudulent entries in the register

5

If any person wilfully procures or attempts to procure the entry of his name in the register by making or producing or causing to be made or produced any false or fraudulent representation or declaration, either orally or in writing, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

Removal of names from register

6

The registrar shall remove from the register the names of—

• (a) every deceased person;

• (b) every person who has applied for his name to be removed; and

• (c) every person whose name has been ordered to be removed under section 15 of this Act.

Qualifications for registration

7

• (1) Subject to section 15, a person is entitled to be registered in Part I of the register if he applies for registration and satisfies the Council—

• (a) that on the 1st January 1976 his name was registered in the Register of Farriers kept by the Company;

• (b) that he has satisfied such conditions as to apprenticeship or training or both as the Council may prescribe and has passed a prescribed examination;

• (c) that he has completed a course of training as a farrier in Her Majesty’s Army and has passed a prescribed examination;

• (d) that he is or has been registered in Part II or in Part IV of the register and has passed a prescribed examination; or

• (e) that he holds a qualification—

• (i) granted otherwise than in Great Britain; and

• (ii) for the time being accepted for the purposes of this subsection by the Council,

and that during any period of two years subsequent to the date when he obtained his qualifications he has been regularly and gainfully engaged in the shoeing of horses;

• (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) Subject to section 15, a person is entitled to be registered in Part II of the register if he applies for registration before such date as may be prescribed and satisfies the Council that during any period of two years before the date of his application or such shorter period as the Council may approve he was—

• (a) otherwise than as an apprentice or while undergoing a course of training, regularly engaged in the shoeing of horses in a business which consists exclusively of such shoeing or is the business of a blacksmith or general smith of which the shoeing of horses forms a part; or

• (b) practising as a farrier in Her Majesty’s Army.

• (3) Subject to section 15, a person is entitled to be registered in Part III of the register if he applies for registration before such date as may be prescribed and satisfies the Council by means of a certificate by a practising veterinary surgeon, which shall be in the prescribed form, or by such other evidence as the Council may in his case consider appropriate, that during any period of two years before the date of his application for registration he has regularly and competently—

• (a) carried out the shoeing of horses belonging to himself; or

• (b) otherwise than by way of trade or for reward, carried out the shoeing of horses belonging to other persons.

• (4) Subject to section 15, a person is entitled to be registered in Part IV of the register if—

• (a) being a person who is not otherwise entitled to be registered under this Act he applies for registration before such date as may be prescribed and satisfies the Council that during any period of two years before the date of his application for registration or such shorter period as the Council may approve he has been regularly and gainfully engaged in the shoeing of horses otherwise than as an apprentice or while undergoing a course of training; or

• (b) being a person who has not passed a prescribed examination he applies for registration before the date prescribed pursuant to paragraph (a) and satisfies the Council that he has complied with—

• (i) the conditions as to apprenticeship or training prescribed by the Council in accordance with paragraph (b) of subsection (1), and

• (ii) such additional conditions, if any, as to further apprenticeship or training as the Council may require in his case.

• (5) In any case in which it appears to the Council that a person has for sufficient reason failed to make an application under subsection (2), (3) or (4) before such dates as the Council may have respectively prescribed for the purposes of those subsections, the Council may direct that he is entitled to apply within such period as may be specified in that direction.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Company's Register

8

For the purposes of section 7(1)(a), the Company shall make available its Register of Farriers and permit the Council to make copies of it and to take extracts from it.

Determination of questions as to qualifications

9

• (1) Where an application for registration under section 7(1), (2), (3) or (4) is refused, or the registrar fails to enter the name of the applicant in the appropriate Part of the register, the applicant may appeal to the Disciplinary Committee (which is established under section 14).

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) Where a person appeals under subsection (1), ... the Disciplinary Committee may direct that the person’s name be entered in the appropriate Part of the register.

• (7) Where the Disciplinary Committee decides an appeal under subsection (1), ... the person who made that appeal may, within twenty-eight days after the person is notified of the Disciplinary Committee’s decision, appeal against that decision to the High Court or, in Scotland, to the Court of Session.

• (8) Subsections (4) and (5) of section 15 apply to an appeal under subsection (7) of this section as they apply to an appeal under subsection (1) of that section.

Certificate of registration etc.

10

• (1) The registrar shall issue—

• (a) to a person registered in Part I or Part II of the register a certificate of registration in the prescribed form;

• (b) to a person registered in Part III or Part 4 of the register an acknowledgement of such registration in the prescribed form.

• (2) The Council shall make rules as to the surrender of certificates and acknowledgements issued under subsection (1) of this section.

Approval of courses, qualifications and institutions

11

• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section the Council may approve for the purposes of this Act or of rules made by the Council thereunder—

• (a) any course of training which the Council considers is designed to confer on persons completing it sufficient knowledge and skill for carrying out the shoeing of horses;

• (b) any qualification which, as the result of an examination taken in conjunction with a course of training approved by the Council under this section, is granted to candidates reaching a standard at the examination indicating, in the opinion of the Council, that they have sufficient knowledge and skill to carry out the shoeing of horses;

• (c) any qualification which, as a result of an examination taken by a person whose name has been registered in Part II of the register, is granted to candidates reaching such standards as is mentioned in paragraph (b) hereof;

• (d) any institution which the Council considers is properly organised and equipped for conducting the whole or any part of a course of training approved by the Council under this section;

and may refuse its approval under this section or withdraw such an approval previously given; and notice of the giving, refusal or withdrawal of such an approval shall be served by the Council on the body or person affected.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) The withdrawal of an approval under this section shall not prejudice the registration or entitlement to registration of any person who was registered or entitled to registration by virtue of that approval immediately before it was withdrawn.

• (4) Any reference in this section to a body or person affected, in relation to an approval, is a reference to the body or person who applied for approval.

Supervision of approved institutions and examinations

12

It shall be the duty of the Council to keep itself informed of the nature of the instruction given at institutions approved under the last foregoing section of this Act to persons attending courses approved under that section and of the examinations in the carrying out of farriery the passing of which may be prescribed by the Council as being a condition of registration under this Act.

The Investigating Committee

13

• (1) The Council shall set up a committee ... to be known as the Investigating Committee, for the preliminary investigation of cases (hereinafter referred to as “disciplinary cases”) in which it is alleged that a person is liable to have his name erased from the register on any grounds specified in section 15 of this Act.

• (2) It shall be the function of the Investigating Committee to decide whether a disciplinary case ought to be referred to the Disciplinary Committee, set up under the next following section, to be dealt with by it in accordance with the following provisions of this Act.

• (3) The provisions of Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution of the Investigating Committee.

The Disciplinary Committee

14

• (1) The Council shall set up a committee ... to be known as the Disciplinary Committee, for the consideration and determination of disciplinary cases referred to it under the last foregoing section and of any other cases of which they have cognizance under section 9 or any of the following provisions of this Act.

• (2) The provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution of, and proceedings before, the Disciplinary Committee.

Removal of names from register

15

• (1) Where—

• (a) a person who is registered by the Council is judged by the Disciplinary Committee to be guilty of serious misconduct in any professional respect; or

• (b) the Disciplinary Committee is satisfied that such a person was not qualified for registration at the time he was registered; or

• (c) such a person has been convicted of an offence involving cruelty to animals; ...

• (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

the Committee may, if it thinks fit, direct that the person’s name shall be removed from the register or that his registration therein shall be suspended, that is to say, it shall not have effect during a period specified in the direction:

Provided that, in any case falling within paragraph (b) of this subsection, where the application for registration was referred to the Disciplinary Committee under section 9 of this Act, the Committee shall not direct that a person’s name shall be removed from the register except upon evidence which was not before the Committee when it considered the application.

• (2) When the Disciplinary Committee directs that a person’s name shall be removed from the register, the Committee shall cause notice of the direction to be served on that person.

• (3) A person in respect of whom a direction is made under subsection (1) of this section may, within twenty-eight days after notice of the direction was given to him, appeal against the direction to the High Court, or, in Scotland, to the Court of Session.

• (4) The Council may appear as respondent on any such appeal, and for the purpose of enabling directions to be given as to costs of any such appeal the Council shall be deemed to be a party thereto, whether it appears on the hearing of the appeal or not.

• (5) On the hearing of the appeal the Court may make such order as it thinks fit, and its order shall be final.

• (6) A direction made under subsection (1) of this section shall not take effect before the expiration of the time limited for appealing against it, and where an appeal is lodged the direction shall not take effect before the appeal is disposed of or withdrawn or fails for want of prosecution.

• (7) A person whose name is removed from the register in pursuance of a direction of the Disciplinary Committee under this section shall not be entitled to be registered in the register again except in pursuance of a direction in that behalf given by the Committee on the application of that person; and a direction under this section for the removal of a person’s name from the register may prohibit an application under this subsection by that person until the expiration of such period from the date of the direction (and where he has duly made such an application, from the date of his last application) as may be specified in the direction.

Offences by unregistered persons

16

• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section it shall be unlawful—

• (a) for a person who is not registered in the register to carry out any farriery; or

• (b) for a person who is registered in Part III of the register to carry out farriery by way of trade or for reward; or

• (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to the carrying out of farriery by—

• (i) a person serving under articles of apprenticeship which satisfy the prescribed terms and conditions, if carried out in the course of his apprenticeship;

• (ii) a person attending a course of training approved by the Council under section 11 of this Act conducted at an institution so approved if carried out in the course of his training;

• (iii) a veterinary surgeon or veterinary practitioner;

• (iv) a person undergoing training as a veterinary surgeon in respect of any farriery carried out by him under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon, veterinary practitioner or a person registered under this Act; or

• (v) a person rendering first-aid in case of emergency to a horse.

• (2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a person—

• (a) who, having had his name removed from the register has not yet been given notice by the registrar of its removal; or

• (b) who, having applied for registration in the register, has not had his application finally determined; ...

• (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .