The Specified Diseases (Notification) (Amendment) (England) Order 2015

Made: 10th December 2015

Coming into force: 18th December 2015

The Secretary of State makes this Order in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 1 and 88(2) of the Animal Health Act 1981[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and application

1

This Order—

• (a) may be cited as the Specified Diseases (Notification) (Amendment) (England) Order 2015;

• (b) comes into force on 18th December 2015; and

• (c) applies in England.

Amendment to the Specified Diseases (Notification) Order 1996

2

• (1) The Specified Diseases (Notification) Order 1996[^f00002] is amended as follows.

• (2) After article 3 insert—

(3A) (1) Where a person has given notice to the Secretary of State of suspected porcine epidemic diarrhoea in pigs in England in accordance with article 3, this article applies. (2) The Secretary of State must, as soon as reasonably practicable, supply the following information to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board[^f00003]— (a) the contact details of the person in possession of the pigs suspected of being infected with porcine epidemic diarrhoea, and (b) the location of the suspect premises. (3) Following receipt of the information mentioned in paragraph (2), the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board may— (a) provide advice to the person in possession of the pigs about the disease; (b) advise any pig keeper whose pigs are suspected of having contact with the suspect premises, and other pig keepers in the vicinity of the suspect premises, to take appropriate precautions to protect their pigs from porcine epidemic diarrhoea. (4) Where a faecal sample tests positive for porcine epidemic diarrhoea, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board may— (a) advise any pig keeper whose pigs are suspected of having contact with the suspect premises, and other pig keepers in the vicinity of the suspect premises, of the positive test result for porcine epidemic diarrhoea; (b) disseminate the fact of the positive laboratory test result to those persons appearing to it to be representative of the interests of those in the pig industry as it considers appropriate. (5) Prior to advising any pig keeper in accordance with paragraph (3)(b) or (4)(a), or disseminating information in accordance with paragraph (4)(b), the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board must inform the person in possession of the affected pigs of its intention to give such advice or disseminate such information (as the case may be).

• (3) In the list of diseases in Part 1 of Schedule 1 (specified diseases), after the disease name “Peste des petits ruminants” insert “Porcine epidemic diarrhoea”.

Review

3

• (1) The Secretary of State must from time to time—

• (a) carry out a review of this Order;

• (b) set out the conclusions of the review in a report; and

• (c) publish the report.

• (2) The report must, in particular—

• (a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by this Order;

• (b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved; and

• (c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.

• (3) The first report under this article must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with the day on which the Order comes into force.

• (4) Reports under this article are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

Signed

George Eustice — Minister of State — Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs — 10th December 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order amends the Specified Diseases (Notification) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996/2628) in England by adding porcine epidemic diarrhoea to the list of animal diseases in Part 1 of Schedule 1 so that suspicion of the infection of porcine epidemic diarrhoea in pigs must be notified to the Secretary of State by the keeper of the pigs.

The Order inserts a requirement for the Secretary of State to share information regarding suspicion of porcine epidemic diarrhoea with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which in relation to the pig industry in England has statutory responsibilities and carries out functions using its pig levy.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board may advise the affected keeper and other pig keepers regarding appropriate precautions to take to protect their pigs from porcine epidemic diarrhoea. It may also raise awareness of porcine epidemic diarrhoea by disseminating information about the disease more widely to the pig industry.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Animal Health Policy and Implementation team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR, and is published alongside the Explanatory Memorandum on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1981 c.22. Functions conferred under that Act on “the Ministers” (as defined in section 86) were transferred, so far as exercisable by the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales, to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by the Transfer of Functions (Agriculture and Food) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3141), article 2 and the Schedule, and were then further transferred to the Secretary of State by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dissolution) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/794), article 2.

[^f00002]: S.I.1996/2628, to which there are amendments not relevant to this Order.

[^f00003]: The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board is a non-departmental public body created by S.I. 2008/576.