The Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019

Made: 15 January 2019

Laid before the National Assembly for Wales: 17 January 2019

Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1

These Regulations make provision for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2) of the 1972 Act and it appears to the Welsh Ministers that it is expedient for references in these Regulations to provisions of European Union instruments to be construed as references to those provisions as amended from time to time.

PART 1 — Introductory

Title, commencement and application

1

• (1) The title of these Regulations is the Equine Identification (Wales) Regulations 2019 and, except for regulation 13(3)(c), these Regulations come into force on 12 February 2019.

• (2) Regulation 13(3)(c) comes into force on 12 February 2021.

• (3) These Regulations apply in relation to Wales.

Interpretation

2

In these Regulations—

• “Article” (“Erthygl”) means an Article of the EU Regulation;

• “compliance notice” (“hysbysiad cydymffurfio”) has the meaning given in regulation 37;

• “designated area” (“ardal ddynodedig”) means an area described as such in regulation 16;

• “enforcement costs” (“costau gorfodi”) means the costs which a person is required to pay under an enforcement costs recovery notice;

• “enforcement costs recovery notice” (“hysbysiad adennill costau gorfodi”) has the meaning given in regulation 40;

• “enforcing authority” (“awdurdod gorfodi”) means a local authority falling within regulation 31;

• “equine” (“ceffyl”) means a wild, semi-wild or domesticated soliped within the genus Equus of the family Equidae and their crosses;

• “EU Regulation” (“Rheoliad yr UE”) means Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/262 of 17 February 2015[^f00004] laying down rules pursuant to Council Directives 90/427/EEC[^f00005] and 2009/156/EC[^f00006] as regards the methods for the identification of equidae, as amended from time to time;

• “fixed monetary penalty” (“cosb ariannol benodedig”) has the meaning given in regulation 39;

• “fixed monetary penalty notice” (“hysbysiad cosb ariannol benodedig”) has the meaning given in regulation 39;

• “ID” (“dogfen adnabod”) means the identification document for the identification of an equine in accordance with the EU Regulation and these Regulations;

• “inspector” (“arolygydd”) means a person appointed as such under regulation 32 or under the Animal Health Act 1981[^f00007];

• “issuing body” (“corff dyroddi”) means an issuing body as referred to in Article 5(1);

• “keeper” (“ceidwad”) has the meaning given in Article 2;

• “non-compliance penalty” (“cosb am beidio â chydymffurfio”) has the meaning given in regulation 38;

• “non-compliance penalty notice” (“hysbysiad cosb am beidio â chydymffurfio”) has the meaning given in regulation 38;

• “offender” (“troseddwr”) has the meaning given in regulation 35(1);

• “official veterinarian” (“milfeddyg swyddogol”) has the meaning given in Article 2;

• “owner” (“perchennog”) has the meaning given in Article 2;

• “responsible person” (“person cyfrifol”) means— the owner; or if the owner does not have primary day-to-day responsibility for the equine concerned, the keeper;

• “transponder” (“trawsatebydd”) has the meaning given in Article 2;

• “wild or semi-wild equine” (“ceffyl gwyllt neu led-wyllt”) means an equine falling within regulation 16(1);

• “within 24 hours” (“o fewn 24 awr”) means before the end of the period of 24 hours beginning with the time at which— for the purposes of regulation 15(1)(a), the information is created or amended; or for the purposes of regulation 15(1)(b), the issuing body receives the Welsh Ministers’ request, but not including any time that is not part of a working day; and for this purpose “working day” (“diwrnod gwaith”) means a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday within the meaning of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971[^f00008].

PART 2 — Administrative and procedural provisions and requirements

Competent authority and zootechnical authority for the purposes of the EU Regulation

3

The Welsh Ministers are the competent authority and the zootechnical authority for the purposes of the EU Regulation.

Transfer of ownership of equines

4

• (1) A person who transfers the ownership of an equine to another person (the “transferee”) must provide that equine’s ID to the transferee at the time of the transfer.

• (2) Before the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the day on which the transfer took effect, the transferee must—

• (a) notify the issuing body of—

• (i) the transfer of ownership; and

• (ii) the transferee’s name, address and contact details; and

• (b) send the ID for the equine concerned to the issuing body.

Identification of equines

5

A person must not keep an equine unless it is identified in accordance with the EU Regulation and these Regulations.

Applications for IDs

6

• (1) For the purposes of Articles 3(3) and 11(2), the owner of an equine born in a member State or in the United Kingdom and located on a holding in Wales must ensure that an application for an ID for that equine is received by an issuing body no later than 30 days prior to the final date for issuing an ID as set out in paragraph (2).

• (2) The final date is the later of—

• (a) 31 December in the calendar year of the equine’s birth; or

• (b) 6 months following the date of the equine’s birth.

• (3) An application must be accompanied by such fee specified by the issuing body to which it is submitted.

Completion of existing IDs for equines imported into the Great Britain from a country other than Northern Ireland or a member State

7

The keeper must provide to the issuing body all information necessary to allow the body to complete an existing ID for the purposes of Article 15(2), subject to Article 15(3), so that it complies with the requirements of Article 7(2).

Modification of identity details in IDs

8

If the owner believes that any identity details contained in the equine’s ID require modification or updating, whether pursuant to Article 27(1) or otherwise, the owner must ask the issuing body to modify or update the ID.

Format and content of IDs

9

• (1) An issuing body—

• (a) must ensure that any stock of pre-printed blank IDs (“pre-printed blank stock”) which it holds or maintains;

• (b) must ensure that any ID which it issues from such pre-printed blank stock; and

• (c) may ensure that ID which it issues otherwise than from pre-printed blank stock,

complies with paragraph (2).

• (2) For the purpose of paragraph (1), the ID or the pre-printed blank stock must, as a minimum, contain a serial number that is printed on each of the pages which form sections I to III of the ID (as set out in Annex I to the EU Regulation).

• (3) An issuing body must ensure that all IDs and pre-printed blank stock are securely managed on its premises.

• (4) If an ID or any pre-printed blank stock is lost, missing or stolen, the issuing body concerned must—

• (a) notify the Welsh Ministers as soon as possible of the loss, misplacement or theft; and

• (b) with the notification mentioned in sub-paragraph (a), inform the Welsh Ministers of—

• (i) the circumstances of the loss, misplacement or theft; and

• (ii) the serial numbers for the ID or the pre-printed blank stock concerned.

• (5) For the purposes of Article 9(1)(c), as read with, and subject to, Article 10(3), the issuing body concerned must ensure that section IV (details of ownership) of an ID is completed before the ID is issued under Article 9.

• (6) An ID or any part of it may be in an additional language.

Verification of IDs

10

Upon request from the Welsh Ministers, an issuing body must verify whether an ID that has been, or which appears to have been, issued by it is unique, genuine and authentic.

Requirement to provide ID to a veterinary surgeon treating an equine

11

• (1) This regulation applies if a veterinary surgeon is treating an equine.

• (2) Upon reasonable request from the veterinary surgeon, the responsible person must provide the equine’s ID to the veterinary surgeon without delay.

Slaughter, death or loss of an equine

12

• (1) Where, in accordance with Article 34(1)(c)(ii), an official veterinarian, or a person acting under the supervision of an official veterinarian, is required to return an invalidated ID to the issuing body, the official veterinarian, or the person acting under his or her supervision, must return that ID to the issuing body as soon as is reasonably practicable.

• (2) Where, in accordance with Article 35(1), a keeper is required to return an ID to the issuing body, the keeper must return that ID to the issuing body within a period of 30 days of the death or loss of the equine.

Transponders

13

• (1) For the purposes of Article 18(3), the minimum qualification required for the person entrusted with the implantation of a transponder is membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and in this regulation that person is referred to as a “veterinary surgeon”.

• (2) A veterinary surgeon who implants a transponder into an equine must take the measures set out in Articles 16 and 17(1) on behalf of an issuing body.

• (3) For the purposes of Article 18(5), the responsible person must arrange for a veterinary surgeon to implant a transponder into an equine that is deemed to be identified in accordance with Articles 4(2) or 43(1) if—

• (a) a previously implanted and recorded transponder ceases to function;

• (b) the equine arrives in Wales having been subject to an alternative method of identity verification authorised by a member State or Northern Ireland under Article 21; or

• (c) the equine—

• (i) does not fall within sub-paragraphs (a) or (b);

• (ii) has not already had a transponder implanted in compliance with the requirements or specifications as to transponders set out in the EU Regulation or Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/2008[^f00009] of 6 June 2008 implementing Council Directives 90/426/EEC and 90/427/EEC as regards methods for the identification of equidae; and

• (iii) was born on or before 30 June 2009.

• (4) A veterinary surgeon who implants a transponder into an equine must ensure that the transponder displays a code that is unique to the transponder.

Smart cards

14

• (1) An equine in respect of which an ID has been issued may be moved or transported within Wales, or into Wales from other parts of the United Kingdom, without being accompanied by its ID if it is accompanied by a smart card issued in accordance with Article 25.

• (2) The Welsh Ministers may issue guidance about the format of smart cards.

• (3) In this regulation, “smart card” has the meaning given in Article 2.

Databases

15

• (1) An issuing body must provide the following information to the central database—

• (a) within 24 hours of the information being created or amended by the body—

• (i) the identification details described in Article 27(1);

• (ii) the information recorded in the issuing body’s database under Article 38(1);

• (b) within 24 hours of a request from the Welsh Ministers, such other information (not falling within sub-paragraph (a)) as the Welsh Ministers may reasonably request in relation to the issuing of any ID by the issuing body or the carrying out by the issuing body of its functions under these Regulations or the EU Regulation.

• (2) Following a request in writing from an issuing body, the Welsh Ministers may extend the time within which the issuing body is to provide the information under paragraph (1) to the central database.

• (3) Any extension of time under paragraph (2) must be notified to the issuing body in writing.

• (4) For the purposes of Article 40(1), an issuing body must incorporate the information falling within Articles 28(e) and 38(1) into the central database.

• (5) The Welsh Ministers may issue guidance to issuing bodies about the central database and how to enter information into it.

• (6) The Welsh Ministers may share any data or information held or stored in, or which is to be held or stored in, the central database with the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers and, in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

• (7) In this regulation, “central database” means the database established by the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 39.

PART 3 — Equines living under wild or semi-wild conditions

Exceptions in respect of certain wild or semi-wild equines

16

• (1) The derogation in Article 13 applies in relation to equines that are—

• (a) identified in the lists kept by the Hill Pony Improvement Societies of Wales ; or

• (b) identified in the lists kept by the Cymdeithas Merlod y Carneddau.

• (2) For the purposes of Article 13, as read with Article 43(3), the areas (“designated areas”) defined by the Welsh Ministers containing wild or semi-wild equines that do not need to be identified with IDs while they remain within the designated areas are those areas notified by the Welsh Ministers to the Commission on 17 September 2009.

• (3) For the purposes of Article 13(1), wild or semi-wild equines transferred under official supervision from one of the lists described in paragraph (1) to the other list described in paragraph (1) do not need to be identified with IDs.

• (4) Wild or semi-wild equines living on a designated area must be identified with an ID when they are brought into domestic use.

Requirement for ID and transponder for wild or semi-wild equines treated with veterinary medicinal products

17

If a wild or semi-wild equine without an ID in a designated area is treated with any veterinary medicinal product, the responsible person must ensure that the equine has an ID and is implanted with a transponder—

• (a) in accordance with the EU Regulation; and

• (b) within 30 days of the treatment.

Wild and semi-wild equines: requirement for ID for movement from designated area

18

Subject to regulation 19, the responsible person may not move a wild or semi-wild equine without an ID out of a designated area.

Exception to requirement for ID: wild or semi-wild equines moved for welfare reasons or for slaughter

19

• (1) The responsible person may move a wild or semi-wild equine out of a designated area without an ID if—

• (a) the equine is being moved out of the designated area temporarily and for welfare reasons; or

• (b) the equine—

• (i) is aged under 12 months and has visible dental stars of the temporary lateral incisors;

• (ii) is being moved directly from the designated area in which it was born to a place for slaughter (whether or not for the purpose of human consumption);

• (iii) has not previously been treated with any veterinary medicinal product; and

• (iv) has a sticker issued by an issuing body attached to it before it leaves the designated area, and the sticker must be marked with a unique identification number and the date on which it was attached to the equine.

• (2) The responsible person must ensure that an equine falling within paragraph (1)(b) is slaughtered within 7 days of the date shown on the sticker.

Requirements for wild or semi-wild equines aged 12 months or over moved for slaughter

20

• (1) This regulation applies to a wild or semi-wild equine that is—

• (a) aged 12 months or over; and

• (b) being moved from a designated area to a place for slaughter (whether or not for the purpose of human consumption).

• (2) The responsible person must ensure that the equine has (in addition to an ID) a sticker issued by an issuing body attached to it before it leaves the designated area, and the sticker must be marked with a unique identification number and the date on which it was attached to the equine.

• (3) The responsible person must ensure that an equine falling within paragraph (1) is slaughtered within 7 days of the date shown on the sticker.