Statutory Instruments of the Scottish Parliament

"cattle passport" has the same meaning as in the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998[2];

"Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/1997" means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/1997 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals[3];

"holding" means any establishment, construction or, in the case of an open-air farm, any place in which cattle are held, kept or handled;

"identity of the animal" means the ear tag or tattoo number given in accordance with-

(a) the Bovine Animals (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995[4];

(b) the Bovine Animals (Identification, Marking and Breeding Records) Order 1990[5];

(c) the Tuberculosis (England and Wales) Order 1984[6];

(d) the Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 1984[7]; or

(e) the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998;

"inspector" means a person appointed to be an inspector for the purposes of these Regulations by the Scottish Ministers or a local authority;

"keeper" means any person responsible for an animal, whether on a permanent or on a temporary basis, including during transportation or at a market but does not include any person who is only a keeper because that person is transporting the animal;

"local authority" means a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994[8];

"Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000" means Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulatio n (EC) No. 820/97[9].

    (2) Any document issued by the Scottish Ministers under these Regulations shall be in writing, may be made subject to conditions and may be suspended, amended or revoked by notice at any time.

    (3) Paragraph (2) above does not apply to regulations 3 and 8 below.

Competent authority and agency arrangements
     3.  - (1) The Scottish Ministers shall be the competent authority in relation to Scotland to whom reports shall be made in accordance with the second indent of Article 7.1 of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 for cattle to which these Regulations apply.

    (2) The Scottish Ministers may, with the agreement of another competent authority, arrange for any of their functions under Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000, Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2629/1997 or under these Regulations to be exercised on their behalf by that other competent authority as agent for the Scottish Ministers.

    (3) Such an arrangement shall be in writing and be signed by or on behalf of the Scottish Ministers and the competent authority concerned and may be subject to such conditions (including conditions as to financial arrangements) as may be agreed from time to time.

Notifications
     4. All notifications under these Regulations shall be sent or delivered in such form and manner as the Scottish Ministers may from time to time require.

Registration of cattle born before 1st July 1996
     5.  - (1) A keeper of cattle held in Scotland which-

(a) were born before 1st July 1996; and

(b) are not already registered with the Scottish Ministers, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the National Assembly for Wales on a voluntary basis,

shall register them with the Scottish Ministers before 29th January 2001.

    (2) The keeper shall provide to the Scottish Ministers the following information in such form and manner as the Scottish Ministers may from time to time require:-

(a) its identity;

(b) its sex;

(c) its date of birth (if the exact date of birth is not known, the approximate date if known);

(d) its breed; and

(e) its country of origin, if known.

    (3) The Scottish Ministers shall issue a certificate of registration and movement cards in relation to each animal registered under paragraph (1) above.

    (4) The keeper shall keep the certificate of registration, but if-

(a) the animal is sold, the keeper shall give the certificate to the buyer; and

(b) the animal dies or is slaughtered, the keeper shall send the certificate to the Scottish Ministers in accordance with regulation 9 below.

Notification of location of cattle not previously registered for movement purposes
     6.  - (1) The keeper of all cattle issued with cattle passports without movement cards and not already registered with the Scottish Ministers, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the National Assembly for Wales whether on a voluntary basis or otherwise shall, before 29th January 2001, notify the Scottish Ministers of the holding on which they are kept.

    (2) Notification under this regulation shall be in such form and manner as the Scottish Ministers may from time to time require.

    (3) The Scottish Ministers shall issue a movement card in respect of each animal notified under paragraph (1) above.

Movement of cattle born before 28th September 1998
     7.  - (1) This regulation shall apply to all cattle born before 28th September 1998 which have been issued with movement cards.

    (2) The notification of movement (in accordance with the second indent of Article 7.1 of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000) in the case of cattle to which this regulation applies shall be-

(a) by the keeper attaching to the movement card of the animal concerned a bar code label identifying the keeper's holding as provided for that purpose by the Scottish Ministers (or, if that is not practicable, by the keeper writing on the movement card the holding number, the address of the holding and the name of the keeper);

(b) by the keeper indicating on the movement card whether the movement is on or off a holding (or, in the case of a keeper who is a market operator, by that operator indicating on the movement card that the animal has moved through the market);

(c) by the keeper entering the date of the movement on the movement card;

(d) by the keeper signing it; and

(e) by the keeper posting it to the Scottish Ministers within 7 days of the movement.

    (3) If an animal to which this regulation applies is transferred to a new keeper, the previous keeper shall give all unused movement cards relating to that animal to the new keeper.

    (4) No person shall move cattle on to or off a holding on or after 29th January 2001 unless that person notifies the Scottish Ministers of the movement on a movement card in accordance with paragraph (2) above.

Electronic notification of movement
     8.  - (1) Where the Scottish Ministers authorise any person to notify movement by electronic means, that authorisation-

(a) shall be in writing;

(b) may be made subject to conditions;

(c) may be amended, suspended or revoked by notice in writing at any time; and

(d) shall specify the format in which the data shall be transmitted and the method of transmission.

    (2) Notification by electronic means shall be made within the period specified for postal notification.

    (3) The Scottish Ministers shall maintain a register of persons authorised under this regulation which shall be available to any person on request.

    (4) The Scottish Ministers may make a reasonable charge for the provision of information from the register kept under this regulation.

Notification of death
     9. In the case of cattle born before 1st July 1996, the keeper shall notify death in accordance with the second indent of Article 7.1 of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 by recording the date of death and the holding on which the animal died on the registration certificate issued by the Scottish Ministers for that animal and sending it to the Scottish Ministers within 7 days of the date of death.

Powers of inspectors
     10.  - (1) An inspector shall, on producing, if required to do so, some duly authenticated document showing that person's authority, have the right at all reasonable hours to enter any land or premises (other than domestic premises not being used in connection with these Regulations) for the purposes of ascertaining whether there is or has been any contravention of these Regulations; and in this regulation "premises" includes any place, installation, vehicle, ship, vessel, boat, craft, hovercraft or aircraft.

    (2) An inspector shall have powers to carry out all checks and examinations necessary for the enforcement of Title I of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000, and in particular may-

(a) collect, pen and inspect any cattle, and may require the keeper to arrange for the collection, penning and securing of cattle;

(b) examine any records in whatever form, and take copies of those records;

(c) remove and retain any documents and records relating to the matters covered in these Regulations;

(d) have access to, and inspect and check the operation of, any computer and any associated apparatus or material which is or has been used in connection with records, and require any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the computer, apparatus or material to afford the inspector such assistance as that person may reasonably require;

(e) where records are kept by means of a computer, require the records to be produced in a form in which they may be taken away; and

(f) be accompanied by a representative of the European Commission acting for the purposes of Title I of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 or any other person as considered necessary for the enforcement of these Regulations.

Powers to restrict movements
     11.  - (1) If there is a contravention of these Regulations, in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 22.1 of Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000, the Scottish Ministers may serve a notice on a keeper of cattle to which these Regulations apply and which are on a holding, restricting the movement of cattle to or from the holding if that officer is satisfied that this is necessary for the proper enforcement of Article 7.1, second indent of that Regulation.

    (2) If there is a contravention of these Regulations, the Scottish Ministers shall be the veterinary authority and the competent authority for the purposes of Article 1.2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 494/98 (laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 as regards the application of minimum administrative sanctions in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals)[10].

Obstruction
     12.  - (1) No person shall-

(a) intentionally obstruct any person acting in the execution of these Regulations;

(b) without reasonable cause, fail to give to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require for the purposes of functions under these Regulations, or fail to comply with any notice served under these Regulations; or

(c) furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any information which is known to be false or misleading.

    (2) Nothing in paragraph (1)(b) above shall be construed as requiring any person to answer any question or give any information if to do so might incriminate that person.

Offences by bodies corporate
     13.  - (1) Where an offence under these Regulations committed by a body corporate or a partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity (or, in the case of a partnership, a partner or a person who was purporting to act as such), that person as well as the body corporate or the partnership, as the case may be, shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

    (2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) above shall apply in relation to the acts or defaults of a member in connection with the functions of management of that member as if that member were a director of the body corporate.

Offences and penalties
     14.  - (1) A person contravening or failing to comply with regulation 12(1)(a) or (b) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both.

    (2) A person contravening or failing to comply with any other provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and liable-

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment not exceeding three months or to both;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

Enforcement
     15. These Regulations shall be enforced by the Scottish Ministers or the local authority.


ROSS FINNIE
A member of the Scottish Executive

St Andrew's House, Edinburgh
8th January 2001

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, implement in relation to Scotland the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 concerning older cattle.

They require cattle born before 1st July 1996 (which is when the first cattle passports were issued) which are not already registered on a voluntary basis to be registered before 29th January 2001 (regulation 5).

They require notification of the location of all cattle (which are held in Scotland) with passports without movement cards not already registered and provide for the issue of movement cards (regulation 6). In relation to cattle born before 28th September 1998 (which is when the passports with movement cards were first issued), these Regulations require notification to the Scottish Ministers when these animals are moved. They also provide for the use of electronic notification of movement as an alternative to notification using movement cards, and for a register of approved users of electronic notification (regulations 7 and 8).

They also make provision for the notification of the death of cattle born before 1st July 1996 (regulation 9).

They make provision for powers of inspectors (regulation 10) and provide for an officer of the Scottish Ministers to impose movement restrictions for cattle to which the Regulations relate where there has been a contravention of these Regulations (regulation 11).

They make provision in relation to obstruction of inspectors (regulation 12) and for offences by Scottish partnerships and bodies corporate (regulation 13). Failure to comply with the Regulations is an offence punishable as specified in regulation 14.

They are enforced by the Scottish Ministers or the local authority (regulation 15).

The database and the register of approved users of electronic mail is maintained on a Great Britain wide basis by The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS), Curwen Road, Workington, Cumbria CA14 2DD. Regulation 3(2) and (3) allows the Scottish Ministers to arrange with the BCMS for it to carry out, on an agency basis, such relevant functions as may be agreed in arrangements made for that purpose.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies can be obtained from Scottish Executive Rural Development Department, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY.

[1] 1972 c.68; section 2(2) was amended by the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46), Schedule 8, paragraph 15(3). The function conferred upon the Minister of the Crown under section 2(2) of the 1972 Act, insofar as within devolved competence was transferred to the Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the Scotland Act.back

[2] S.I. 1998/871 as amended by S.I. 1998/1796, 1998/2969 and 1999/1339.back

[3] O.J. No. L 354, 30.12.97, p.19.back

[4] S.I. 1995/12.back

[5] S.I. 1990/1867, as amended by S.I. 1993/503.back

[6] S.I. 1984/1943.back

[7] S.I. 1984/2063.back

[8] 1994 c.39.back

[9] O.J. No. L 204, 11.8.2000, p.1.back

[10] O.J. No. L 60, 28.2.98, p.78.back

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