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The Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997

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Route plans

13.—(1) This article shall apply in relation to horses (other than registered horses), cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, where the animals are traded between member States or exported to third countries, provided that the journey time exceeds 8 hours.

(2) If there is more than one transporter for a journey, the provisions of this article shall be complied with by the person consigning the animals for the whole period of the journey.

(3) A transporter who intends to transport animals on a journey to which this article applies shall draw up on paper and sign a route plan which is in a form approved by the Minister containing the information set out in Schedule 11 and which covers the whole period of the journey.

(4) The transporter shall submit the signed route plan with his application for an export health certificate to the person appointed by the Minister to receive such documents for the area in which the journey will begin.

(5) If he is satisfied that the proposed journey is in compliance with the provisions of this Order, the person appointed by the Minister shall mark on the route plan the number or numbers of the export health certificates of the animals, stamp the route plan and ensure that it is returned to the transporter with the signed health certificate.

(6) No person shall transport animals on a journey to which this article applies unless he has received from the person appointed by the Minister a duly stamped route plan which relates to those animals and that journey.

(7) The transporter shall ensure that the original copy of the route plan is attached to the export health certificate and accompanies the consignment throughout the journey.

(8) The transporter shall ensure that, where the journey exceeds the time limits set out in Schedule 7, the transport of the animals is not begun unless—

(a)reservations have been made at all stopping or transfer points specified in the route plan, and he has received written confirmation of the reservations, and

(b)steps have been taken to meet the animals’ need for food and liquid during the journey, including contingency plans for when the route plan is changed or where the journey is interrupted for reasons beyond his control.

(9) The transporter shall ensure that the person in charge of the animals during the journey endorses on the route plan the times and places at which the animals transported are fed and watered during the journey, and that this information is written on the route plan at the time such feeding and watering takes place.

(10) Both the transporter of the animals and the person in charge of the animals during the journey shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the route plan is complied with.

(11) When the journey is completed, the person who signed the route plan when it was originally submitted shall either—

(a)certify in writing on the route plan that it was complied with during the journey, or

(b)if it was not complied with, shall describe on the route plan the actual journey, together with the reasons for the route plan not being complied with, and

shall send it within 15 days of completion of the journey to the person referred to in paragraph (4) above, and shall keep proof that it was sent and of the date on which it was sent for a period of 6 months.

(12) The transporter shall keep a second copy of the route plan for a period of 6 months from completion of the journey, and shall produce it on demand at the request of an inspector and allow copies to be taken.

(13) In the case of exports direct to third countries from Great Britain, where the journey time within the European Union exceeds 8 hours, or where the animals are being exported to third countries by sea and the total travelling time exceeds 8 hours, the transporter—

(a)shall ensure that the route plan is certified (by means of stamp and signature) at the point of departure from Great Britain by a veterinary inspector after he has checked that the animals are fit to continue their journey, and

(b)within 15 days of the completion of the journey, sends back the route plan to the person referred to in paragraph (4) above.

(14) If a transporter is a limited company, the route plan shall be signed by a director of that company or a person wthin the company nominated by him in writing to act on behalf of the company.

(15) In this article, in relation to the transport of registered horses, it shall be for the transporter to prove if required by an inspector that the animals being transported are registered.

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