The Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Wales) Regulations 2006

Assembly centres and slaughterhouses E+W

12.—(1) Any person operating an assembly centre must do so in accordance with this regulation.

(2) The assembly centre is to be approved by the National Assembly and given a number, and approval may only be given if the National Assembly is satisfied that—

(a) in the case of an assembly centre used for cattle or pigs, the centre complies with the requirements of paragraphs (a) to (d) of Article 11(1) of Council Directive 64/432/EEC;

(b) in the case of an assembly centre used for sheep or goats, the centre complies with the requirements of paragraphs (a) to (d) of Article 8a(1) of Council Directive 91/68/EEC; and

(c) the operator of the assembly centre has agreed to comply with the requirements for the operation of the centre which an inspector has specified in an operational agreement as being the requirements the inspector believes are necessary to ensure the centre is capable of being operated in accordance with the second indent of Article 3(2) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC.

(3) The operator of an assembly centre may admit to those premises only animals that are identified and come from herds or flocks that are eligible for intra-Community trade.

(4) Where animals are consigned to an assembly centre, the operator of the assembly centre must—

(a) ensure that no animal is admitted unless it complies with Article 3(1) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC; and

(b) record on a register—

(i) the name of the owner, the origin, date of entry and exit, number of the animals, and their proposed destination;

(ii) the registration number of the transporter and the licence number of the vehicle delivering or collecting animals from the centre;

(iii) in the case of cattle, the identification of the animals or the registration number of the holding of origin as well as the information in paragraphs (i) and (ii);

(iv) in the case of pigs, the registration number of the holding of origin or of the herd of origin as well as the information in paragraphs (i) and (ii); and

(v) in the case of sheep or goats, the identification of the animals, or the registration number of the holding of origin of the animals, and, where applicable, the approval or registration number of any assembly centre through which the animals have passed prior to entering the centre as well as the information in paragraphs (i) and (ii),

and must preserve each such record in the register for a minimum of three years.

(5) Where animals are consigned to a slaughterhouse under the supervision of an official veterinary surgeon qualified in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 854/2004 to act in such a capacity and appointed as such by the Food Standards Agency (in this paragraph and paragraph (6) “the official veterinary surgeon”), the official veterinary surgeon must ensure that no animal is slaughtered unless it complies with Article 3(1) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC.

(6) If, in carrying out inspections under the preceding paragraph, the official veterinary surgeon establishes that animals imported from another member State are accompanied by incorrect certification or cannot readily be identified, he or she must forthwith notify a veterinary inspector authorised by the National Assembly to receive that notification, who must examine the animals and must either—

(a) certify that they are fit to be slaughtered and used for their intended purpose; or

(b) by notice served on the official veterinary surgeon require the animals to be slaughtered and destroyed or re-exported, in each case at the expense of the importer.

(7) Where paragraphs (4) and (5) do not apply, any person who markets any animal consigned to that person from another member State, or divides up batches of such animals for distribution or marketing—

(a) must check, before any animal is marketed or any batch is divided up, that all the animals comply with the relevant provisions of an instrument in Part I of Schedule 3, with respect to identification marks and required consignment documentation;

(b) must immediately notify any irregularity or anomaly to a veterinary inspector authorised by the National Assembly to receive such notification; and

(c) if there is a breach of Article 3(1)(d) of Council Directive 90/425/EEC, must isolate the animals in question until a veterinary inspector authorised by the National Assembly to do so has authorised their release in writing.