The Heads of Sheep and Goats Order (Northern Ireland) 1996

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order.)

This Order requires that heads removed from the carcases of sheep or goats shall be consigned to certain specified premises and disposed of as if they were specified bovine material (Article 4). To this end various provisions of the Specified Bovine Material (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 are applied in relation to the heads of sheep and goats as they apply to specified bovine material (Article 4).

The Order also regulates the rendering of whole carcases of sheep and goats (Article 3) and the importation of sheep and goat heads from Great Britain (Article 5). It also imposes certain requirements in relation to the keeping of records (Article 6).

Any person who without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes any provision of the Order shall be guilty of an offence against the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. The penalty on summary conviction is in the case of an offence committed in relation to carcases or other inanimate things, a fine at level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000) together with a further fine at level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000) in respect of every 508 kilogrammes in weight of the carcases or other things after the first 508 kilogrammes.