The Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Order 1993

Title and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Order 1993 and shall come into force on 30th August 1993.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act” means the Animal Health Act 1981;

“breeding flock” means any flock of poultry consisting of at least 250 birds of a single species which are kept or reared on a single holding or the production of hatching eggs;

“the Breeding Flocks Register” means the register kept by the appropriate Minister under article 3(2);

“building” includes a shed and a part of a building separated from other parts of that building by a solid partition and having its own ventilation system;

“chicks” means poultry less than 72 hours old which have not been fed;

“chick box liner” means any material used to line a box or other container in which chicks are transported from a hatchery to any rearing premises;

“composite faeces sample” means a sample of faeces consisting of a number of individual samples of faeces calculated in accordance with the appropriate provisions of Part I of Schedule 2 each of which weighs not less than 1 gram and is taken from a site selected at random to represent the building or group of buildings on the holding from which it is taken;

“domestic fowl” means birds of the species Gallus gallus;“the Hatcheries Register” means the register kept by the appropriate Minister under article 4(2);

“hatchery” means any premises, with a total incubator capacity of not less than 1,000 eggs, on which the eggs of poultry are incubated or hatched and from which chicks are sold or supplied;

“hatching eggs” means eggs intended for incubation;

“laboratory” means any laboratory authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of this Order which has the necessary facilities and personnel for carrying out tests on samples mentioned in Parts I and II of Schedule 2 in accordance with the provisions of Part III of that Schedule;

“the Ministry” means the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

“poultry” means domestic fowls, turkeys, geese or ducks;

“premises” includes land;

“rearing premises” means any holding on which chicks are placed for rearing as replacement breeding stock.

(2) Any reference in this Order to a numbered article or Schedule is a reference to the article or Schedule bearing that number in this Order.

(3) The provisions of this Order shall not apply in the case of a breeding flock or hatchery which is kept solely for the production of hatching eggs for use in the manufacture of vaccines or for research or other scientific purposes.

Registration of breeding flocks

3.—(1) Within 3 months of this Order coming into force, any person owning a breeding flock shall procure that his name is entered in the Breeding Flocks Register.

(2) The appropriate Minister shall keep, for the purpose of paragraph (1) above, a register of persons as being persons owning a breeding flock on a holding in respect of which their names are entered in the register.

(3) Where a person makes an application in writing to the appropriate Minister for his name to be entered in the Breeding Flocks Register in respect of any holding the appropriate Minister shall, subject to paragraph (4) below, enter his name in the Breeding Flocks Register in respect of that holding and shall issue to the applicant a certificate of such registration.

(4) A person making an application under paragraph (3) above shall supply to the appropriate Minister in his application all the particulars specified in Part I of Schedule 1.

(5) A person whose name is entered in the Breeding Flocks Register in respect of any holding shall, within 28 days of each anniversary of the date of such registration, notify the appropriate Minister in writing of any change in the particulars previously notified to him.

(6) The registration of the name of a person in the Breeding Flocks Register in respect of any holding shall remain in force for an unlimited period, except that, where a person so registered has notified the appropriate Minister in accordance with paragraph (5) above of a change in the particulars previously notified and that change consists of a reduction in the number of birds kept in the breeding flock to less than 250, the appropriate Minister shall revoke such registration unless that person informs the appropriate Minister inwriting, within 28 days of the anniversary of the date of such registration, that he anticipates that the number of such birds which will be kept by him on the holding will increase to 250 or more during the 12 months following the anniversary of such registration.

Registration of hatcheries

4.—(1) Within 3 months of this Order coming into force, any person using any premises as a hatchery shall procure that his name is entered in the Hatcheries Register in respect of those premises.

(2) The appropriate Minister shall keep, for the purpose of paragraph (1) above, a register of persons as being persons using as a hatchery any premises in respect of which their names are entered in the register.

(3) Where a person makes an application in writing to the appropriate Minister for his name to be entered in the Hatcheries Register in respect of any premises the appropriate Minister shall, subject to paragraph (4) below, enter his name in the Hatcheries Register in respect of those premises and shall issue to the applicant a certificate of such registration.

(4) A person making an application under paragraph (3) above shall supply to the appropriate Minister in his application all the particulars specified in Part II of Schedule 1.

(5) A person whose name is entered in the Hatcheries Register in respect of any premises shall, within 28 days of each anniversary of the date of such registration, notify the appropriate Minister in writing of any change in the particulars previously notified to him.

(6) The registration of the name of a person in the Hatcheries Register in respect of any premises shall remain in force for an unlimited period, except that, where a person so registered has notified the appropriate Minister in accordance with paragraph (5) above of a change in the particulars previously notified and that change consists of a reduction in the total incubator capacity of the premises to less than 1,000 eggs, the appropriate Minister shall revoke such registration unless that person informs the appropriate Minister in writing, within 28 days of the anniversary of the date of such registration, that he anticipates that the total incubator capacity of the premises will increase to 1,000 eggs or more during the 12 months following the anniversary of such registration.

Taking of samples from breeding flocks of domestic fowl for bacteriological testing for salmonella

5.  It shall be the duty of a person in respect of any holding of his on which a breeding flock of domestic fowl is kept and of the person in charge of any such holding to ensure that—

(a) samples are taken in respect of the flock in such manner as is specified in Part I of Schedule 2 and at such times as are so specified;

(b) such samples are identified in such a manner as to enable the laboratory to which they are submitted to know what type of samples they are, the date on which they were taken, the name of the owner or person in charge of the breeding flock, the address of the holding on which the breeding flock is kept and the building (if any) on that holding from which they were taken;

(c) such samples (other than those required to be taken under the supervision of an officer of the Minister) are dispatched, within 48 hours of being taken, to a laboratory for testing (at his expense) for the presence of salmonella in accordance with an appropriate bacteriological method set out in Part III of Schedule 2; samples shall be kept in a refrigerator at between 1 degree C and 4 degrees C if they are not so dispatched within 24 hours of being taken; and

(d) in the case of samples required to be taken under the supervision of an officer of the Minister they are given to him after being so taken for testing by the Minister for salmonella in accordance with such a bacteriological method.

Taking of samples from hatcheries for bacteriological testing for salmonella

6.  It shall be the duty of a person in respect of any hatchery of his where eggs of domestic fowl are incubated or the person in charge of any such hatchery to ensure that—

(a) samples are taken from the hatchery in such manner as is specified in Part II of Schedule 2 and at such times as are so specified;

(b) such samples are identified in such a manner as to enable the laboratory to which they are submitted to know what type of samples they are, the date on which they were taken, the name of the person owning or in charge of the hatchery from which they were taken, the address of that hatchery and the address of the holding from which the hatching eggs from which the samples were obtained were supplied to the hatchery;

(c) such samples (other than those required to be taken under the supervision of an officer of the Minister) are dispatched, within 48 hours of being taken, to a laboratory for testing (at his expense) for the presence of salmonella in accordance with an appropriate bacteriological method set out in Part III of Schedule 2; samples shall be kept in a refrigerator at between 1 degree C and 4 degrees C if they are not so dispatched within 24 hours of being taken; and

(d) in the case of samples required to be taken under the supervision of an officer of the Minister, they are given to him after being so taken for testing by the Minister for salmonella in accordance with such a bacteriological method.

Bacteriological testing of samples from breeding flocks and hatcheries and reporting of results of tests

7.—(1) It shall be the duty of the person in charge of a laboratory to which a sample has been submitted under article 5(c) or 6(c) to ensure that—

(a) the sample is tested for the presence of salmonella in accordance with an appropriate bacteriological method set out in Part III of Schedule 2;

(b) the result of such a test is reported in writing as soon as practicable to the person who submitted the sample; and

(c) where, as a result of an examination carried out in accordance with such a bacteriological method, salmonella is isolated from the sample, that a subculture is sent to the Lasswade Veterinary Laboratory of the Ministry situated at Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland or a Veterinary Investigation Centre of the Ministry in England or Wales.

(2) If a person to whom a report is made under paragraph (1)(b) above is not the owner of the breeding flock or the hatchery (as the case may be), he shall immediately pass that report to the owner.

Tampering with samples

8.—(1) Except as provided for in this Order, no person shall treat or otherwise tamper with any sample which has been taken for the purposes of this Order.

(2) For the purposes of this article a person shall be deemed to have treated a sample if he does anything in relation to it which is likely to affect the result of the test required to be carried out under this Order.

Keeping of records

9.  A person who owns or is in charge of any breeding flock or hatchery containing, in either case, domestic fowl or their eggs shall—

(a) keep a record containing the information specified in Part I of Schedule 3 of any sample taken in respect of the breeding flock or hatchery (as the case may be) in accordance with article 5(a) or 6(a) (as appropriate);

(b) keep a record of the result of any test carried out on a sample in accordance with articles 5(c) or 6(c) (as appropriate) which has been reported to him in accordance with article 7;

(c) keep a record containing the information specified in Part II of Schedule 3 of the movement of any domestic fowl or their chicks or eggs onto and off the holding on which the breeding flock is kept;

(d) keep a record containing the information specified in Part III of Schedule 3 of the movement of any eggs of domestic fowl onto and off the premises used as a hatchery and of the movement of any chicks of domestic fowl off such premises;

(e) retain any such record for a period of 1 year from the date on which the sample was taken, or from the date of the test or from the date on which the movement took place (as the case may be);

(f) produce any such record to an inspector or officer of the appropriate Minister on demand being made by such person at any reasonable time during that period and allow a copy of it or an extract from it to be taken.

Prohibition on vaccination

10.  No person shall vaccinate any domestic fowl with any vaccine which is likely to affect the result of any test carried out under this Order on any sample taken from the domestic fowl, except under the authority of a licence issued by a veterinary inspector and in accordance with any conditions subject to which the licence is issued.

Powers of Ministers in cases of default

11.  If any person fails to take any action required to be taken by him under any of the provisions of this Order, an inspector of the Minister may, without prejudice to any proceedings arising out of such default, take, or cause to be taken, such action and the amount of any expenses reasonably incurred by him in doing so shall be recoverable by the appropriate Minister from the person in default.

Local authority to enforce Order

12.  The provisions of this Order shall, except where otherwise expressly provided, be executed and enforced by the local authority.

Revocation

13.  The Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries (Registration and Testing) Order 1989(1) and the Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries (Registration and Testing) (Amendment) Order 1990(2) are revoked.

In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is hereunto affixed on 22nd July 1993.

L.S.

Gillian Shephard

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Hector Monro

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office

22nd July 1993

John Redwood

Secretary of State for Wales

23rd July 1993