The Cattle Identification Regulations 1998

Replacement eartags

6.—(1) The appropriate Minister shall be the competent authority for the purposes of Article 4.5 of the Council Regulations, and any person who either removes or replaces an eartag (or an eartag attached under the cattle tagging Orders) without permission in contravention of that Article or Article 4.4 of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) If a keeper of cattle (other than the operator of a slaughterhouse) discovers that an eartag applied under these Regulations has become illegible or has been lost, he shall, within 28 days of the discovery, replace it with an eartag of the same type and bearing the same number, and failure to do so shall be an offence.

(3) If a keeper of cattle discovers that an eartag applied under the provisions of the cattle tagging Orders has become illegible or has been lost, he shall, within 28 days of the discovery, either re-tag it with another single tag, or shall re-tag it with double tags in accordance with these Regulations, and any person failing to do so shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) If an animal brought in from another member State, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands tagged in accordance with the Council Regulation loses an eartag the keepers shall, within 28 days of the discovery, re-tag it either—

(a) using a replacement tag from the place where it was originally tagged and using the same number, or

(b) using two new eartags approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,

and any person failing to do so shall be guilty of an offence.