UK Offence Report

The Sheep Scab Order 1992

UK Statutory Instrument 1992 No. 45 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
6 January 1992
In force from
18 January 1992
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlife
Made under
Animal Health Act 1981

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

This Order replaces the Sheep Scab Order 1986 and the Sheep Scab (Amendment) Order 1987. The Order retains sheep scab as a notifiable disease. Where infection is confirmed movement restrictions may be imposed and the owner required to dip his sheep and complete a declaration to that effect. The main provisions of the Order are as follows– 1 Part II contains provisions relating to cases of sheep scab and suspected sheep scab, and includes provisions concerning– a the compulsory notification of sheep scab or suspected sheep scab (Article 3) and preliminary movement restrictions (Article 4); b the declaration as an infected place of places where sheep scab exists or is suspected to exist (Article 5); c rules to be observed in infected places (Article 6); d the investigation by a veterinary inspector into the existence of sheep scab (Article 7); and e requirements at slaughter (Article 8). 2 Part III contains provisions relating to the movement of sheep and includes provisions which– a enable restrictions to be imposed on the movement of sheep where this may give rise to the risk of the spread of sheep scab (Article 9); b empower an inspector, by notice, to require sheep which are affected or suspected of being affected with sheep scab to be removed from markets or places of exhibition (Article 10); and c prohibit the movement of sheep which are affected or suspected of being affected with sheep scab on to, and their grazing on, any common or unenclosed land, unfenced fields or highway (Article 11). 3 Part IV contains provisions which apply in areas which are declared to be infected areas by an order of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Article 12)Part IV includes provisions concerning– a compulsory dipping of sheep in an infected area and specified exemptions (Article 13); b prohibition of the movement of sheep within or out of an infected area subject to exceptions (Article 14); and c an obligation for those responsible for sheep in an infected area to make a declaration to the local authority that the sheep have been dipped or are exempt (Article 15). 4 Part V contains general and supplementary provisions and includes provisions which– a empower an inspector, by notice, to require the owner of sheep which are kept on any common or unenclosed land either to move them off such land and not to move them back on to the land without an inspector’s written approval or to gather them together on some specified part of the land and not to move them from there without such approval (Article 16); b empower the local authority to seize sheep and dispose of such sheep if unable to establish ownership (Article 17); c require a sheep dealer (as defined in the Order) to make a record in a specified form relating to every purchase and sale of sheep by him and to keep such record for a period of 12 months from the date of the purchase or sale to which it relates (Article 18); d enable an inspector to mark sheep (Article 19); e empower an inspector, who has reasonable grounds for supposing sheep have not been dipped as required, to require those sheep to be dipped at a specified place and time and to the inspector’s satisfaction (Article 20); f empower an inspector to require a person who has dipped any sheep in accordance with a requirement contained in the Order to provide a sample of the sheep dip or dipping bath used or to permit an inspector to take such a sample (Article 21); g require dipped sheep moved under the Order to be kept separate from undipped sheep (Article 22); and h empower an inspector to require the cleansing and disinfection of premises used for dipping sheep and of vehicles used for the carriage of sheep (Article 23). 5 The changes of substance are– a reduction in the involvement of inspectors supervising dipping on infected premises; b simplification of the system for licensing movements; c simplification of the infected area provisions. Contravention of the Order is an offence under the Animal Health Act 1981.

Offences created by this instrument

What Parliament said about it

Hansard was searched for this instrument by name and returned nothing. That is the ordinary outcome: an instrument laid under the negative procedure is usually never debated, and becomes law without a word said about it in either House.

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

Check the source