Title, extent and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Artificial Insemination of Cattle (Animal Health) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 and shall apply to England and Wales and shall come into force on 6th April 1992.

Amendment of Regulations

2. The Artificial Insemination of Cattle (Animal Health) (England and Wales) Regulations 1985(2) shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of the following regulations.

3. In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)-

(a)after the definition of "cow" there shall be inserted-

""the Directive" means Council Directive 88/407/EEC(3) laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of deep-frozen semen of domestic animals of the bovine species;";

(b)after the definition of "the Minister" there shall be inserted-

""official veterinarian" means a veterinary inspector appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food under the Animal Health Act 1981(4);".

4. In regulation 4 (application of regulations) for paragraph (1) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(1) These Regulations shall not apply to anything done by a permitted person in the course of or for the purpose of the artificial insemination of a cow with raw semen which has been collected from a bull by a permitted person where-

(a)at the time of insemination the cow is-

(i)in the same ownership as the bull from which the semen is collected;

(ii)kept on land occupied by the owner of the bull; and

(iii)comprised in the same herd as the bull; and

(b)at the time of collection-

(i)the bull is not affected by any Order made under section 17, 23, 25, 26 or 29 of the Animal Health Act 1981; or

(ii)the use of the bull's semen is especially authorised by the Minister.".

5. In regulation 7 (licences)-

(a)in paragraph (1) after sub-paragraph (g) there shall be added-

"(h)a special farm storage movement licence.";

(b)after paragraph (9) there shall be inserted the following paragraph-

"(9A) A special farm storage movement licence shall authorise the licensee to move semen or cause or permit semen to be moved from a farm storage unit specified in that licence to another farm storage unit so specified.".

6. After regulation 9 (collection of semen) the following regulation shall be inserted-

"9A-(1) No person shall export to a member State in the Economic Community any semen from a bull unless it meets the conditions set out in article 3 of the Directive.

(2) The animal health certificate referred to in article 3(d) of the Directive shall be completed and signed by an official veterinarian.".

7. In regulation 17 (movement of semen from quarantine) after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph-

"(1A) No person shall export semen to a member State of the Economic Community unless, after a period of 28 days in quarantine, that semen remains in quarantine or is moved to another storage facility for a further two days.".

8. In regulation 18 (acceptance of semen for storage) at the end of sub-paragraph (b)(ii) there shall be added-

• "or

  (iii)

  is collected by or delivered to him in accordance with the conditions of a special farm storage movement licence.".

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Artificial Insemination of Cattle (Animal Health) (England and Wales) Regulations 1985 as follows-

(1) the Regulations will not apply to artificial insemination carried out by a permitted person if, in addition to the conditions already prescribed in respect of the recipient cow, the donor bull is not subject to any Order made under Part II (Disease) of the Animal Health Act 1981 or its semen is especially authorised (regulation 4);

(2) a new licence is added to the list of licences: a special farm storage movement licence permitting the licensee to collect or deliver semen in accordance with the conditions of such a licence (regulations 5 and 8);

(3) the export of bovine semen to a member State must comply with the conditions set out in article 3 of Council Directive 88/407/EEC (OJ No. L194, 22.7.88, p. 10) and the animal health certificate must be completed by an official veterinarian (regulations 3 and 6);

(4) the Regulations require semen to be kept in quarantine for 28 days before it can be moved. In giving effect to paragraph 3(i) of Annex C of the above-mentioned Directive, the Regulations require that semen intended for export to a member State must, for a further two days, remain in quarantine or be moved to the main store (regulation 7).