PREVENTION OF DISEASE AMONGST ANIMALS REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 36.20

PREVENTION OF DISEASE AMONGST ANIMALS

REGULATIONS

6th October, 1967

LEGAL NOTICE 63 of 1967, as amended by: Legal Notice 52 of 1972;

Act XIII of 1983; and Legal Notices 59 of 1998 and 407 of 2007.

PART I

PRELIMINARY

The title of these regulations is the Prevention of Disease

amongst Animals Regulations.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires -

"department" means the Department of Agriculture;

"Director" means the Director of Agriculture and includes any

officer of the department duly authorised by him to act on his

behalf;

"Minister" means the Minister from time to time in charge of the

department;

"foreign animals’ wharf" means the wharf at Ras }an\ir in the

Grand Harbour or such other place as the Minister may from time

to time appoint by notice in the Gazette;

"Ordinance" means the Prevention of Disease Ordinance;

"observation" means the isolation of animals in the quarantine

station;

"quarantine station" means the Lazzaretto in the Marsamxett

Harbour, the Foreign Animals’ Wharf or such other place as may be

appointed by the Minister from time to time by notice in the

Gazette.

(2) Words and expressions which occur in the Ordinance and

which are not otherwise defined in these Regulations shall have the

same meaning as is assigned to them by article 2 thereof.

PART II

FOREIGN ANIMALS

The master or any other officer of any ship or aircraft

arriving in Malta shall answer truly and in writing, all such

questions for the purposes of these Regulations as are put to him by

the port medical officer, any government veterinary surgeon or any

revenue officer.

(1) No animals shall be imported into Malta from any

country whatsoever without a written permission from the Director

having been previously obtained to that effect.

(2) The Director may defer consideration of importation

applications, so as to obtain official information about the

existence or otherwise of disease in the exporting country.

(1) The importation of animals from any country

whatsoever where, in the opinion of the Director, anthrax, cattle

plague (rinderpest), epizootic lymphangitis, foot and mouth

disease, glanders and farcy, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia,

rabies, sheep pox, swine fever, Newcastle disease, or myzomatosis

exists shall be prohibited.

(2) The importation of swine over three months of age from

countries where, to the knowledge of the Director, cysticercosis

(cyst cellulosae infestation) trichinellosis exists among swine, shall

also be prohibited.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2) of this regulation, the Director may -

(a) grant permission for the importation of animals

required for breeding purposes, subject to such

precautionary measures to prevent the introduction of

disease as he may consider necessary, and

(b) grant permission for the importation of animals from

countries where anthrax is not epidemic, subject to

such restrictions as he may impose.

(4) When the Director has reason to believe that there is

danger of tuberculosis infection being brought into Malta by cattle

imported from any country, he may, by notice published in the

Gazette -

(a) prohibit the importation of animals of any specified

species, breed and sex from any such country; or

(b) require that any animal imported from any specified

country be accompanied by a certificate from the

country of origin to the effect that such animal has

been tested and found free from tuberculosis to the

satisfaction of the certifying authority.

Animals imported into Malta shall be accompanied by a

certificate from the diplomatic or consular representative of the

Government of Malta in the country of origin or by a person

serving in a diplomatic, consular or other foreign service of any

country which, by arrangement with the Government of Malta, has

undertaken to represent that government’s interests in that country,

or by a person authorised in that behalf by the Prime Minister, or,

in the absence of such persons, from the competent local

government authority, in the English, Italian or French language,

stating which animal diseases, if any, exist in the country of origin,

the exact number and the state of health of the animals shipped and

the date of shipment.

The Director may subject any foreign animal on arrival to

observation and to any necessary process or test to ascertain

whether such animal is infected with disease at the expense of its

owner.

(1) Healthy foreign animals shall be landed at the Foreign

Animals’ Wharf.

(2) Infected or suspected foreign animals shall be landed at the

quarantine station.

(3) Horses, mules and asses imported from countries where, to

the knowledge of the Director, disease is prevalent among equines,

shall be landed at the quarantine station and shall be kept under

observation until the government veterinary surgeon is satisfied

that they are not infected with disease.

The Director may require importers of animals to water

and feed the animals imported as soon as he deems it necessary

after their landing.

(1) Applications for permission to import animals in

accordance with the provisions of regulation 4 shall be made on

forms supplied by the department and shall be accompanied by

such documentary evidence as the Director may require in support

of the application.

(2) Such provision shall also apply to applications for the

extension of permits already granted.

(1) Importation permits shall be in duplicate and shall be

signed by the Director and countersigned by the person to whom

the permit is granted.

(2)

Importation permits are not transferable.

No animals shall be slaughtered during observation

Provided that -

(a) the Director may permit animals to be slaughtered for

urgent reasons, and

(b) when for any good and sufficient reason he considers

that an animal should be slaughtered, the Director may

so direct, whereupon the animal shall be slaughtered

by and at the expense of its owner.

No person other than persons who are actually engaged in

tending the animals or cleaning their pens or places of observation

may enter pens or places of observation

Provided that the Director may allow importers of animals

which are under observation to have access to their animals during

such time as may be fixed by him.

Every person when leaving a pen or place in which animals

are or have been recently kept under observation shall cleanse and

disinfect himself in the manner prescribed by the government

veterinary surgeon.

(1) Fodder and litter brought in the same ship with

animals shall not be landed.

(2) No partly consumed or broken fodder, litter, dung or

manure may be removed from the quarantine station unless it has

been well mixed with quicklime and the government veterinary

surgeon is satisfied that on removal it will be effectually kept away

from contact with animals.

(3) If in the opinion of the government veterinary surgeon such

articles, if taken out of the quarantine station, may be the cause of

disease, their owner shall deal with them in accordance with the

g o v e r n m e n t v e t e r i n a r y s u r g e o n ’s i n s t r u c t i o n s a n d t o h i s

satisfaction.

PART III

PREVENTION OF SPREAD OF DISEASE

Whenever it appears to a government veterinary surgeon

that a disease exists in any stable, field or other place, he shall

forthwith order such place to be isolated and may detail one or

more health guards for this purpose.

On a place being declared infected with disease in

accordance with the provisions of article 71 of the Ordinance -

(i)

the place infected with disease shall be kept in

isolation;

(ii) no person shall leave such place, and no animal

or other thing shall be removed therefrom,

without the permission of the government

veterinary surgeon;

(iii) any animal which has been removed from or

allowed to go out of such place shall be liable to

be removed to the quarantine station;

(iv) any person who shall leave such place without

the permission of the government veterinary

surgeon shall be liable to be forthwith removed

to the quarantine station to be disinfected, or, if

so ordered by the Minister, shall be kept there

under observation for such period as the Director

may deem necessary.

Any animal which is affected or suspected of being

affected with disease, or which the government veterinary surgeon

finds to have been directly or indirectly in contact with diseased or

suspected animals, may be removed to the quarantine station and

kept there under observation for such period as the Director may

deem necessary or until it is otherwise disposed of in accordance

with the law

Provided that, in the case of any animal found to have been

directly or indirectly in contact with diseased or suspected animals,

such animal may be isolated in such other place as the Director may

order.

It shall not be lawful to bury the carcass of any animal of

the bovine, ovine, caprine or equine species or of any swine,

without the permission of the government veterinary surgeon, or to

remove, without such permission, any fodder, litter, utensils or

other things from any place in which any animal of the species

referred to in this regulation had died.

The Director may give such directions as he may deem

necessary for the removal, burial or disposal of the carcass of any

animal.

The Director may order the cleansing and disinfection of

any infected ship, aircraft, place or area or any part or parts thereof,

and the disinfection of any person coming into contact with or

employed about diseased or suspected animals.

PART IV

GENERAL

(1) The fee for the escort, expense of conveyance to, and

maintenance of animals in the quarantine station, shall be at the

charge of the owner or of any other person for the time being in

charge of such animals.

(2) The maintenance charge at the quarantine station shall be

from twenty-three cents (0.23) to eighty-two cents (0.82) per diem

per animal as may be requested by the Director having regard to the

size of the animal, which charge shall be payable every fortnight.

(3) In default of payment of such charge within four days from

the date on which it falls due, it shall be lawful for the Director to

cause the animal to be destroyed.

The Director shall not be responsible for anything that

might happen to the animal during its stay in any quarantine station

except for causes due to the wilful negligence of the detaining

authority.