MILCH ANIMALS REGULATIONS

MILCH ANIMALS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 36.32

MILCH ANIMALS REGULATIONS

5th December, 1989

LEGAL NOTICE 151 of 1989.

The title

of

these

Regulations

is

Milch

Animals

Regulations.

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires -

"Director" means the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries and

includes any officer of the department duly authorised by the

Director to act on his behalf;

"to fatten" means to keep from the weaning to the slaughtering

stage;

"to rear" means to breed and rear up to the slaughtering stage and

includes the selling of weaned animals;

"to keep" includes to rear, to fatten and to milk;

"animal" means a female animal or milker of the bovine, ovine or

caprine species and includes a male animal of the same species, and

male and female offspring thereof;

"government veterinary surgeon" means a veterinary surgeon in

the employment of the government;

"farm" includes any dairy farm, farmhouse, cowshed, raw milk

store and any place in which milch animals are kept.

(1) For the purposes of ensuring the prevention of spread

of disease amongst animals, the Director shall keep a register of

farms and of any person who works therein.

(2) It shall be the duty of every person who keeps a farm, or

who works or is employed therein, to register himself and the farm

he works at, or keeps, with the Director, and no person shall keep

animals in, or work on, such farm unless he and the farm he works

in are so registered.

Any registration made under the preceding regulation shall

be valid up to the 31st day of December of the year in which it is

made, but may be renewed from year to year under such conditions

as the Director may prescribe.

Every application for the registration of a farm shall be

made by the keeper of such farm, and shall be accompanied by a

site-plan showing the place and its surrounding area within a

distance of two hundred metres from the perimeter of the farm.

No person shall move or cause any animal to be moved

from a registered farm to any other place or to an abattoir, unless he

has previously obtained permission in writing from the Director to

MILCH ANIMALS

that effect.

Every keeper of a farm shall keep a farm book, in such

form as the Director shall require, in which shall be entered details

of the number and type of animals being kept in the farm and any

addition or reduction in their numbers, as well as any details of

identification, together with the relative dates.

(1) No person registered as aforesaid in these Regulations,

shall acquire animals, for any purpose, from any person who is not

registered under regulation 3 of these Regulations.

(2) Any animal on a farm registered in accordance with

regulation 7 shall be identified by tattooing, or by freezebranding,

or by ear tagging, or by any other method to the satisfaction of the

Director.

(1) Any person who keeps bovines shall register all

relative births with the Director within ten days of birth.

(2) Any person who keeps ovines or caprines shall register all

animals that are being kept for breeding within three months of

their birth.

Immediately the death of a registered animal occurs, the

death shall either be reported to the Director, or certified by a

registered veterinary surgeon.

(1) No person may carry out artificial insemination in

animals unless the Director is satisfied that such person is qualified

to carry out such insemination and is registered by the Director for

that purpose.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, a person shall be

deemed to be qualified if he passes an oral and practical test in the

subject to the satisfaction of the Director.

(1) For the purposes of prevention of spread of disease,

the Director may -

(a) by notice in the Gazette limit or prohibit the sale or

movement of animals, to or from any part of these

Islands;

(b) require any person registered as aforesaid in these

Regulations to give all information concerning the

movements of animals to or from his farm, and all

relative sales and purchases;

(c) at any reasonable time enter any shed or other place

where he has reasonable grounds for supposing that

animals are kept, for the purpose of -

(i)

inspecting the animals kept therein; or

(ii)

subjecting the animals to any tests necessary for

the diagnosis of disease; or

(iii) taking samples of blood or other material from

animals for the purposes of diagnosis of disease;

or

(iv) marking of animals in such a way as he

MILCH ANIMALS

considers expedient for the purpose of their

identification, or as provided in regulation 8(2);

or

(v)

vaccinating the animals.

(2) It shall be the duty of any person registered as aforesaid in

these Regulations to provide all necessary assistance to the

Director for the proper discharge of his functions under sub-

regulation (1) of this regulation.

Where, after such investigation as he considers necessary,

the Director is satisfied that a farm is free from disease, he may

issue a certificate to the keeper of such farm to that effect and,

thereafter, such keeper shall not introduce into the farm any other

animal which is not certified by a government veterinary surgeon to

be free from disease.

(1) Where in the opinion of the Director all farms in any

area in Malta and Gozo have been certified by him to be free from

disease in accordance with the provisions of regulation 13, the

Director may issue a notice to that effect in the Gazette.

(2) Where such notice has been issued, no person shall

introduce into such area any animal unless such animal is certified

by a government veterinary surgeon to be free from disease.

Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of

the provisions of these Regulations, or with any direction given

thereunder, or who hinders or obstructs the Director from doing

anything that he may lawfully do under the provisions of these

Regulations, shall be guilty of an offence against Part II of the

Prevention of Disease Ordinance, and the provisions of Title III of

Part III of the said Ordinance shall apply.