IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF PIGS RULES *

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 437.78

IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION

OF PIGS RULES *

23rd October, 2015

LEGAL NOTICE 346 of 2015.

(1) The title of these rules is the Identification and

Registration of Pigs Rules.

(2) The scope of these rules is to transpose Council Directive

2008/71/EC on the identification and registration of pigs. These

rules set out the minimum requirements for the identification and

registration of pigs, without prejudice to more detailed Community

rules which may be established for disease eradication or control

purposes.

(3) These rules shall apply without prejudice to Decision 89/

153/EEC and to implementing rules laid down in the Principles

Governing the Organisation of Veterinary Checks on Animals

Entering the Community from Third Countries via Border

Inspection Posts of the Territory of Malta Regulations.

(1) For the purpose of these rules and unless the context

otherwise requires, the following definitions shall apply

"the Act" means the Veterinary Services Act;

"animal" means any animal of the Suidae family, excluding feral

pigs as defined in Article 2(b) of Council Directive 2001/89/EC of

23 October 2001 on Community measures for the control of

classical swine fever;

" c o m p e t e n t a u t h o r i t y " m e a n s t h e Ve t e r i n a r y R e g u l a t i o n

Directorate, or such other authority as may be appointed from time

to time, by notice in the Gazette, to carry out veterinary checks or

any authority to which it has delegated that competence for the

purposes of implementing Council Directive 2008/71/EC;

"holding" means any establishment, construction or, in the case

of an open-air farm, any place in which animals are held, kept or

handled;

"keeper" means any natural or legal person responsible, even on

a temporary basis, for animals;

"the Commission" means the European Commission;

"trade" means trade as defined in point (3) of Article 2 of

Directive 90/425/EEC.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, words and phrases

used in these rules which are not defined herein shall have the same

meaning assigned to them in article 2 of the Act.

(1) (a) The competent authority shall keep an up-to-date

list of all the holdings which keep animals covered by

*These rules have been repealed by Legal Notice 77 of 2025.

these rules and are situated in Malta, specifying the

keepers of the animals; such holdings shall remain on

that list until three consecutive years have elapsed with

no animals on the holding. That list shall also include

the mark or marks which permit the identification of

the holding in accordance with rules 5(2) and 8.

(b) The Commission shall have access to all information

obtained under these rules.

(2) The competent authority may be authorised, in accordance

with the procedure referred to in Article 18 of Directive 90/425/

EEC, to exclude from the list in sub-rule (1)(a) natural persons who

keep one single animal which is intended for their own use or

consumption, or to take account of particular circumstances,

provided that this animal is subjected to the controls laid down in

these rules before any movement.

(1) Any keeper contained in the list provided for in sub-

regulation 3(1)(a) shall keep a register stating the number of

animals present on the holding.

(2) The register shall include an up-to-date record of

movements (numbers of animals concerned by each entering and

leaving operation) at least on the basis of aggregate movements,

stating as appropriate their origin or destination, and the date of

such movements.

(3) The identification mark applied in conformity with rules 5

and 8 shall be stated in all cases.

(4) In the case of pure-bred and hybrid pigs, which are entered

in a herd-book in accordance with Council Directive 88/661/EEC

of 19 December 1988 on the zootechnical standards applicable to

breeding animals of the porcine species, an alternative registration

system based on individual identification allowing the animals to

be identified may be recognised in accordance with the procedure

referred to in Article 18 of Directive 90/425/EEC if it offers

guarantees equivalent to a register.

(5)

(a) Any keeper shall supply the competent authority, upon

request, with all information concerning the origin,

identification and, where appropriate, the destination

of animals which he has owned, kept, transported,

marketed or slaughtered. Information is to be

forwarded in the format and time period requested by

the Director.

(b) Any keeper of animals to be moved to or from a

market or collection centre shall provide a document,

containing details of the animals in question, to the

operator, on the market or in the collection centre, who

is a keeper of the animals, on a temporary basis

Provided that the operator may use the documents

obtained in accordance with sub-rule (2) to carry out

the obligations laid down in sub-rule (4).

(c) The registers and information shall be available on the

holding and to the competent authority, upon request,

for a minimum period of at least three years.

(1) In furtherance of the provisions of the rules, the

following general principles shall be complied with

(a) identification marks shall be applied before animals

leave the holding of birth;

(b) no mark may be removed or replaced without the

permission of the competent authority

Provided that, where a mark has become illegible or

has been lost, a new mark shall be applied in

accordance with this rule;

(c) the keeper shall record any new mark in the register

referred to in rule 4 in order to establish a link with the

previous mark applied to the animal.

(2) Animals shall be marked as soon as possible, and in any

case before they leave the holding, with an ear-tag and, or tattoo

making it possible to determine the holding from which they came

and enabling reference to be made to any accompanying document

which shall mention such ear-tag or tattoo and to the list referred to

in rule 3(1)(a).

(3) The competent authority may delegate its competence to

verify the application of identification marks referred in sub-rules

(1) and (2) to persons or entities it deems suitable to carry out such

activity subject to the same authority’s scrutiny.

(4) The competent authority may, by derogation from the second

sub-paragraph of Article 3(1)(c) of Directive 90/425/EEC, apply

national systems for all movements of animals in Malta. Such

system shall enable the holding from which they came and the

holding on which they were born to be identified. The competent

authority shall notify the Commission of the systems which it

intends to introduce for this purpose. In accordance with the

procedure referred to in Article 18 of Directive 90/425/EEC, the

competent authority may be asked to make amendments to the

system where such system does not fulfil the requirement referred

to in the said Article of Directive 90/425/EEC.

(5) Animals bearing a temporary mark identifying a

consignment shall be accompanied throughout their movement by a

document which enables the origin, ownership, place of departure

and destination to be determined.

(1) Where the competent authority of the Member State of

destination decides not to keep the identification mark allocated to

the animal in the holding of origin, all charges incurred as a result

of replacing the mark shall be borne by that authority. Where the

mark has been so replaced, a link shall be established between the

identification allocated by the competent authority of the Member

State of dispatch and the new identification allocated by the

Member State of destination; that link shall be recorded in the

register provided for in rule 4

Provided that the option in this sub-rule may not be invoked

in the case of animals intended for slaughter which are imported

under rule 8 without bearing a new mark in accordance with rule 5.

(2) Where the animals have been traded, the competent

authority of the Member State of destination may, for the purposes

of Article 5 of Directive 90/425/EEC, have recourse to Article 4 of

Directive 89/608/EEC in order to obtain the information relating to

the animals, their herd of origin and any movement to which they

have been subject.

The competent authority shall ensure that any information

relating to movements of animals not accompanied by a certificate

or a document required by veterinary or zootechnical legislation

remains available to the competent authority, upon request, for a

minimum period to be set by the latter.

Any animal imported in Malta from a third country which

has passed the checks laid down by Directive 91/496/EEC and

which remains within Community territory shall, within thirty days

o f u n d e rg o i n g t h o s e c h e c k s , a n d , i n a n y e v e n t , b e f o r e i t s

movement, be identified by a mark complying with rule 5 unless

the holding of destination is a slaughterhouse situated in Malta and

the animal is actually slaughtered within that thirty-day period

Provided that, a link shall be established between the

identification established by the third country and the identification

allocated to it by the competent authority. That link shall be

recorded in the register provided for in rule 4.

Without prejudice to any other provision of these rules, the

Director shall be empowered to issue additional and stricter

guidelines, as may be required, and which are conducive to

improve the system of registration and identification of pigs.

The Director may, from time to time, issue relative

guidelines in terms of these rules and in terms of the Act. Any

keeper shall be obliged to follow the guidelines issued by the

Director.

(1) Any person who acts in contravention of these rules

shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to

the penalties contemplated in the Act.

(2) Where the Director has reasonable cause to believe that an

offence against these regulations has been committed and that it

would be appropriate to impose an administrative penalty under

article 61 of the Act, the Director shall proceed in accordance with

the provisions of the said article 61 of the Act.