17. An officer of the Welsh Ministers may enter any premises on which animals are kept (whether or not in a control zone or restricted zone) for the purposes of monitoring or surveillance for the bluetongue virus or antibodies to the bluetongue virus.
18. No person may vaccinate an animal against bluetongue unless authorised by the Welsh Ministers.
19. A notice served under this Order must be complied with at the expense of the person on whom it is served, and if it is not complied with an inspector may arrange for it to be complied with at the expense of that person.
20. An inspector or officer of the Welsh Ministers who enters premises under this Order may take with him or her—
(a) a vehicle;
(b) any equipment; and
(c) such other person as is appropriate.
21. No person may—
(a) damage, interfere with or remove any traps set for midges under this Order; or
(b) deface, obliterate or remove any mark made by any person under this Order.
22.—(1) A person moving anything under the authority of a specific licence granted under this Order must—
(a) keep the licence or a copy of it with him or her at all times during the licensed movement;
(b) on demand by a veterinary inspector or other officer of the Welsh Ministers or by an inspector, produce the licence or copy and allow a copy or extract to be taken.
(2) A person moving anything under the authority of a general licence granted under this Order must—
(a) carry, at all times during the movement, a consignment note that contains details of—
(i) what is being transported, including the quantity;
(ii) the date of the movement;
(iii) the name of the consignor;
(iv) the address of the premises from which the movement started;
(v) the name of the consignee;
(vi) the address of the premises of destination;
(b) on demand by a veterinary inspector or other officer of the Welsh Ministers or by an inspector, produce the consignment note and allow a copy or extract to be taken.
23. Licences granted in England or Scotland for activities which could be licensed in Wales under this Order have effect in Wales as if they were licences granted under this Order.
24.—(1) Any person required to give reasonable assistance or information to a person acting under this Order must, unless he or she has reasonable cause, do so without delay.
(2) No person must provide information which he or she knows to be false or misleading to a person acting under this Order.
25.—(1) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under this Order, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of—
(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar person of the body corporate; or
(b) any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,
that person is guilty of the offence as well as the body corporate.
(2) For the purposes of this article, “director”, in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.
26.—(1) This Order is enforced by the local authority.
(2) The Welsh Ministers may direct, in relation to cases of a particular description or to particular cases, that they will enforce this Order instead.
27. The following are revoked—
(a) the Bluetongue (Wales) Order 2003 (except for article 19)(7), and
(b) the Bluetongue (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2007(8).
Rhodri Morgan AM
The First Minister for Wales, one of the Welsh Ministers
5.05 p.m 2 November 2007
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order continues to implement Council Directive 2000/75/EC laying down specific provisions for the control and eradication of bluetongue. It revokes and remakes the Bluetongue (Wales) Order 2003 (“the 2003 Order”) in order to enforce Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1266/2007.
The Order provides that references to the Commission Regulation are references to it as amended from time to time.
The principal change to the 2003 Order is that movement licences in zones controlled or restricted for the purposes of bluetongue control must be in accordance with the Commission Regulation rather than the Commission Decision that it replaces.
Part 2 of the Order provides for the reporting of symptoms of bluetongue and for the establishment of control zones and restricted zones. Unlike in the previous Order, these zones can now be of a size appropriate for the control of bluetongue. It controls the movement of animals from those zones. It also provides for the separation of a restricted zone into a protection zone and a surveillance zone, and controls movement between these zones.
It provides for surveillance for bluetongue (article 17) and prohibits vaccination against bluetongue without the consent of the Welsh Ministers (article 18).
Part 3 makes provision for enforcement.
It is enforced by the local authority.
Failure to comply with this Order is an offence under section 73 of the Animal Health Act 1981.
A regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared for this Order.