Livestock movements, identification and tracing: cattle - enforcement
- Enforcement action
- Cattle restricted to the holding
- If more than 20% of cattle are not correctly identified
- Cattle failing to meet any of the legal identification and tracing requirements
Enforcement action
Enforcement action may be required to follow up on suspicions or evidence that the laws relating to cattle identification and record keeping have not been met. Inspectors have the powers to impose individual and herd restrictions, and to carry out compulsory slaughter should keepers fail to identify their animals.
Cattle restricted to the holding
If inspectors find any difference between an animal’s eartag, passport and its entry in the Herd Register, they have the powers to lift the passport and place the animal under an individual movement restriction.
Animals placed under a movement restriction will lose eligibility for export to the EU or third country and may have their SPS payment withheld.
The movement restriction will be lifted as soon as the animal is correctly identified. This will be when the keeper notifies the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) that the corrections have been made and when BCMS have corrected and returned the animal’s passport.
If more than 20% of cattle are not correctly identified
If, at the end of the inspection, 20% of the cattle on a holding do not comply with the cattle identification regulations, a restriction can be placed on all cattle moving “off” or “on” to the holding.
Any animal that has a Whole Herd Movement Restriction imposed upon it will lose its eligibility for export to the EU and third countries (countries outside the EU) and may have their SPS payment withheld.
BCMS must be notified once the discrepancy rate has been bought below 20%. Once the BCMS have been notified that discrepancies have been corrected they will lift the restriction
If the keeper moves any animals that have been placed under a Whole Herd
Movement Restriction, BCMS will take further action which may result in
prosecution.
.
The rules by which movement restrictions are used can be found in Articles
2, 3 and 4 of Commission Regulation
494/98.
Cattle failing to meet any of the legal identification and tracing requirements
If cattle which do not meet any of the legal requirements for identification and tracing are found, the keeper will receive a notice requiring that animal to be fully identified.
The notice to identify informs the keeper that if no action to identify the animal is taken within 48 hours, the inspector will return and will give Notice of Removal of Cattle for Compulsory Slaughter to destroy the animal under veterinary supervision and without compensation.
Page last modified:
30 November, 2007
Page published: 12 February, 2007