Cattle Identification (Notification of Births, Deaths and Movements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Electronic notification

9.—(1) The Department may authorise any person to notify movement of an animal for the purposes of regulation 7 by electronic means.

(2) An authorisation under this regulation—

(a)shall be in writing, may be made subject to such conditions as may be specified in the authorisation and may be amended, suspended or revoked by notice in writing at any time; and

(b)shall specify the format in which the data is to be transmitted and the method of transmission.

(3) Where a keeper is authorised under this regulation to notify movement of any animal by electronic means, any notification he gives pursuant to that authorisation shall contain the same information in relation to that movement and be delivered to the Department within the same time limits as would be required in the case of a notification by notification document under regulation 7.

(4) The Department shall maintain a register of persons authorised under and for the purposes of this regulation and the information which the register contains shall be made available to any person who applies to the Department in writing and is able to show that he has a legitimate interest in acquiring this information.

(5) The Department may make a reasonable charge (up to and including the full economic cost) for the provision of information under paragraph (4).

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (4), a person has a “legitimate interest” in acquiring information under that paragraph if it is relevant to his business or profession or, in the case of a charity, consumer organisation or similar body, to that body’s particular interest.