Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Artificial Insemination of Cattle (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 13th June 2005.

Amendment of the Artificial Insemination of Cattle Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1988

2.  The Artificial Insemination of Cattle Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1988(3) shall be amended as provided in regulations 3 to 5.

Interpretation

3.  Regulation 2(1) shall be amended as follows –

For the definition of “the Directive” there shall be substituted –

““the Directive” means Council Directive 88/407/EEC(4) laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of deep frozen semen of domestic animals of the bovine species, as amended by –

Licences to store semen

4.  In regulation 5 of the principal Regulations there shall be inserted at the end –

“(6) The holder of a storage centre licence shall not accept semen originating outside Northern Ireland unless it has been imported in accordance with statutory provisions regulating such imports.”.

Licence to operate a quarantine storage depot

5.  For regulation 6(2)(b) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph –

“(b)which has been imported in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Department under Article 6(1) of the Artificial Reproduction of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1975 or Article 4 of the Landing of Carcases and Animal Products Order (Northern Ireland) 1985(9) or the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004(10) or the Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005(11) and is processed by means of all the processes listed at (a) to (e) in the definition of “processing.””.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Artificial Insemination of Cattle Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1988 (“the 1988 Regulations”).

They implement for Northern Ireland Council Directive 2003/43/EC (amending Directive 88/407/EEC laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of semen of domestic animals of the bovine species) (O.J. No. L143, 11.6.2003, p. 23 and O.J. No. L194, 22.7.1988, p. 10) which imposes additional testing requirements for donor bulls and for semen intended for intra-Community trade.

These additional testing requirements are set out in the amended Annexes to Directive 88/407.

The requirements of both Directives are implemented principally by regulations 5(5) and 8(4) of the 1988 Regulations which require compliance with Article 3 of “the Directive”.

Regulation 3 of these Regulations amends the definition of “the Directive” in regulation 2(1) of the 1988 Regulations so that it means Directive 88/407 as amended by Directive 2003/43/EC.

Regulation 4 prescribes the requirements for the acceptance by the holder of a storage centre licence of semen originating outside Northern Ireland.

Regulation 5 updates the licensing requirements for operators of quarantine storage depots.