The Deregulation (Slaughterhouses Act 1974 and Slaughter of Animals (Scotland) Act 1980) Order 1996

PART IISLAUGHTERHOUSES ACT 1974

Repeal of slaughterhouse licensing under section 1

2.—(1) Section 1 of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 (which requires slaughterhouses and knackers' yards to be licensed) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) (which penalises the use of premises as a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard unless the occupier is licensed for the purpose)—

(a)in paragraph (a), the words “slaughterhouse or” and “a slaughterhouse or, as the case may be,” shall be omitted; and

(b)in paragraph (b), the words “slaughterhouse or” shall be omitted.

(3) In subsection (3) (separate licensing of certain premises used for the confinement of animals awaiting slaughter in a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard) the words “slaughterhouse or” shall be omitted.

Repeal of powers to make byelaws about slaughterhouses

3.—(1) In section 12(1)(a) of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 (which enables a local authority to make byelaws for securing that slaughterhouses and knackers' yards are kept in a sanitary condition and properly managed) the words “slaughterhouses and” shall be omitted.

(2) In section 16(1) of that Act (powers of local authority in relation to a slaughterhouse provided by it) paragraph (a) (power to make byelaws for securing that the slaughterhouse is kept in a sanitary condition and properly managed) shall cease to have effect.

Repeal of duty to display signs at slaughterhouses and knackers' yards

4.  Section 13 of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 (duty of occupier of licensed slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard to display sign indicating nature of the premises) shall cease to have effect.

Consequential amendments

5.—(1) In section 4(5) of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 (power of local authority to require information about past or present licences under section 1 of the Act on an application for a knacker’s yard licence)—

(a)after “other licence” there shall be inserted “which he has held”;

(b)for “knacker’s yard which he holds or has held” there shall be substituted “which he holds or has held in respect of a knacker’s yard”; and

(c)after “another local authority” there shall be inserted “, or as to any slaughterhouse licence which he holds or has held”.

(2) After section 4(5) of that Act there shall be inserted—

“(6) In subsection (5) above, “slaughterhouse licence” means a licence issued under regulations made by virtue of section 19(1)(b) of the Food Safety Act 1990(1) for the use of any premises as a slaughterhouse.”.

(3) In section 14 of that Act (exception of licensed slaughterhouses from restrictions in local legislation) the existing provision shall become subsection (1), and after that subsection there shall be inserted—

“(2) In this section, “slaughterhouse licence” means a licence issued under regulations made by virtue of section 19(1)(b) of the Food Safety Act 1990 for the use of any premises as a slaughterhouse”.

(4) In section 15(5) of the Act, for “sections 1 to 14” there shall be substituted “section 14”.