The Zoonoses and Animal By-Products (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

Statutory salmonella testing of poultry breeding flocks is carried out under a new Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Scheme Order, which came into operation on 13 April 2007.  This Order implements, in respect of poultry breeding flocks, two new EU Regulations for the monitoring and control of salmonella in poultry and pigs.  The new Order sets out in national legislation the EU requirement for a UK National Control Plan (NCP).  The NCP outlines steps to be taken to improve salmonella control in poultry breeding flocks across the UK.  In Northern Ireland the collection of official control samples under the Scheme is overseen by DARD’s Veterinary Service and the official samples are tested by the Agri-Food Biosciences Institute (AFBI).

DARD has for the past 15 years charged fees to recover the full cost of official salmonella testing in the poultry industry.  However, since the introduction of the new EU Regulations, which applied from 1 January this year, the fees that were charged under the previous Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Scheme have lapsed.

A new fees regulation is needed so that Government is able to recover costs associated with the new Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 and the Animal By-Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

The format of the proposed Regulations is slightly changed compared to the fees regulation that was associated with the previous Poultry Breeding Flocks and Hatcheries Scheme.  The proposed new Regulations give the Department the powers to charge fees at an appropriate level on the basis of certain criteria. The fees will be published on the DARD website and will not appear on the face of the Regulations themselves. This will allow the fees to be revised in future without the need for a new Statutory Rule and so it will be easier to update the fees in line with inflation and other increases in costs.

The deadline for responses is 2 October 2007.