S.L. 437.81 Art. 9Protection zone.

(1)(a) The Veterinary Services shall take all the necessary provisions to ensure that, once the diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease has been officially confirmed, a protection zone based on a minimum radius of three kilometres and a surveillance zone based on a minimum radius of ten kilometres is established around the infected holding.

(b) The definition of zones shall take account of natural boundaries, supervision facilities and technological progress which makes it possible to foresee the possible dispersion of the virus by air or any other means and will have to be reviewed, if necessary, in the light of such elements.

(2) (a) The following measures shall be applied in the protection zones:

(i) a census of all the holdings with animals of susceptible species must be carried out,

(ii) holdings which are the subject of such a census must periodically undergo a veterinary inspection,

(iii) animals of susceptible species may not be removed during the first fifteen days from the holding on which they are kept except to be transported directly under official supervision for the purpose of emergency slaughter to a slaughterhouse located in that zone or, if that zone has no slaughterhouse under veterinary supervision, to a slaughterhouse designated by the competent authority. Such movement may be authorised by the competent authority only after examination by the official veterinarian of all the animals of susceptible species on the holding has ruled out the presence of suspected animals;

(iv) itinerant service for breeding shall be prohibited;

(v) artificial insemination shall be prohibited during the first fifteen days except where it is carried out by the farmer with sperm that is on the farm or with sperm delivered directly by an insemination centre;

(vi) fairs, markets, shows or other gatherings of susceptible animals, including collection and distribution, shall be prohibited;

(vii) without prejudice to the case provided for in the second sentence of sub-paragraph (iii), the transport of animals of susceptible species shall be prohibited, except for transit by major highways or mainline railways.

(b) The measures applied in the protection zone shall be maintained for at least fifteen days after elimination of all the animals referred to in rule 5 from the holding and the carrying out on that holding of preliminary cleaning and disinfection operations in accordance with rule 10. However, the measures described in sub-rule (3) for the surveillance zone shall remain in force in the protection zone for the period provided for in sub-rule (3)(b).

(3) (a) The following measures shall be applied in the surveillance zone:

(i) a census shall be taken of all holdings having animals of susceptible species;

(ii) the movement of animals of susceptible species on public roads shall be prohibited except for the purpose of leading them to pasture;

(iii) the transport of animals of susceptible species within the surveillance zone shall be subject to the authorisation of the competent authority;

(iv) the animals may not be removed from the surveillance zone during the first fifteen days. Between the fifteenth day and the thirtieth day, the animals may not be removed from the said zone except to be transported under official supervision directly to a slaughterhouse for the purpose of emergency slaughter. Such transport may be authorised by the competent authority only after the official veterinarian has carried out an examination of all the animals concerned and confirmed that none of the animals is suspected of being infected;

(v) itinerant service for breeding shall be prohibited;

(vi) fairs, markets, shows and other gatherings of susceptible animals shall be prohibited.

(b) The measures in the surveillance zone shall be kept in force for at least thirty days after the elimination of all the animals referred to in rule 5 from the holding and the carrying out on that holding of preliminary cleaning and disinfection operations in accordance with rule 10.