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It is an offence under section 5(1) and (2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (c.45) to do the following to animals protected by that Act:
(a) carry out a prohibited procedure;
(b) cause the carrying out of a prohibited procedure; or
(c) in specified circumstances, permit another person to carry out a prohibited procedure .
A prohibited procedure is one which involves interference with the sensitive tissues (e.g. skin) or bone structure of the animal, otherwise than for the purpose of its medical treatment (see section 5(3) of the Act).
These Regulations specify the procedures to which the offences in section 5(1) and 5(2) do not apply. Depending upon the animals to which they are to be applied, such procedures may include those for the purposes of:
(a) identification (such as ear tagging);
(b) the control of reproduction (such as castration and vasectomy); and
(c) other purposes (such as laparoscopy) (Schedule 1).
For certain of these procedures, and again depending upon the animals in respect of which they are permitted, Schedules 2 to 9 apply restrictions to the carrying out of the procedure (such as specifying a required age for the animal, or requiring the administration of an anaesthetic).
In respect of certain procedures permitted to be applied to pigs, these Regulations implement paragraph 8 of Chapter I of the Annex to Council Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs (OJ No. L340, 11.12.1991, p.33), as amended by Council Directive 2001/88/EC (OJ No. L316, 1.12.2001, p.1), Commission Directive 2001/93/EC (OJ No. L316, 1.12.2001, p.36) and Council Regulation (EC) No. 806/2003 (OJ No. L122, 16.5.2003, p.1). In respect of the beak trimming of laying hens, these Regulations implement paragraph 8 of the Annex to Council Directive 1999/74/EC laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens (OJ No. L203, 3.8.1999, p.53), as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 806/2003 (OJ No. L122, 16.5.2003, p.1).
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