Title, extent and commencement

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003 and apply to England only.

(2) Regulation 2(3) and regulation 2(1) (to the extent that it applies to regulation 2(3)) come into force on 6th January 2005.

(3) The remainder of these Regulations come into force on 6th January 2004.

Amendment of the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995

2. —(1)The Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 are amended in accordance with the remaining paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In Schedule 1 (the licensing of slaughtermen), the following is added after sub-paragraph 9(2)—

“ (3) Any person whose licence has been suspended or revoked under sub-paragraph (1) above shall, whether or not that suspension or revocation is the subject of an appeal pursuant to paragraph 11 below, surrender it to the Agency within 14 days of receipt of a notice informing him of the suspension or revocation. ” .

(3) In Schedule 4 (restraint of animals before stunning, slaughter or killing), the following is substituted for sub-paragraph 6(2)(c)—

“ (c) no bird is suspended for more than 3 minutes in the case of a turkey or 2 minutes in other cases before being stunned or killed. ” .

(4) In Schedule 6 (bleeding or pithing of animals), sub-paragraphs 2(3) and 2(4) are deleted.

(5) In Schedule 9 (slaughter or killing methods for the purpose of disease control), the following is added after subparagraph 2(f)—

“ (g) for birds, a pneumatic or cartridge operated percussive device producing immediate death, provided that nothing more is done to a bird before it has been ascertained that the bird is dead. ” .