S.L. 437.98 ст. 4Trading or placing on the market of animals. 6 [ 7 S.L. 449.43 8 [

(1) Animals cannot be traded or placed on the market unless they are identified and registered in accordance with

Community rules and Maltese legislation. All animals and products of animal origin originating therefrom intended for trade or placed on the market shall have to be compliant with the national and Community health and zootechnical requirements at all stages of production and trade.

(2) The competent authority shall implement the following inspection measures on arrival of animals also in transit in the territory of Malta:

(a) the competent authority may, at entry points, control posts and, or at the places of destination of animals and products thereof, establish by means of non-discriminatory veterinary spot checks that animals and products being traded are compliant with all the relevant national and Community health and zootechnical requirements; it may take samples at the same time. S.L.437.98 LAID DOWN IN SPECIFIC COMMUNITY ACTS Furthermore, checks may also be carried out during the transport of animals and products thereof in its territory where the competent authority has information leading it to suspect an infringement of the rules;

(b) furthermore, where the animals originating in another State are intended -

(i) for an approved market or assembly centre as defined by Community rules, the operator thereof shall be responsible for the admission of animals not meeting the requirements of these rules. The competent authority must check, by means of non-discriminatory inspections of the certificates or documents accompanying the animals, that the animals meet the said requirements;

(ii) for a slaughterhouse placed under the supervision of an official veterinarian, the latter must ensure, in particular on the basis of the certificate that only animals that meet the requirements of this rule are slaughtered. The operator of the slaughterhouse shall be responsible for slaughtering animals which do not meet the requirements of this rule;

(iii) for a registered dealer who divides up the consignments or for any establishment not subject to permanent supervision, such dealer or establishment shall be regarded by the competent authority as the consignee of the animals and shall be responsible for the movement and, or trade of animals which do not meet the requirements of this rule;

(iv) for holdings, centres or organizations including, where the consignment is partly unloaded during transport, each animal or group of animals must be accompanied by the original health certificate or accompanying document until it reaches the consignee mentioned therein.

(3) The consignees referred to in sub-rule (2)(b)(iii) and (iv) must:

(a) be registered in an official register before starting to trade;

(b) keep a record of all consignments and deliveries. before any consignment is divided up or subsequently marketed, and check that the identification marks, certificates or documents are present;

(c) notify the competent authority of any irregularity or anomaly and, in the latter case, isolate the animals in question until the competent authority has taken a decision regarding them;

(d) keep records of the subsequent destination of the animals and products of the divided consignments. S.L.437.98 LAID DOWN IN SPECIFIC COMMUNITY ACTS [

(4) The records referred to in sub-rule (3) shall be preserved for a period of three years and the consignee shall make them available on request by the competent authority. The competent authority shall carry out random checks to verify compliance with these rules.

(5) All the consignees appearing on the certificates or accompanying document -

(a) shall, at the request of the competent authority and to the extent necessary to carry out the checks referred to in the this rule, report in advance the arrival of animals and products thereof from another Member State and, in particular, the nature of the consignment and the anticipated arrival date. This limit is established as not less than forty-eight hours in accordance with the provisions of the Trading Regulations;

(b) shall keep, for a period of six months, the copies of the original health certificates or accompanying documents for presentation to the competent authority, on request, of the animals or products thereof.

(6) Animals referred to in rules 5 to 10 may, without prejudice to rule 13 and to the particular provisions to be adopted in implementation of rule 24, be the subject of trade only if they satisfy the conditions laid down in rules 5 to 10 and come from the holdings or businesses, referred to in rule 12(1) and (3), which are registered by the competent authority and which undertake to:

(a) have the animals held examined regularly in accordance with Community and Maltese legislation and animal health programmes that are decided by the Director;

(b) notify the competent authority, aside from the outbreak of notifiable diseases, of the outbreak of the diseases referred to in Schedule B for which the competent authority has drawn up a control or monitoring programme;

(c) comply with the specific measures to control a disease which is of particular importance to Malta and is covered by a programme drawn up in accordance with rule 14 or a decision under rule 15(2);

(d) place on the market for the purposes of trade only animals which show no signs of disease and which come from holdings or areas not subject to any ban on animal health grounds and with respect to animals not accompanied by a health certificate or a commercial document provided for in rules 5 to 11, only animals accompanied by self-certification by the operator stating that the animals in question do not at the time of dispatch show any obvious signs of disease and that his holding is not subject to any animal-health restrictions; and

(e) comply with the requirements ensuring the welfare of the animals held in accordance with Community and Maltese legislation, or in line with national guidelines S.L.437.98 LAID DOWN IN SPECIFIC COMMUNITY ACTS where such legislation is not available.