Law of the People’s Republic of China on Animal Epidemic Prevention
Promulgation date: 08-30-2007 Department: Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Effective date: 01-01-2008 Subject: Animal Husbandry
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Order of the President (No.71)
The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Animal Epidemic Prevention was revised and adopted at the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on August 30th, 2007. The revised version is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of January 1st, 2008.
President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao
August 30th, 2007
Law of the People’s Republic of China on Animal Epidemic Prevention
(Adopted at the 26 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 8th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on July 3, 1997 and revised at the 29 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10 th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on August 30 th, 2007)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Prevention of Animal Epidemics
Chapter III Reporting, Informing and Announcing of Animal Epidemic Situation
Chapter IV Control and Elimination of Animal Epidemics
Chapter V Quarantine of Animals and Animal Products
Chapter VI Animal Diagnosis and Treatment
Chapter VII Supervision and Administration
Chapter VIII Safeguard Measures
Chapter IX Legal Liabilities
Chapter X Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purpose of strengthening administration of animal epidemic prevention, preventing, controlling and eliminating animal epidemics, promoting the development of the breeding industry, protecting human health and safeguarding public health safety.
Article 2 This Law shall apply to animal epidemic prevention, supervision and management activities conducted within the borders of the People’s Republic of China.
The entry and exit quarantine of animals and animal products shall be governed by the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Quarantine on Animals and Plants.
Article 3 The term "animals" as mentioned in this Law refers to livestock and poultry as well as other animals that are artificially raised or are legally captured.
The term "animal products" as mentioned in this Law refers to animals’ meat, peltry, raw hair, fine hair, viscera, fat, blood, semen, eggs, embryos, bones, hoofs, heads and muscles as well as milk and eggs that may transmit animal epidemics.
The term "animal epidemics" as mentioned in this Law refers to infectious and parasitic animal diseases.
"Animal epidemic prevention" as mentioned in this Law includes the prevention, control and elimination of animal epidemics as well as the quarantine of animals and animal products.
Article 4 In light of the harmfulness of animal epidemics to production of the breeding industry and to human health, the epidemics under control as prescribed by this Law are grouped into the following three categories:
(1) Category I includes epidemics that menace human beings and animals so seriously that urgent and severe compulsory measures must be taken to prevent, control and eliminate them;
(2) Category II includes epidemics that are liable to cause heavy economic losses and call for strict measures to control and eliminate them, and to prevent them from spreading;
(3) Category III includes epidemics that are common and frequently-occurring, and are liable to cause heavy economic losses and need to be controlled and for which sterilization is necessary.
The catalogues of the specific diseases under the three categories of epidemics as mentioned above shall be worked out and issued by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
Article 5 The State practices the principle of putting prevention first with regard to animal epidemics.
Article 6 The people’s governments at or above the county level shall provide unified leadership with regard to the work related to animal epidemic prevention, make more efforts in building grassroots animal epidemic prevention teams, establish animal epidemic prevention systems and constantly improve then, and work out animal epidemic prevention and control programs and organize their implementation.
The people’s governments at the township level and urban sub-district offices shall organize the masses to do a good job in assisting the animal epidemic prevention and control work within their respective jurisdictions.
Article 7 The veterinary administrative department under the State Council shall be in charge of the animal epidemic prevention work in the whole country.
The administrative departments of veterinary under the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall be in charge of the animal epidemic prevention in their respective administrative regions.
Other departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall do a good job in animal epidemic prevention within their respective scope of duties.
The functional department of animal health supervision in the army and that in armed police forces shall be in charge of their respective epidemic prevention among animals in active service and animals raised for their own use.
Article 8 Animal health supervision institutions established by the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with this Law, take charge of the quarantine work of animals and animal products and other supervision, management and law enforcement work related to animal epidemic prevention.
Article 9 The people’s governments at or above the county level shall, pursuant to the provisions of the State Council and in accordance with the principles of overall planning, reasonable layout and comprehensive arrangement, establish animal epidemic prevention and control institutions to monitor, detect and diagnose animal epidemics, make epidemiological investigation, report epidemic situation and take charge of other prevention/control-related technical work.
Article 10 The State encourages and supports conducting scientific research and international cooperation and exchange in animal epidemic prevention, promoting the wide use of advanced scientific research achievements, popularizing scientific knowledge about animal epidemic prevention, and improving the scientific and technological level in this field.
Article 11 The people’s governments at various levels and the relevant departments shall award entities and individuals that have made achievements or contributions in animal epidemic prevention and the scientific research in this field.
Chapter II Prevention of Animal Epidemics
Article 12 The veterinary administrative department under the State Council shall make risk assessment on animal epidemics and work out corresponding animal epidemic prevention and control measures based on the assessment results.
The veterinary administrative department under the State Council shall, in light of the animal epidemic situation at home and abroad and the need for protecting the production of the breeding industry and human health, draw up and announce technical norms for animal epidemic prevention in good time.
Article 13 The state implements compulsory immunization for animal epidemics that seriously harm the production of the breeding industry and human health. The catalogue of animal epidemics that are subject to compulsory immunization and that of regions concerned shall be worked out and issued by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council, which shall also work out a state compulsory immunization plan together with other relevant departments under the State Council.
The veterinary administrative department of the people’s government of any province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government shall, in light of the state compulsory immunization plan, work out a compulsory immunization plan for this administrative region, and may add new animal epidemic diseases that shall be subject to compulsory immunization or expand the region concerned, but the addition or the expansion shall be carried into force after it is approved by the people’s government at the same level and shall also be reported to the veterinary administrative department under the State Council for record.
Article 14 The veterinary administrative departments of the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall organize the implementation of their respective compulsory immunization plans. The people’s governments at the township level and urban sub-district offices shall organize entities and individuals raising animals within their respective jurisdictions to do a good job in compulsory immunization.
Entities and individuals raising animals shall fulfill the compulsory immunization obligation according to law and do a good job in this field in light of the requirements of the competent veterinary administrative department.
Animals which have been compulsorily immunized shall be put on archives in accordance with the provisions of the veterinary administrative department under the State Council and the label for livestock and poultry shall be tagged thereon. Traceable management shall be exercised in this aspect.
Article 15 The people’s government at or above the county level shall establish an animal epidemic monitoring network to strengthen the monitoring over animal epidemics.
The veterinary administrative department under the State Council shall work out a state animal epidemic monitoring plan. While the veterinary administrative departments of the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in light of the state animal epidemic monitoring plan, work out the animal epidemic monitoring plans for their respective administrative regions.
Animal epidemic prevention and control institutions shall supervise the occurrence and prevalence of animal epidemics in accordance with the provisions of the veterinary administrative department under the State Council, and entities and individuals engaging in the breeding, slaughter, trading, isolation or transportation of animals and those engaging in the production, trading, processing or storage of animal products may not refuse or impede such supervisory activities.
Article 16 The veterinary administrative department under the State Council and those under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall give early warnings of animal epidemics according to the forecasting on the occurrence or prevalence trend of animal epidemics. The local people’s governments at various levels shall take corresponding prevention or control measures after receiving the early warnings.
Article 17 Entities and individuals engaging in the breeding, slaughter, trading, isolation or transportation of animals and those engaging in the production, trading, processing or storage of animal products shall do a good job in immunization, sterilization and other animal epidemic prevention-related work.
Article 18 Breeding animals, dairy animals and pets shall satisfy the health standards prescribed by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
Breeding and dairy animals shall be subject to the inspection conducted by animal epidemic prevention and control institutions on a regular basis. If any animal is found unqualified, it shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
Article 19 Animal farms (breeding lots), isolation sites, animal slaughter and processing workshops and places for harmless treatment of animals and animal products shall satisfy the following conditions for animal epidemic prevention:
1. the distance between any of such sites and any residential area, source of drinking water, school, hospital or any other public place shall satisfy the standards prescribed by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council;
2. the producing area shall satisfy the requirements on animal epidemic prevention in terms of blockade, isolation, engineering design and technological flow;
3. having corresponding equipment and facilities for harmless treatment of sewage, feculence, animals which died of illness and infectious animal products, and facilities for cleaning and sterilization;
4. having technical personnel good at animal epidemic prevention;
5. having a sound animal epidemic prevention system; and
6. satisfying other animal epidemic prevention conditions as determined by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
Article 20 To establish an animal farms (breeding lot), isolation site, animal slaughter and processing workshop or place for harmless treatment of animals and animal products, an application attached with the relevant materials shall be filed with the veterinary administrative department of the local people’s government at or above the county level. The veterinary administrative department accepting the application shall examine it pursuant to the provisions of this Law and the Administrative License Law of the People’s Republic of China. If it satisfies the relevant requirements, an acceptance certificate on satisfying animal epidemic prevention requirements shall be issued to the applicant; if it fails to satisfy the requirements, the applicant shall be notified and reasons shall be given. Where it is necessary to handle the industrial and commercial registration formalities, the applicant shall handle such formalities at the administrative department of industry and commerce upon the strength of the acceptance certificate.
The acceptance certificate shall bear the applicant’s name and plant location, etc.
Markets trading animals and animal products shall satisfy the animal epidemic prevention conditions as specified by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council and be subject to the supervision and inspection of animal health supervision institutions.
Article 21 The means of delivery, cushion materials, packaging materials and containers for animals and animal products shall meet the requirements for animal epidemic prevention as set by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
Epidemic-infected animals and their excrement, products of epidemic-infected animals, carcass of animals that died of illness or of uncertain causes and the excrements, cushion materials, packing and containers in the means of delivery must be handled according to the relevant regulations of the veterinary administrative department under the State Council, and may not be disposed of at will.
Article 22 State provisions on the administration of pathogenic microorganism laboratories shall be observed in collecting, storing and transporting animal pathologic materials or pathogenic microorganisms and in conducting pathogenic microorganism-related research, teaching, testing and diagnosing activities.
Article 23 Persons suffering from an infectious disease which may be contracted by both human beings and animals may neither directly diagnose or treat animals nor raise, slaughter, trade, isolate or transport animals susceptible to such disease.
List of infectious diseases that can be contracted by both human beings and animals shall be worked out and published by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council and the health administrative department under the State Council.
Article 24 The state applies regional management to animal epidemics, and areas without prescribed animal epidemics shall be established gradually. An area without prescribed animal epidemics shall satisfy the standards prescribed by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council and be announced after it is checked and accepted by the veterinary administrative department under the State Council.
The term “area without prescribed animal epidemics” as mentioned in this Law refers to an area which has natural barrier or has adopted measures, does not have one or several prescribed animal epidemics within a certain period and has been checked and accepted.
Article 25 It is forbidden to slaughter, trade or transport the following animals, or produce, trade, process, store or transport the following animal products:
1. that are related to any animal epidemic occurring in a blockaded epidemic area;
2. that are vulnerable to infection in an epidemic-stricken area;
3. that fail to undergo quarantine inspection as required by law or fail to pass the quarantine inspection;
4. that have already contracted an epidemic disease or are suspects of an epidemic disease ;
5. that died of illness or uncertain causes; or
6. that are under other circumstances not conforming to the provisions of the veterinary administrative department under the State Council regarding animal epidemic prevention.
Chapter III Reporting, Informing and Announcing of Animal Epidemic Situation
Article 26 Entities and individuals engaging in animal epidemic situation monitoring, check and quarantine, and research, diagnosis and treatment of epidemic diseases as well as those engaging in breeding, slaughter, trading, isolation and transportation of animals shall, once finding out that an animal is infected by an epidemic disease or is a suspect of an epidemic disease, immediately report it to the local veterinary administrative department, the local animal health supervision institution or the local animal epidemic prevention and control institution and adopt such control measures as isolation to prevent the spreading of the epidemic disease. Where any other entity or individual finds out such situation, it or he shall report in a timely manner.
Entities being informed of an animal epidemic situation shall adopt necessary control measures to handle the situation in a timely manner and report the whole situation to higher authorities in accordance with the procedure as prescribed by the state.
Article 27 An animal epidemic situation shall be confirmed by the veterinary administrative departments of the people’s government at or above the county level. In particular, a gross animal epidemic situation shall be determined by the veterinary administrative department of the people’s government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, and reported to the veterinary administrative department under the State Council for confirmation when necessary.
Article 28 The veterinary administrative department under the State Council shall notify the relevant departments under the State Council and the Army as well as the veterinary administrative departments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government of the occurrence and handling situation of a gross animal epidemic situation in a timely manner. In the event of any infectious disease that can be contracted by both human beings and animals, the veterinary administrative departments of the people’s government at or above the county level and the health administrative departments at the same level shall notify each other in a timely manner.