Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Dear Consultee

CONSULTATION ON THE PROPOSED TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2010

I am writing to invite your comments on the proposed Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Regulations 2010 which would replace the existing Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 as amended (the "2006 Regulations").

The 2006 Regulations came into force on 24 November 2006. They provide the powers necessary to administer and enforce the provisions of Regulation ( EC) No.999/2001 which lays down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (the " EUTSE Regulation").

There have been a number of amendments to the EUTSE Regulation since the 2006 Regulations came into force. These have generally been technical amendments updating the detailed requirements of TSE monitoring arrangements and in the case of scrapie, implementing a more proportionate approach to controls in line with the European Commission's TSE Roadmap ¹. These amendments also reflect the declining prevalence of BSE in cattle, new scientific advice and technical advances.

The amendments, which are directly applicable in all EU Member States, include changes to the age threshold for BSE testing in cattle in some Member States, new controls on milk from sheep flocks and goat herds in which TSE is suspected or confirmed and more proportionate controls on animal feed.

There has also been a need to review the content of the main Regulations and the Schedules to the domestic legislation to ensure that any lessons learnt in the past are incorporated into domestic legislation.

What will be the outcome of this consultation?

The proposed new Regulations include amendments to take account of new EU legislation, advice from the Commission concerning the EUTSE Regulation, technical changes and lessons learnt from operating the 2006 Regulations. We have also reviewed the Schedules to ensure that they are appropriate and that any lessons learned are incorporated.

Who will be affected by the proposals in this consultation?

Certain sectors of the cattle, sheep and goat industries, principally the keepers of sheep and goats suspected or confirmed as being infected by scrapie or BSE; cattle keepers who slaughter animals on their own premises for home consumption; abattoirs which do not handle cattle which require BSE testing; and manufacturers of feed for ruminants which contains fishmeal.

How do I comment on these proposals?

Your views are sought on the proposals described in Parts III and IV of this document. Specific questions have been highlighted and the changes summarised at Part II. These provisions may be subject to some subsequent amendment in response to comments received during the consultation period.

The consultation package includes a draft of the proposed new Regulations and a draft Regulatory Impact Assessment. This provides further detail on the above measures in terms of their impact on stakeholders. We invite your comments on the proposed changes plus any additional estimates on benefits and costs likely to result from the changes.

The Food Standards Agency has been fully involved in the preparation of these consultation papers.

We aim to put the new Regulations into effect early next year. The closing date for comments on the proposals set out in this consultation is 26 January 2010.

Separate consultations on proposals to make similar changes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being carried out in those countries.

How do I respond?

Please send your responses to:

scottishTSEregs@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or
TSE (Scotland) Regulations 2010 Consultation

If you have any queries please contact Ian Murdoch on 0131 244 6129.

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations (SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces, SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form which forms part of the consultation attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library or placed on the Scottish Government consultation web pages. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the consultation closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on how the TSE regulations should be introduced in Scotland. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process as soon as possible and this will include indications of the changes to be made to the legislation.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Name: Ian Murdoch
Address: Rm 350 Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, Edinburgh EH14 1TY
E-mail: ian.murdoch2@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

I look forward to any comments you may have

Yours Sincerely

Nick Ambrose
Dr Nick Ambrose
Head of Animal Health - Disease Prevention
Rural Directorate
Scottish Government
29 December 2009