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UK subordinate legislation - The Approved Country Lists (Animals and Animal Products) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

Letter to the Convener from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, 7 December 2021

Dear Finlay

EU exit legislation - protocol with Scottish Parliament

Policy area: Animal health, plant health, food and feed

The Approved Country Lists (Animals and Animal Products) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

I am writing in relation to the protocol on obtaining the approval of the Scottish Parliament to proposals by the Scottish Ministers to consent to the making of UK secondary legislation affecting devolved areas arising from EU Exit.

That protocol, as agreed between the Scottish Government and then Parliament, accompanied the letter from the then Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Michael Russell MSP, to the Conveners of the Finance & Constitution and Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committees on 4 November 2020 and replaced the previous protocol that was put in place in 2018.

I attach a Type 1 notification which sets out the details of the SI which the UK Government propose to make and the reasons why I am content that the Scottish Ministers should give their consent to the making of this SI. Please note, we are yet to have sight of the final SI and it is not available in the public domain at this stage. We will, in accordance with the protocol, advise you when the final SI is laid and advise you as to whether the final SI is in keeping with the terms of this notification.

The UK Government expects to lay the Instrument on 16 December 2021. An initial draft of the SI has only been shared recently and it is therefore regrettable that on this occasion it has not been possible to comply with the requirement that members should have a full 28 days to scrutinise before the instrument is laid.

The principal aim of of this instrument is to allow the import of certain poultry and poultry products to resume from Ukraine and Australia following the successful control of avian influenza outbreaks in those countries. The amendments will allow listed categories of poultry and poultry products produced after a certain date to be imported into Great Britain from Australia. The amendments will also ensure that imports of listed categories of poultry and poultry products from regions of Ukraine that have been affected by avian influenza outbreaks will be controlled, whilst imports from unaffected areas will be able to resume.

It will use powers in the Trade in Animals and Animal Products (Legislative Functions) and Veterinary Surgeons (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/1225) to amend the Ukraine and Australia’s entries in the list of third countries approved to import these products to Great Britain, as set out in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 798/2008.

I am copying this letter to the Convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee.

Mairi Gougeon

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