Research and analysis

Animal Welfare (Live Exports) Bill – formerly the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill: RPC opinion (Green-rated).

Regulatory Policy Committee opinion on DEFRA's Animal Welfare (Live Exports) Bill IA

• From: Regulatory Policy Committee
• Published: 24 September 2021
• Last updated: 15 December 2023 — See all updates

Documents

RPC Opinion: Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

PDF, 171 KB, 8 pages

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Details

Updated 15th December 2023

The RPC previously published (24 September 2021) its opinion on DEFRA’s impact assessment (IA) on Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, focusing its assessment on the element of the Bill relating to live animal exports.

The Live Exports Bill now covers a proposal to ban live animal exports for slaughter and fattening as previously discussed in the Kept Animals Bill IA.

The RPC found the Kept Animals bill IA to be fit for purpose after being revised in response to the RPC’s initial review notice. As originally submitted, the IA was not fit for purpose because there were missing costs and unjustified assumptions affecting the EANDCB figure for live exports. The original IA  also did not include business familiarisation costs. The revised IA provided familiarisation costs for each of the proposed measures affecting business. The revised EANDCB now includes estimates (of costs to business associated with live export journeys under 8 hours) that were originally only included in the sensitivity analysis.  

The RPC has recently had discussions with DEFRA where it was confirmed that the Live Exports element is identical to that provided in the previous Bill. The RPC believes its comments on the Live Exports element of the original Kept Animals Bill still apply and, therefore, re-publishes its opinion now to assist stakeholders with the recent introduction to Parliament of the Live Exports Bill on 4th December 2023 .

The new bill IA is here.

Original text 24th September 2021

A proposal to ban live animal exports for slaughter and fattening; to restrict primate keepership to those who can provide zoo-level welfare standards; to improve zoo licencing and strengthen conservation requirements; to enhance powers to tackle livestock worrying; and to tighten restrictions on pet travel and impacts.

The IA is now fit for purpose after being revised in response to the RPC’s initial review notice. As originally submitted, the IA was not fit for purpose because there were missing impacts affecting the EANDCB figure. The RPC can now validate the EANDCB for parts of the proposal, but further IA(s) will need to be produced at the secondary legislation stage.

The corresponding IA can be found here.

Published 24 September 2021
Last updated 15 December 2023 + show all updates

1. 15 December 2023

   New IA

2. 24 September 2021

   First published.