Animals and birds

Establece condiciones para el funcionamiento de recintos cuarentenarios de importación de animales y aves y define restricciones de acceso de personas a estos lugares (Requirements governing the operation of quarantine facilities used during the importation of animal and birds, and restrictions on human access to these sites)

1.  The following requirements are hereby established for the operation of quarantine facilities used when importing animals and birds:

1.1.  Quarantine sites:

a.  Official livestock quarantine station of the SAG (Lo Aguirre):

•  Persons wishing to bring live animals and birds into the country must reserve a place at the Lo Aguirre livestock quarantine station, so that the animals or birds concerned may undergo quarantine in the official livestock station of the SAG. Dogs, cats, zoo animals, laboratory mice, day-old chicks, pigs for breeding, horses entering temporarily or returning from competition, dual hemisphere horses, and any other animals determined by the SAG, may be excluded from this requirement.

b.  Directory of quarantine facilities authorized by the SAG to provide post-entry quarantine services:

•  Persons interested in establishing quarantine facilities for the isolation of animals imported definitively (e.g. scientific and research centres, and private establishments) must submit a request to the SAG sectoral office that has jurisdiction over the territory where the quarantine facility is located.

•  The authorization of these quarantine facilities and their inclusion in the directory will be subject to compliance with assessment criteria for approving on-farm quarantine facilities, available on the SAG website.

•  Where the assessment of the facility is favourable, the relevant Regional Directorate will issue a resolution authorizing the establishment to provide post-entry quarantine services and will order its inclusion in the national quarantine facility directory, available on the SAG website.

•  In order for the facility to remain listed in this directory, every six months the SAG will verify that its sanitary and biosafety conditions have been maintained or improved.

•  Where dual hemisphere horses are concerned, the relevant Regional Directorate must be informed that quarantine is taking place in a quarantine facility authorized by the SAG. Where no space is available in this type of facility or in the official livestock quarantine station, authorization may exceptionally be requested for quarantine in an on-farm facility.

c.  On-farm facilities exceptionally authorized for use as quarantine or isolation sites:

•  Where no space is available in the Lo Aguirre livestock quarantine station or in any of the facilities listed in the quarantine facility directory, the interested party may ask the SAG Regional Directorate responsible for the area where the quarantine will take place, to authorize an on-farm facility to carry out quarantine procedures for a specific import.

2.  Human access to quarantine facilities for imported animals:

a.  SAG personnel with access to the quarantine facility:

•  Only personnel responsible for official sanitary activities will have access to the quarantine facility and to the animals present in the SAG official livestock quarantine station, the quarantine facilities listed in the SAG directory, and the on-farm facilities exceptionally authorized to operate as quarantine sites.

b.  Personnel responsible for the animals:

•   Interested parties must submit to the SAG livestock quarantine station, the quarantine facility listed in the directory, or the exceptionally authorized quarantine facility, a list of the persons who are allowed access to the animals during the quarantine period. This list must include:

•  The person or persons responsible for the care, feeding and handling of the animals in quarantine (depending on the origin or animal health status of the animals) .

•  The private veterinarian, SAG sanitary counterpart, and person in charge of animal health, in the case of on-farm quarantine or quarantine facilities listed in the directory.

3.  All persons not included on the list referred to in the previous paragraph will be prohibited from entering the quarantine facility and making contact with the animals during the post-entry quarantine period.

4.  Without prejudice to the provisions of the above paragraph, the head of the relevant SAG Office, the official veterinarian in charge of on-farm quarantine, or the head of the official livestock quarantine station, may exceptionally authorize the entry of persons not included on the list referred to in paragraph 2 above, in the case of certain health-related events in the quarantine facility.

5.  Non-compliance with the obligations established in this Resolution will be penalized in accordance with the provisions of DFL RRA No. 16 on animal health and protection, and the procedure applied will be that provided for in Organic Law No. 18.755 of the SAG.