Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from which countries UK imports of live reindeer have been suspended in light of the recent incidence of chronic wasting disease; and on what date each country’s suspension came into force.

As a precautionary measure, in October 2016 the EU banned the import of live cervids from Norway, where the disease was first confirmed in Europe, and introduced safeguard measures to limit the seasonal movements of live cervids between certain regions of Norway, Finland and Sweden. Following the confirmation of the first case of chronic wasting disease in Finland in March 2018, the Finnish Government voluntarily introduced a ban on the export of live cervids.

The UK will continue to implement EU controls on cervid imports following our departure from the EU.