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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether there is a quarantine period required for day-old gamebird chicks arriving in the UK from France.

The quarantine requirements for gamebird hatching eggs are that they shall be kept for at least three weeks from the date of hatching in the hatchery or on the establishment(s) to which they have been sent after hatching.

Day-old chicks shall be kept on the establishment of destination from their date of arrival for a period of at least six weeks; or until the day of slaughter. The period may be reduced to three weeks, provided that appropriate sampling and testing have been carried out with favourable results.

Our legislation sets out that disease control restricted zones put in place for Avian Influenza outbreaks can only be lifted and exports restarted 90 days after effective cleansing and disinfection. This is retained EU legislation (regulation 798/2008) and applies to gamebird hatching eggs and gamebird day-old chicks. The same rules affect exports from GB to EU. Operability amendments have been made to Regulation 798/2008 under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. There have been no changes to animal health requirements.

We understand that any interruption to egg supplies will have a significant impact on our sectors during this challenging time which has seen widespread Avian Influenza outbreaks across the EU and here in Great Britain.

With our French counterparts we tried to find a solution to enable the trade of gamebird eggs, whilst maintaining the necessary standards of biosecurity. Unfortunately, due to a range of external factors, it has not been possible to put measures in place in time for this year’s shooting season.

This will clearly have an impact on the shooting sector and we are exploring future measures that can be implemented to alleviate these pressures going forward.