UPDATES
19 November 2021 – Summary of submissions published
MPI received over 1,300 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders.
Summary of submissions: Proposed animal welfare regulations on significant surgical procedures [PDF, 1.6 MB]
30 July 2020 – Regulations issued
New rules for surgical or painful procedures on animals were approved on 27 July 2020. These new rules have been incorporated into the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018.
The new rules cover a wide variety of surgical procedures carried out on a wide range of animals.
Two regulations that relate to the use of electric prodders on pigs and the introduction of an infringement fee for non-compliance with a Compliance Notice come into force on 27 August 2020. To allow time for people to fully understand their obligations under the new regulations, the remaining regulations will come into force from 9 May 2021.
People who own animals, are in charge of them, or work with them should check the regulations to see if they need to change what they do or the way they do it.
Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Amendment Regulations 2020 – NZ Legislation
1 May 2020 – Postponed introduction of new rules for some surgical procedures on animals
The introduction of new criteria in the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to define significant surgical procedures, and regulations to specify who can perform them on animals has been postponed.
Most of the new rules were intended to come into force on 9 May 2020.
However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual communication with affected communities could not be done.
For this reason, Parliament has passed a law to postpone the introduction of the new rules until our usual programme of communication can be rolled out.
The new criteria for a significant surgical procedure will now come into effect on 9 May 2021 at the latest. However, we will work to introduce the new criteria and the supporting regulations as soon as it is practical to do so.
The law to allow for the delay is called the COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Other Regulatory Urgent Measures) Act.
COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Other Regulatory Urgent Measures) Act – NZ Legislation
16 December 2019 – New rules for surgical procedures on animals from May 2020
Following this consultation, the Government has approved the regulatory policies for the new rules. The detail of the regulatory policies is set out in the document Significant surgical procedures regulatory policies. These regulatory policies are being drafted into regulations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
Most of the regulations are expected to come into force from 9 May 2020, with some expected to come into force from 9 May 2021. Because the new rules cover a wide variety of surgical procedures carried out on a wide range of animals, people who own animals, are in charge of them, or work with them should check the Significant surgical procedures regulatory policies document to see if they need to change what they do or the way they do it.
Find out more
Significant surgical procedures regulatory policies [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Media release
Consultation background
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) asked for public submissions on proposed rules for significant surgical procedures on animals, which would be regulations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
Submissions opened on 13 June and closed on 24 July 2019.
We also held 7 public meetings around the country as well as targeted consultations with stakeholders.
Consultation documents
Discussion paper: Proposed animal welfare regulations – significant surgical procedures [PDF, 1.5 MB]
Summary of the discussion paper: Proposed animal welfare regulations – significant surgical procedures [PDF, 297 KB]
Related information
Media release: Have your say about regulations for surgical procedures on animals
Previous (2016) consultation on animal welfare regulations
Submissions are public information
Any submission you make becomes public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the information available unless there is a good reason for withholding it. You can find those grounds in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.
Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission (such as commercial sensitivity or personal information). Any decision MPI makes to withhold information can, however, be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may require the information be released.
