Following is a question by the Hon Jeremy Tam and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (July 12):

Question:

     According to the original Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Animal Traders) Regulations (Cap. 139 sub. leg. B), any person who carries on business as an animal trader must obtain an Animal Trader Licence (ATL). In order to strengthen the regulation of animal trading and dog breeding activities, the Government has introduced a new regulatory system by amending the said Regulations. The amended Regulations, known as the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Trading and Breeding) Regulations (the new Regulations), have come into operation since March 20 this year. Apart from retaining the aforesaid licensing requirement, the new Regulations require that any person who sells, or offers to sell, dogs must obtain an ATL or a one-off permit. Moreover, any person who keeps for breeding and sells, or offers to sell, a dog, must obtain a Dog Breeder Licence, viz. a Dog Breeder Licence (category A) (DBLA) or a Dog Breeder Licence (category B) (DBLB). Regarding the implementation of the new Regulations, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective numbers of applications for (i) ATL, (ii) DBLA, (iii) DBLB and (iv) one-off permit which have been received, approved and rejected by the authorities since the new Regulations came into operation;

(2) in respect of the ATL applications mentioned in (1), of the respective numbers of applications involving the selling of birds/animals listed in the table below and, among them, the respective numbers of cases approved and not approved (set out in the table below);

Type of birds/animals	Number of applications	Number of applications approved	Number of applications not approved
Pet birds
Pheasants (food)
Domestic chukars (food)
Domestic guinea fowls (food)
Lizards (pet)
Snakes (pet)
Turtles (pet)
Lizards (food)
Snakes (food)
Turtles (food)
Cats
Dogs
Domestic rabbits
Hamsters
Guinea pigs
Chinchillas
Gerbils
Domestic rats
Mice

 
(3) of the number of female dogs enrolled as dogs kept for breeding purpose which are involved in the DBLAs currently issued; the number of female dogs kept for breeding purpose which are involved in the DBLA applications awaiting vetting and approval;

(4) of the number of female dogs enrolled as dogs kept for breeding purpose which are involved in the DBLBs currently issued; the number of female dogs kept for breeding purpose which are involved in the DBLB applications awaiting vetting and approval; and

(5) of the respective numbers of inspections, conducted by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department each month since the new Regulations came into operation, on premises for dog breeding purpose in respect of which the relevant licences have (i) been obtained and (ii) not yet been obtained?

Reply:

President,

     The Government has implemented the amended Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Trading and Breeding) Regulations (Cap. 139B) (the new Regulations) since March 20 this year, with a view to strengthening the regulation of animal trading, and dog breeding and trading, by means of a licensing system and inspections.

     My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
     
(1) Details of applications for Animal Trader Licence (ATL) and Dog Breeder Licence (DBL) received by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) since the new Regulations came into operation on March 20 till the end of June this year are set out below:

Licence/permit	Number of applications	Number of applications approved	Number of applications being processed
ATL	153	111	42
DBL(Category A) (DBLA)	12	3	8
DBL (Category B) (DBLB)	21	3	18

     So far, one DBLA application has been rejected and no application for a one-off permit has been received by AFCD.

(2) Details of applications for ATL since the new Regulations came into operation on March 20 till the end of June this year are set out below:

Type of animals involved	Number of applications	Number of applications approved	Number of applications being processed
Pet birds	16	13	3
Food birds (pheasants, domestic chukars and domestic guinea fowls)	13	7	6
Pet reptiles (including lizards, snakes and turtles)	42	34	8
Food reptiles (including lizards, snakes and turtles)	38	29	9
Cats	44	28	16
Dogs	30	17	13
Small mammals (including domestic rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, chinchillas, gerbils, domestic rats and mice)	25	18	7

     Some ATL applications involved more than one types of animals.  No application has been rejected so far.

(3) and (4) Since the new Regulations came into operation on March 20 till the end of June this year, the three DBLAs issued involving seven enrolled female dogs kept for breeding purpose, while the three DBLBs issued involving 48 enrolled female dogs kept for breeding purpose.

     Applications for DBL are tied to premises. The maximum number of female dogs that can be kept at any premises for breeding and sale purposes depends on the actual circumstances of individual premises, including the size of usable area, layout of the internal rooms/passageways and design of the sleeping and exercise area for dogs, and is subject to AFCD's approval. Therefore, the number of female dogs for breeding and sale purposes involved in applications will only be available after AFCD has completed the vetting process.

(5) Since the new Regulations came into operation on March 20 till the end of June this year, the respective numbers of inspections conducted by AFCD each month on dog breeding premises in respect of which DBLs are obtained and DBL applications are being processed are set out below:

2017	Number of inspections
	Premises in respect of which DBLs are obtained	Premises in respect of which DBL applications are received and being processed
March 20 to 31	3	10
April	13	9
May	13	11
June	18	15

Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:00

NNNN