Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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540. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the legislation governing the sale, importation and welfare of exotic animals; his plans to update this legislation; if a record exists of such animal imports; and if so, the location that such records are published. [8260/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 makes provision for the welfare, including during a sale, of all animals. In animal welfare terms there are no specific regulations concerning “exotic animals”. The conditions under which they are kept and managed comes under the scope of the sections 11 and 12 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, which contain the rules relating to the welfare of all animals and require a person having an animal under his or her control to safeguard and not endanger it's health and welfare.

A number of EU Directives and regulations address trade in, and imports to the EU of common domestic species such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, poultry and domestic dogs and cats. Trade in and imports to the EU of certain 'other' live animals are provided for under EU Council Directive 92/65/EEC (the “Balai Directive”). This Directive includes certain categories of hoofed animals (e.g. llamas, alpacas, giraffe, antelope), cats and dogs and ferrets (for commercial imports only) and certain carnivorous species (e.g. mink and foxes, big cat species), bees, apes, rabbits and hares, and birds other than poultry. The Balai Directive harmonised the rules for trade within and imports into the EU of the species within its scope and established the animal health guarantees needed for the trade in these animals between EU Member States.

The Directive also sets out special provisions for the registration and authorisation of Bodies, Institutes or Centres engaged in the intra-Community movement of animals falling within the scope of this legislation such as zoos.

TRACES (TRAde Control and Expert System) is the online management tool for all EU Member States on intra-EU trade and importation of animals, semen and embryo, food, feed and plants. It therefore serves as a record of movements of animals between EU Member States.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) regulates international trade in close to 35,000 species of plants and animals, including their parts and derivatives, ensuring their survival in the wild with benefits for the livelihoods of local people and the global environment. The CITES permit system seeks to ensure that international trade in listed species is sustainable, legal and traceable.

The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is the Cites Management Authority for Ireland and submits an annual report to the CITES Secretariat containing all Imports and Exports of CITES listed specimens. This can be found on www.cites.org. Under the terms of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations, no CITES Import/Export Permit is required for the movement of a CITES listed specimen within the EU. A CITES import permit is required from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, and a CITES export permit is required from the country of origin, should the CITES specimens come from outside the EU.