Appendix 5 S.I. 2004/100: memorandum from
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mink Keeping (Prohibition) (England) Order 2004
(S.I. 2004/100)
1. This Memorandum is provided by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in response to a request
from the Joint Committee to submit a memorandum on the following
point:
The Mink Keeping Order 2000 expired on 1 January
2004. Please explain why this order was not made until 19th January,
since it would appear from paragraph 8 of the Department's explanatory
memorandum[1]
that allowing the 2000 Order to lapse was not the preferred option.
2. The Department's original intention was to renew
the Mink Keeping Order 2000 prior to its expiry on 1 January 2004.
A public consultation exercise was launched on 21 August 2003
to prepare the way for this. The consultation concluded on 11
November 2003 and the responses received were considered immediately.
A submission to Ministers was made on 28 November 2003 advising
that a keyed for signing Statutory Instrument was expected imminently
from Defra lawyers. Had the revised Order been subject to negative
resolution, it would have been in place for 1 January 2004 deadline.
However, on 2 December 2003, officials received an e-mail from
Parliamentary Branch advising that an Affirmative Resolution Instrument
was required in this case.
3. The Department admits that it had not previously
appreciated that a class ii affirmative Order was required in
this case. We are currently looking into how that oversight happened.
The consequence, of course, was that the Order could not be made
before the year-end. However, the Department made use of this
time to refine the draft order in such a way that a set of parallel
regulations that would otherwise have been required were no longer
needed. This has produced more clearly structured and simplified
legislation.
4. Since there are in existence other controls relating
to the importation, release and farming of mink, the delay in
making the Order did not, in fact, prejudice Departmental policy.
1 Not printed. The memorandum was laid before Parliament
on 20 January 2004. Back
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