UK invasive alien species law — The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 (SI 2019/527): restrictions on keeping, importing, selling, breeding exotic species
Verbatim first-hand facts from The Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 (SI 2019/527), the UK's transposition of EU Regulation 1143/2014 on invasive alien species, applicable in England and (for import/export and offshore matters) across the UK. All bullets are exact substrings of the cited source and C1-substring verified. This is the UK framework governing exotic/invasive species kept as pets; species on the Union list face restrictions on keeping, import, sale and breeding, with a limited transitional defence for existing companion-animal owners.
Regulatory facts
- This Order may be cited as the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019 and comes into force on 1st October 2019.
- invasive alien species” means any species of animal, plant, fungus or micro-organism included from time to time on the Union list
- A person who contravenes a provision of the Principal Regulation specified in Table 1 of Schedule 1 is guilty of an offence.
- A person who releases or allows to escape into the wild any specimen which is of a species of animal which— (a) is not ordinarily resident in and is not a regular visitor to Great Britain in a wild state, or (b) is included in Part 1 of Schedule 2, is guilty of an offence.
- A person who plants or otherwise causes to grow in the wild any specimen which is of a species of plant which is included in Part 2 of Schedule 2 is guilty of an offence.
- A person who— (a) sells, offers or exposes for sale, or has in his possession or transports for the purposes of sale, any specimen of a species included in Part 3 of Schedule 2
- It is a defence to a charge of committing an offence under article 3(1) in relation to a breach of the restrictions in Article 7(1)(b) (keeping) or (d) (transportation) of the Principal Regulation to show that the specimen to which the alleged offence relates— (a) immediately before its inclusion on the Union list, was kept as a companion animal
- The condition in this paragraph is that, at all material times— (a) the purpose in keeping the animal was to keep it as a companion animal; (b) the animal was kept in contained holding and appropriate measures were in place to ensure that the animal could not reproduce or escape.
- A person guilty of an offence under this Order is liable— (a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine (not exceeding the statutory maximum in Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be), or to both; (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine