Title, commencement and application

1.  (1)  This Order-

(a)may be cited as the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (England) Order 2014;

(b)comes into force on 17th February 2014; and

(c)applies in relation to England.

(2) This Order does not apply in relation to the introduction of any live fish by a person who has been-

(a)issued with a permit under Council Regulation (EC) No. 708/2007(3) concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture, or

(b)served with a notice under regulation 7(2)(b) or (3)(b) (notices permitting movement) of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011(4).

Prohibition of keeping or release of specified fish or eggs

2.  (1)  No person may keep or release any live fish, or the live eggs of any fish, which is not native to England and Wales and belongs to a taxonomic order specified in the first column of the table in Part 1 of the Schedule, except under the authority of a licence granted by the Secretary of State.

(2) The requirement for a licence in paragraph (1) does not apply in relation to any species of non-native fish that is specified in the third column of the table in Part 2 of the Schedule and belongs to a taxonomic order referred to in paragraph (1).

Review

3.  (1)  The Secretary of State must from time to time-

(a)carry out a review of regulation 2;

(b)set out the conclusions of the review in a report; and

(c)publish the report.

(2) The report must in particular-

(a)set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory scheme established by regulation 2;

(b)assess the extent to which those objective are achieved; and

(c)assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.

(3) The first report under this regulation must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with the day on which this Order comes into force.

(4) Reports under this regulation are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

Revocations

4.  The following are revoked-

(a)the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998(5);

(b)the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Amendment) (England) Order 2003(6); and

(c)regulation 29 of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011(7).

Article 2

SCHEDULEList of Fish

PART 1Taxonomic orders to which any species of fish that is not native to England and Wales belongs that may not be kept or released without a licence

PART 2Species of fish that are not native to England and Wales that may be kept or released without a licence

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 2(1) prohibits the keeping or release in England, without a licence issued under the Import of Live Fish (England and Wales) Act 1980 ("the Act"), of any species of live non-native fish belonging to the taxonomic orders listed in the table in Part 1 of the Schedule.

These Regulations do not apply where a person holds a permit for the introduction of those fish under Council Regulation (EC) No. 708/2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture or has been served with a notice permitting movement in relation to those fish under the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2292) (article 1(2)). The prohibition in article 2(1) does not apply in relation to fish listed in the table in Part 2 of the Schedule (article 2(2)).

It is an offence under section 3 of the Act for any person to keep or release any of the species of fish listed in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Order without a valid licence. Section 3 also makes it an offence to contravene the terms of a licence. A person who breaches the offences in section 3 is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

The effect of the revocations made by regulation 4 is that the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998, and regulation 29 of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, will continue to apply in Wales.

Regulation 3 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of regulation 2 and publish a report within 5 years of the coming into force of this Order and within every five years of that. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available on the Defra website at www.gov.uk and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.