Act No. 441 of 2013 on animal diseases.

This Act makes provision with respect to measures to prevent and fight the occurrence and spreading of diseases affecting animals including animals living in the wild, fish and other aquatic animals. The purpose of this Act is to prevent and reduce the incidence of diseases and infections that may be transmitted from an animal to another animal or to a human being (animal disease) in order to promote animal health, protect human health, ensure food safety and secure the conditions for livestock farming. It applies to the implementation of specified European Union legislation on combating animal diseases and instruments issued pursuant to them, as far as provisions on their enforcement are not laid down under other legislation. The list of legislation implemented includes, among other things, Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption and Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules. The Act also provides with respect to control of the export of animals and animal products, the introduction of alien species and the artificial reproduction of animals.
The Act consists of 119 sections divided into 21 Chapters: General provisions (1); Prevention and control of animal diseases (2); Notification of animal diseases and monitoring of the animal disease situation (3); Measures to be taken in the event of outbreaks of a disease (4); Regional measures to be taken to prevent the spread of animal diseases (5); Measures to prevent the spread of a dangerous animal disease and one that spreads easily (6); Approval and control of the artificial reproduction of animals (7); The approval and control of certain other activities (8); Movements of animals and products between Member States of the European Union (9); Export of animals and products of animal origin to states other than Member States (10); Transport of animals and products of animal origin (11); Laboratories (12); Authorities and their tasks (13); Monitoring, inspections and publication of data (14); Registers (15); Charges and fees (16); The payment of certain costs and compensation out of state funds (17); Administrative enforcement measures (18); Penal provisions (19); Appeal (20); Entry into force and transitional provisions (21).
In this Act, animal diseases are divided into animal diseases to be combated, animal diseases to be reported and other animal diseases. Animal diseases to be combated are further divided into: animal diseases to be controlled; dangerous animal diseases; and diseases that spread easily. Designation and classification of diseases shall be done by Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Act places specific duties on operators of an establishment against animal diseases, such as compulsory health control, the obligation to report animal diseases, and treatment of animals. Animals may not be released into the wild if the person so doing knows or suspects that the animals may be spreading an animal disease that may cause harm to other animals or to humans. Disease monitoring programmes shall be implemented by the Finnish Food Safety Authority. It shall also draw up a plan for the surveillance of the general health status of animals and the occurrence of animal diseases.
The Act provides the Finnish Food Safety Authority with ample powers to control (outbreaks of) animal diseases. The Regional State Administrative Agency may, on application and in individual cases, grant a permit to derogate from a prohibition, condition, restriction or measure to be complied with an infected area, restricted zone, or restricted area if derogation does not pose a risk of spreading a disease. Animal semen or embryos that could pose a risk of spreading animal diseases only be collected and handled at certain conditions by approved semen collection stations, at an approved semen storage facility, or on the premises of an approved embryo production team. Aquaculture animals or their gametes may only be reared for food, for sale or for being moved for further rearing or for re-stocking in the sea or freshwater areas with approval from the Finnish Food Safety Authority. Areas of Finland may be classified for each disease to prevent the spread of animal diseases to be combated and transmissible to aquatic animals. Movement of aquatic animals from one zone to another shall be restricted. Registers on approved operators, establishments, places of business and laboratories shall be kept.