Welfare of Animals (Permitted Procedures by Lay Persons) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 (S.R. No. 153 of 2012).

These Regulations specify the procedures to which the offences in section 5 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 do not apply. Section 5 makes it an offence to carry out a prohibited procedure interference with the sensitive tissues or bone structure of the animal, other than a procedure carried out by a veterinary surgeon. Prohibited procedures include those for the purposes of: (a) identification (such as ear tagging); (b) the control of reproduction (such as castration); and (c) other purposes (such as tail docking). For certain of these procedures, Schedules 1 to 11 apply conditions to the carrying out of the procedure (such as specifying a required age for the animal, or requiring the administration of an anaesthetic).