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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-to-become-a-confined-establishment-for-captive-birds/confined-establishments-approval-conditions-for-captive-birds

You must get your premises approved as a confined establishment if you’re exporting captive birds to the EU and Northern Ireland. Read this guidance to find out what conditions your premises must meet to get approved.

Captive birds are any birds other than poultry that are kept in captivity for any reason. This can include for:

Poultry means birds that are bred, reared or kept in captivity for the production of :

Confined establishments that are approved to export captive birds to the EU must have suitable quarantine facilities to isolate birds entering from somewhere that is not an approved confined establishment. These are known as non-approved sources.

You must isolate birds from a non-approved source for at least their first 30 days in the confined establishment. You must secure the services of an approved veterinarian (AV) to supervise and monitor the birds before adding them to the collection of birds in the confined establishment.

The AV will select an isolation system based on where the birds originate from:

The confined establishment must have:

You must keep up-to-date records for at least 10 years.

Keep a record of every bird in the confined establishment.

Record the number of birds of each taxonomic order, family or species and their age, sex, species and individual identification number at the time of export.

Keep records of the number of birds of each taxonomic order, family or species and their age, sex, species and individual identification number that arrive at and leave the confined establishment.

Keep records of all blood tests and other diagnostic procedures you carry out on the birds.

Keep records of disease and treatment given.

Keep records of observations made on birds that have come from non-approved sources and are kept in isolation or quarantine. The AV will decide what conversations you need to record.

Keep records of the results of post mortems on birds that die in the confined establishment. This is evidence that birds have not died of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), Newcastle disease or avian chlamydiosis (in parrots).

The person responsible for the confined establishment must have adequate ability and knowledge.

You must ask an AV to:

Your disease surveillance and control measures for your confined establishment must include:

You can contact APHA for advice on creating a disease surveillance programme in your confined establishment.

The confined establishment must be free from:

To allow an APHA official veterinarian (OV) to assess the health status, you will need to provide the:

For new confined establishments, the approval can be based on the results of the clinical and laboratory tests carried out by the AV on the animals in the confined establishment.

The quarantine facilities must be physically separate from other bird accommodation. APHA recommends a distance of 200 metres.

If your quarantine facility is less than 200 metres away from other bird accommodation you should keep the windows closed at all times. You can filter the air exhausted from quarantine rooms using:

If your quarantine facility is more than 200 metres from other bird accommodation, you can open windows. You must cover all windows and other ventilation openings such as ridge vents and extraction fans with 2 layers of wire mesh with a maximum size of 10 millimetres by 10 millimetres.

To prevent birds from escaping, you must use wire mesh, glass or resilient plastic barriers between any space containing quarantine birds and the exterior of the building. This includes corridors between cages.

The limits of the quarantine unit must be clearly defined by walls or fences. You can use specific areas or pens that are not permanently constructed within the premises as quarantine units for a limited time.

If there are separate units within the quarantine facility, each unit must occupy a separate airspace to be an isolated epidemiological unit. If you cannot provide units with separate air space then all birds in quarantine are a single epidemiological unit. The quarantine period starts when the last bird is added to the group.

You must provide facilities at the entry and exit point for staff to:

You must provide suitable facilities to load or unload birds between transport crates and quarantine pens without the risk of escape.

You must provide suitable equipment within reasonable access of the quarantine unit to safely restrain birds for clinical and diagnostic procedures such as blood sampling.

The design of the pens or cages within the quarantine unit must have adequate light and easy access so you can visually inspect the birds at any time.

The building structure and all equipment must be made of materials that can either be:

The design of the building must minimise access from:

You must fit rodent proof covers to drains and protect your feed store from vermin.

You must provide storage for waste produced during the isolation period. The storage must be bird and vermin proof.

You must dispose of the waste:

You must have storage facilities in your quarantine unit or nearby to keep carcases until they can be examined at a post-mortem. The AV will tell you how to transport carcases to the storage facility.

Isolation should last for at least 30 days, unless a longer period is required for other reasons determined by the:

The AV must closely monitor the health status of the birds in isolation or quarantine and examine birds showing signs of illness.

Trained staff must observe the birds at least once a day. Staff must follow procedures to make sure that they cannot transfer infection from the quarantine unit to any other animals. You must get the AV to agree to the arrangements in writing.

Staff entering the quarantine unit must always change into protective clothing and footwear.

When leaving the quarantine unit staff must:

You should not remove items from the quarantine unit or use them with other animals for the duration of the isolation period. You can remove items to destroy them.

Your premises must have an effective programme for cleansing and disinfection before and after each isolation. Your AV must approve this programme in writing. You must use a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) approved disinfectant.

If you add new birds to a quarantine unit with birds already in isolation, the existing birds must stay in isolation for an additional 30 days. The isolation period starts from when the last bird enters the quarantine unit. The tier of isolation is dependent on where the birds originate from.

If birds become ill or injured during isolation but there is no suspicion of notifiable disease, you must move them to a dedicated isolation facility for sick birds.

An AV must supervise the move and make sure that:

If you suspect an avian notifiable disease or there are any deaths in isolation, you must inform the AV. The AV will report it to the VHoFD, VLS or VLW of the local APHA office.

If you suspect that a bird has died from a notifiable disease, either in isolation or is dead on arrival, you must send the carcass to APHA Weybridge.

Visitors are not allowed to enter the quarantine facility.

Contractors can access the quarantine facility for essential maintenance. They must follow the hygiene barrier rules when entering and leaving the premises and sign the visitors book. The visitors book must contain a record of the:

You must keep records for the quarantine unit that show:

You must keep the records for 10 years.

For support, contact APHA’s animal exports team.

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