LAW
ON VETERINARY ACTIVITIES
Chapter 1
General Provisions
Article 1. Objective of this Law
This law shall regulate veterinary activities pursuant to
international requirements, shall determine the legal status of
veterinary structures, and shall establish requirements of
veterinary sanitation and the principles of veterinary control.
Article 2. The Main Tasks of the Veterinary Service
The main tasks of veterinary medicine shall be as follows:
1) to protect domestic animals and other animals (birds, fur
animals, fish, bees, wild animals, animals kept in zoos and
vivaria, etc.) against diseases by preventive anti-epizootic,
sanitation and other veterinary measures;
2) to treat animal diseases;
3) to control that animal products and raw materials used in
food processing are of adequate veterinary sanitation quality;
4) to help to protect the environment from pollution; and
5) to introduce the novelties of veterinary science.
Article 3. The Structure of the Veterinary Service
1. The veterinary service of the Republic of Lithuania shall
be both state and private.
2. The structure and competence of the State Veterinary
Service shall be established by the Government.
Article 4. The Administration of Veterinary Service
1. The tasks of veterinary service of the Republic of
Lithuania shall be discharged by the State Veterinary
Department.
2. The State Veterinary Department shall organise veterinary
services, and shall issue instructions and give directions, the
fulfilment of which shall be obligatory in the territory of the
Republic of Lithuania.
3. The State Veterinary Department shall be a legal entity
having a seal with the state emblem.
Article 5. The Right to Engage in Veterinary Practice
1. Persons who have the qualification of a veterinary
surgeon may engage in veterinary practice. Veterinary assistants
(technicians) shall work only under the auspices of a veterinary
surgeon.
Veterinary specialists who have come from abroad shall be
certified by the commission appointed according to the procedure
established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. The State Veterinary Service, veterinary surgeons engaged
in private practice, and veterinary assistants, while performing
their duties, shall be guided by this Law, and other laws and
executive acts of the Republic of Lithuania regulating
veterinary activities.
Chapter 2
The State Veterinary Service
Article 6. The Functions of the State Veterinary Service
The State Veterinary Service shall:
1) implement veterinary preventive measures against
infectious, invasive and other contagious diseases of domestic
and other animals;
2) together with health care agencies, exchange information
and eradicate centers of contagious diseases which are dangerous
to people and animals;
3) assess the epizootic situation and give obligatory
directions to animal breeders concerning the implementation of
preventive and eradicative measures of contagious diseases of
domestic and other animals, desinfection, deratisation and other
measures;
4) analyse the causes of non-contagious diseases and
extinction of domestic and other animals, prepare
recommendations for their prevention, and treat ill animals;
5) conduct clinical, laboratory (virusological,
bacteriological, biochemical, chemical-toxicological,
radiological, histological, parasitological) and other tests for
diagnosing animal diseases, and evaluate the quality of fodder
and water;
6) from the stand point of veterinary sanitation, evaluate
produced, processed and stored animal products and raw
materials;
7) test animal foodstuffs at market places;
8) control veterinary sanitation conditions of cattle
breeding facilities, slaughter-houses, plants processing meat,
dairy and other animal products, market places, storage
facilities, and perform veterinary examinations of the
construction or reconstruction of such establishments and of
excavations;
9) control the use of veterinary medicinal products,
biological, chemical and other preparations in cattle breeding
and veterinary practice, and assess their impact on the health
of animals and the quality of animal products;
10) control that the condition of exported domestic and
other animals, animal products and raw materials meet the
veterinary requirements of the country to which they are being
exported;
11) control that contagious animal diseases are not
introduced from abroad, and inspect the veterinary condition of
imported domestic and other animals, raw materials, animal
products and fodder;
12) control and coordinate the activities of veterinary
specialists employed at state and private enterprises or
organizations.
Article 7. The Rights of the State Veterinary Service
The State Veterinary Service shall be authorised:
1) to give obligatory directions to natural and legal
persons rearing domestic animals, as well as to enterprises and
organisations or persons processing, storing and dealing in
animal products and raw materials, to fulfill anti-epizootic and
veterinary sanitation measures;
2) to inspect enterprises and organisations subject to
veterinary monitoring, obtain information necessary for the
determination of epizootic condition, investigate the causes of
animal diseases, and assess the quality of veterinary sanitation
of animal products and raw materials;
3) upon diagnosing contagious animal disease or when
especially dangerous animal disease is suspected, to impose
conditions of slaughter, detoxication, processing or utilisation
of animals, animal products and raw materials obligatory for all
plants, organisations, farmers, or persons pursuant to Articles
15 and 16 of this Law.
Article 8. State Veterinary Inspectors
1. The Head of the State Veterinary Department shall
simultaneously be the chief state veterinary inspector of the
Republic of Lithuania. His/her assistants shall be the
assistants of the chief state veterinary inspector. Other
specialists of the Department shall be state veterinary
inspectors.
2. Heads of national, interregional, town, district state
veterinary organisations or institutions and their assistants
shall be state veterinary inspectors and their assistants of the
Republic, region, town or district respectively.
Article 9. The rights of State Veterinary Inspectors
State veterinary inspectors shall have the right:
1) to prohibit to build, reconstruct or use those cattle
breeding establishments, meat processing plants, shops,
storehouses and other facilities, which do not meet veterinary
sanitation requirements;
2) to prohibit to process raw materials or to use for food
those animal products which do not meet veterinary sanitation
requirements;
3) to control establishments of military units and other
militarized subunits, railways, sea and river ports and airports
which are subject to veterinary monitoring;
4) according to the procedure established by law, to impose
administrative penalties upon officers and persons for the
violations of this Law, the rules of animal quarantine and other
veterinary sanitation requirements as well as for violating
decisions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or
local governments relative to epizootic issues.
Article 10. Duties of State Veterinary Inspectors
State veterinary inspectors shall control how owners of
domestic and other animals, organisations or persons processing,
storing or dealing in animal products, as well as veterinary
specialists conform to this Law, executive acts, and other
veterinary requirements.
Article 11. Financing of the State Veterinary Service
The State Veterinary Service shall be financed out of the
state budget.
Chapter 3
Private Veterinary Practice
Article 12. Private Veterinary Practice
1. Veterinary surgeons may engage in private practice.
2. Veterinary assistants and technicians shall engage in
private practice under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon.
3. Veterinary specialists engaged in private practice must
have a licence issued according to the procedure established by
the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 13.The Rights of Veterinary Specialists Engaged in
Private Practice
Veterinary specialists engaged in private practice shall
have the right:
1) to diagnose diseases and treat domestic and other
animals, with the exception of those who have diseases which
require quarantine or other special restrictions;
2) to vaccinate domestic and other animals, to render
advices to animal owners;
3) to issue certificates testifying to the health condition
of an animal;
4) when danger of contagious animal disease arises, to
prohibit the bringing in or taking out of the establishment
domestic and other animals, animal products, raw materials or
fodder.
Article 14.Duties of Veterinary Specialists Engaged in
Private Practice
Veterinary specialists engaged in private practice must:
1) upon suspecting contagious animal disease, immediately
report this to the nearest state veterinary station and take
measures to stop the spread of the disease;
2) fulfill, in the event of an epizooty of a contagious
animal disease, directions given by the State Veterinary
Service;
3) report, according to the procedure established by the
State Veterinary Department, to the state veterinary service of
the town or district about work which has been done which
related to the prevention of contagious animal diseases and
their treatment.
Chapter 4
Veterinary Sanitation Requirements for the Prevention of
Contagious Diseases
Article 15.Duties of Breeders and their Servicing
Organisations
1. Natural and legal persons breeding domestic and other
animals, as well as enterprises and organisations processing,
storing, transporting and dealing in animal products and raw
materials, shall guarantee that veterinary sanitation measures
be taken in time, that contagious animal diseases do not spread,
and that their centers be eradicated.
2. Natural and legal persons may acquire domestic and other
animals from abroad only upon receiving a licence of the State
Veterinary Department. Imported domestic and other animals shall
be subject to the established period of quarantine.
3. The import of animal products, raw materials, fodder,
medicinal products, or biological preparations from abroad shall
only be permitted according to the procedure established by the
State Veterinary Department.
4. Natural and legal persons breeding domestic and other
animals must immediately report to the state veterinary service
about sudden and numerous diseases of domestic and other animals
or their loss.
5. Owners of domestic and other animals must allow
veterinary specialists to examine the animals, to make blood or
other tests, to vaccinate them, and to carry out anti-epizootic
and other preventive veterinary measures, and must aid them in
carrying out these measures.
6. Only natural and legal persons possessing veterinary
certificates of the established form may deal in domestic and
other animals, animal products and raw materials.
7. Under the direction of a veterinary surgeon or assistant,
dead animals, the remains of slaughtered animals, aborted
fetuses, defective skins and furs, and other animal waste must
be taken by the owner to special establishments or must be
buried in an animal cemetery.
8. Animals which have died from contagious diseases which
are especially dangerous to people and animals shall, under the
direction of a state veterinary surgeon, be cremated with their
skin and intestines.
9. It shall only be permitted to slaughter healthy or ill
animals in order to use their meat for food, to feed animals, or
to sell their meat or other parts of their carcass with the
permission of a veterinary surgeon.
10. The transportation of domestic and other animals and
their products shall be permitted only by special transportation
means that meet veterinary sanitation requirements. A veterinary
document is necessary for transportation by freight.
11. Domestic and other animals shall be cured, and
preventive and veterinary sanitation measures shall be
performed, at the expense of the owners, except in cases
specified in Article 16 of this Law.
Article 16.Quarantine and other Restrictions in Cases of
Contagious Disease
1. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania, on the
recommendation of the State Veterinary Department, shall approve
the list of contagious animal diseases subject to quarantine or
restrictions as well as the list of diseases whose prevention
and eradication measures shall be financed by the state.
2. Upon receiving a report about sudden animal diseases or
the suspicion of a contagious disease, a veterinary surgeon or
assistant servicing the natural or legal persons or the locality
shall immediately come to the place, examine the ill animal and
other animals kept with it, take measures to diagnose the
disease, isolate the ill animals, and report to the state
veterinary inspector of the town or district.
3. Upon diagnosing a contagious animal disease on a farm or
in a settlement, a quarantine or other restrictions necessary
for the eradication of the spreading of the disease shall be
declared by a decision of the town (or district) board.
4. In order to maintain the isolation regime of the
contagious zone, police or veterinary control posts may be
established, the number and location of which shall be
determined by local governments.
5. During quarantine, the operation of market places, animal
reception centers, and enterprises shall be suspended, and
fairs, auctions, exhibitions and other events related to animal
transportation shall be prohibited.
6. In the event of a dangerous contagious disease, the
Government of the Republic of Lithuania may pass a decision to
declare special quarantine restrictions in the contaminated
district or throughout the territory of the Republic of
Lithuania.
Chapter 5
Veterinary Control
Article 17.Control of Veterinary Preparations Used in
Cattle-breeding
1. Only those medicinal products, feedstuff additions,
microelements, vaccines, other biological preparations and
reagents which are registered in the pharmacopoeia or in a
pharmacological service shall be permitted to be used in cattle-
breeding. Veterinary and diagnostic preparations made according
to the technical normative documentation and directions for use
approved by the State Veterinary Department may be used in
cattle-breeding.
2. The State Veterinary Service shall control how natural
and legal persons use, for domestic and other animals,
veterinary preparations provided for in this Law, and shall
check how these preparations are being kept and destroyed after
their expiration date.
3. It shall be prohibited to use biological stimulators or
hormones having thyreostatic, estrogenic, androgenic, or
gestagenic effects, to induce animal breeding or to increase
productivity (lactation).
Article 18. Veterinary Control in Market places
1. State veterinary control is obligatory in city, regional,
and settlement market-places where domestic and other animals,
animal products and raw materials are sold. The market
administrations must create conditions for this work.
2. In market places the State Veterinary Service shall have
meat stamps and labels to mark the quality of products, which
are kept safely and a strict record of which is kept.
3. A doctor of the laboratory of sanitation examination of
the market veterinary control shall detain products (production)
which are unfit for human consumption and shall send them to be
destroyed or processed.
Article 19. Veterinary Control in Hunting
Each hunting club must arrange killed animal processing
grounds which conform with the requirements of veterinary
sanitation, and must assure the veterinary sanitation
examination of game used for food.
Article 20.The Decision of Arguments which Arise concerning
Veterinary Legal
Relations
Arguments between veterinary organizations and natural or
legal persons shall be decided in court or arbitration according
to the procedure established by the laws of the Republic of
Lithuania.
VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS
President
Supreme Council
Republic of Lithuania
Vilnius
17 December 1991
No. I-2110