China News Service, August 7th. Zang Tiewei, spokesperson of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, introduced on the 7th that the revised draft of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law intends to further improve the management of dogs and cats, and clearly establish a mechanism for the prevention and control of zoonotic infectious diseases. Further strengthen the prevention and control of public health risks to protect the lives, health and safety of the people.
On the 7th, the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held a press conference on the legislative work. Zang Tiewei introduced that in April 2020, the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee conducted the first review of the draft revision of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law. Based on the opinions of various parties, the draft for the second review submitted to this Standing Committee meeting is proposed to be revised as follows:
One is to further strengthen the management of bazaars and live trading of livestock and poultry. In order to reduce the risk of disease transmission, it is proposed to increase regulations on animal epidemic prevention conditions in the market for animal and animal products, and it is clear that local governments at or above the county level can decide to prohibit live poultry and livestock trading in specific areas of the city based on local conditions.
The second is to further improve the management of dogs and cats. Considering that the management of pets such as dogs and cats involves many links, this issue is mainly about local powers. Many localities have formulated local regulations or government regulations. It is planned to adjust the relevant provisions of the revised draft mainly from the aspect of animal epidemic prevention.
The third is to clearly establish a cooperation mechanism for the prevention and control of zoonotic infectious diseases to further strengthen the prevention and control of public health risks and protect the lives and health of the people.
In addition, the quarantine of wild animals for non-edible use, the epidemic prevention of laboratory animals, and related support policies have been modified and improved.