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<p>The current six-day standstill rule for livestock movements balances the risk of
disease transmission against the industry’s need to trade livestock. It was introduced
in 2003 following the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak in 2001. Its purpose is to reduce
the spread of undetected disease such as was seen in 2001, reducing the scope and
cost of an outbreak.</p><p> </p><p>After extensive modelling, the standstill period
was set at six days to take into account the weekly cycle of market sales. The standstill
rule includes a range of exemptions that support the regime, including for movements
through market.</p><p> </p><p>The Farming Regulation Task Force reviewed standstill
in 2011 and recommended the relaxation of standstill rules for movements between farms
and where keepers were able to establish approved separation units. There was no consensus
amongst industry regarding the right approach, particularly due to concerns around
the potential distortion of trade resulting from maintaining standstill for markets
and the cost and effectiveness of separation units.</p><p> </p><p>Government is committed
to a further review of standstill in 2018, following the implementation of another
Farming Regulation Task Force recommendation to simplify the way livestock holdings
are defined for recording and reporting purposes which will impact on the number of
standstills that need to be complied with.</p>
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