Illegal imports

Efforts should be made to reduce these risks by requiring appropriate certification by incoming passengers and consigners of goods (which must be obtained from the veterinary authorities of the country of origin) and by providing adequate resources at international airports, seaports and mail exchanges for quarantine inspections.

Consideration should be given to running public awareness programmes on board planes and ships. Clear signage about the legal limits for the personal importation of products of animal origin should be prominently placed at arrival points.

The desirability of carrying out disinfection/disinsection procedures for international aircraft, as approved by WHO and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), may also be investigated.

It may be possible for some quarantine risk items to be safely disinfected and then released. However, other quarantine risk materials should be safely disposed of, or reexported to the country of origin, if acceptable to the country of origin. Facilities should be made available for the incineration or safe burial of food scraps or waste food from these aircraft or ships and for animal products confiscated from incoming passengers by quarantine officials. Every effort must be made to prevent these products from being used for swill feeding to animals (see below).

Illegal ImPorts

By their nature, the full extent of illegal imports of animals and animal products is unknown – but this will always occur to some extent. How can this be controlled and minimized? It is important to understand the motivation that creates the impetus and incentive to engage in such illegal activities. These motives can be cultural and/or financial. This understanding should be used to gather intelligence and to direct activities aimed at discouraging and intercepting illegal imports.

There are two levels of illegal imports. Imports for commercial use will enter in relatively large batches in containers or hidden as part of another shipment, whereas imports for personal use tend to be small and carried in personal luggage or sent through the post.

Where there is no risk of discovery, there is no incentive to abide by the regulations on imports which inevitably bear some cost in terms of time, trouble and often out-of-pocket expenses. It is important for legal importing to be relatively easy and not overly expensive compared with the value of the import. It is important to have clear policies on permitted levels and types of personal imports, and there should be clear signage on this at the points of arrival (e.g. at airports, seaports and land border posts). Some countries provide disposal bins for passengers to voluntarily surrender non-permitted items before entering the country.

There must be a system of checks, either random or targeted, which should have the ability to detect illegal batches. This will often require working with customs authorities at border posts, seaports and airports. Sniffer dogs are good at detecting meat and other animal products.

A significant driver for the import of live animals or animal products is price differentials. If a commodity fetches a higher price in country A, there will be an incentive to send it from country B despite it being illegal, and particularly if country B neighbours country A. It is not possible for veterinary authorities to influence the cost of commodities directly, but