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Update on review of the Animals and Birds Act

Published: 05 Mar 2025 · 16:00 SGT
Author: Ministry of National Development
Source: Ministry of National Development

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Stronger licensing and disease-control requirements could raise compliance considerations for pet businesses, farms and veterinary operators, potentially influencing their premises and operational decisions.

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AVS began reviewing the Animals and Birds Act 1965, including penalties, enforcement powers, higher-risk pet-activity licensing, disease controls and veterinary health-product regulation.

Article · Bilingual archive

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The Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), a cluster of the National Parks Board (NParks), has embarked on a review of the Animals and Birds Act 1965 (the Act) as part of its efforts to strengthen safeguards on public health and safety, as well as animal health and welfare.

Background

The Act was last amended in 2014 via a Private Member’s Bill, as part of a review by the Animal Welfare Legislation Review Committee (AWLRC). The Act covers legislation pertaining to the following areas:

The prevention of the introduction and spread of diseases among animals, birds, and fish in Singapore.
Measures pertaining to the welfare of and the prevention of cruelty to animals, birds, and fish in Singapore.
The control of movement of animals, birds, and fish.

Areas covered under current review of the Act

The current review of the Act, amongst other areas, includes reviewing the (a) enforcement powers and regulatory levers, and (b) the regulatory framework for the prevention and control of animal disease, as well as the regulation of veterinary health products (VHPs). The two areas that are being reviewed are as follows:

a. Reviewing enforcement powers and regulatory levers for animal welfare and management

Some of the areas under review include the penalty framework under the Act, to ensure that it remains effective in deterring acts of animal cruelty and abuse.
For instance, AVS is reviewing the penalties, including fines, imprisonment terms and the disqualification order (DO) regime, as a deterrence for animal cruelty and duty of care offences.
In parallel, AVS is reviewing its enforcement powers to better manage cases with animal welfare issues. Enforcement powers under review include powers in seizure and arrest.
AVS is also reviewing the licensing regime for higher-risk pet-related activities and the use of animal training devices.

b. Reviewing the regulatory framework for prevention and control of animal diseases, and ensuring the quality of veterinary health products

Animal disease prevention and control

AVS is currently reviewing disease control measures and upstream measures for disease prevention, to enable more effective prevention and management of the spread of disease, including those that are novel and emerging.
This includes the reviewing of the penalties to deter illegal import or transshipment of animals, and veterinary biologics.

Veterinary health products (VHPs)

Veterinary health products (VHPs) refer to health products that are manufactured and labelled for animal use only, such as veterinary medicines and animal vaccines.
AVS is reviewing measures to ensure the quality, traceability and safety of VHPs. These could include establishing a licensing regime and a registry of approved VHPs to regulate the supply chain for VHPs effectively.

Continued collaborative approach in the review of the Act

AVS is taking a collaborative approach for this review. Since 2022, we have engaged key stakeholders on the areas of review for animal disease prevention and control, including the regulatory framework for veterinary health products. Through a series of small group discussions with various animal sector stakeholders, such as veterinarians, food animal farms, non-food animal farms, pet-related businesses, pharmaceutical companies and relevant agencies, we have gathered a wide range of suggestions and valuable feedback which we are studying for consideration in the review of the Act. Later this year, AVS will further engage stakeholders such as animal welfare groups, pet shops and veterinarians and other representatives from the pet sector to hear their views and insights in terms of reviewing regulatory levers for animal welfare and management.

This is in line with our continuous efforts in working closely with our stakeholders, to raise standards and better promote the awareness on best practices for animal welfare and to advocate responsible pet ownership amongst the community.