Originally from: mona parr
                        
Standstill rule 'to be slashed'Source: FWi 20 January 2003
By James Garner

THE 20-day standstill rule is set to be reduced to six days, farm leaders

believe.

Food and farming minister Lord Whitty is due to make an announcement by the end of next week, confirmed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Although there has been no firm decision, he is expected to pave the way for a six-day standstill to take effect from the beginning of March.

It will form part of a new movement regime which will make it easier for farmers to trade livestock during the spring.

Initial findings from a risk-analysis study, commissioned by the government last year, appear to point in favour of a six-day standstill.

Robert Forster, chief executive of the National Beef Association, said he believed Defra was "very nervous" about the rule change, but he expected it to be adopted.

However, it might not be the end of the 20-day rule for good.

It is expected that new movement rules will also allow stricter biosecurity measures to be introduced if Britain\x{2019}s borders are threatened again by foot-and-mouth.

Mr Forster said he would support a six-day standstill, describing it as a "massive concession" should it happen.

"We will live with it. But high levels of compliance are imperative and there must be tough punishment for all rule-breakers.\x{201D}

David Brown, secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers\x{2019} Association, said isolation rules for livestock, as used in Scotland, had moved off the agenda.

"We can live with six-day restrictions \x{2013} it allows markets to trade every week. We would prefer nothing at all, but we realise it will not return to how it was before."

The National Farmers' Union still wants the standstill removed, but its views have softened in favour of a six-day movement ban.

Les Armstrong, the organisation\x{2019}s livestock committee chairman, said a six-day standstill would be an acceptable solution.

"I can't see why we can\x{2019}t move to nil by the mid-summer if farmers can demonstrate that this is working."

It is expected that farmers will also have to improve other biosecurity measures as part of farm health plans.