Pakistan Animal Quarantine (Import and Export of Animals and Animal Products) Ordinance, 1979

This Ordinance regulates the import, export, and quarantine of animals and animal products in and out of Pakistan, mainly to stop diseases from spreading between countries. It applies to the whole of Pakistan and covers a very wide definition of "animal" (including birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals other than humans) and "animal product" (including blood, hides, dairy products, and semen, among many others).

Section 3 lets the Federal Government prohibit, restrict, or regulate the import or export of any animal or animal product likely to spread disease, by notification in the official Gazette, and can attach conditions such as requiring inspection, quarantine, a health certificate, or routing the trade through a specified government agency. Section 4 ties this into the Customs Act, 1969, so customs officers get the same enforcement powers over these notified animals and products as they have over any other prohibited or restricted goods.

Section 6 lists the powers of the Quarantine Officer (a government-authorised veterinarian): inspecting animals and products, deciding how long they stay in quarantine, ordering tests, issuing health certificates, ordering destruction of diseased animals or products, ordering disposal of contaminated bedding or fodder, requiring disinfection of transport vehicles and vessels, approving export quarantine conditions, blocking export of unfit animals or voyages in bad weather, and deporting animals whose import is prohibited, at the importer's expense. Import and export must generally happen through designated points of entry and exit, such as specific airports, the Karachi Harbour, and named land routes.

Section 8 sets penalties: violating the Ordinance, its rules, or a notification is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or a fine up to five thousand rupees, or both, without prejudice to any separate penalty under the Customs Act. Animals or products imported without a valid licence and health certificate, but found disease-free, are disposed of by the Federal Government as prescribed. Section 10 lets an aggrieved person seek revision of a Quarantine Officer's order from the Federal Government within thirty days, after being given a hearing, and Section 11 protects officials from lawsuits for actions taken in good faith.

This is a 1979 law amended in 1985 to add a right to be heard before a revision order is passed; the five-thousand-rupee fine and other figures date from that era, so readers should check the current official text and any rules (referenced in the extract as S.R.O. 1007(I)/80) before relying on specific amounts.