Vets have welcomed a Government bill to set up a registry of practitioners and a disciplinary council.

The Veterinary Practitioners Act 2008 aims to ensure that each practitioner is suitably qualified and complies with professional standards.

Anyone who fails to sign up to the 'Registry of Veterinary Practitioners' is barred from treating sick and injured animals, under penalty of a $5,000 fine or six months' imprisonment.

Veterinary certificate holders under the Agriculture Act 1930 will automatically qualify for the register. Overseas practitioners must either be a member of the UK's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, or hold a 'valid licence' in the US, Canada, European Union or Caribbean Economic Community.

The Act also aims to set up a Veterinary Practitioners Council to promote standards with powers to investigate all allegations of professional misconduct and can summon a vet to give evidence at an enquiry, under oath. The vet has the right to be represented by counsel.

Council members can then decide on disciplinary action. Anyone removed from the register can apply for their name to be restored, and anyone 'aggrieved' by a decision of the council can appeal to the Minister.

The body has powers to monitor professional standards for animal health assistants. It is also responsible for the provisional registration of graduates seeking veterinary experience in Bermuda, for a maximum of six months.

There are categories of exclusion from the Act's powers, including people administering aid to animals in an emergency and visiting vets in certain circumstances.

Bermuda Veterinary Association president Dr. Andrew Madeiros, welcomed the bill. He said vets on the Island had worked for more than a decade in drawing up the Act.

"There are very few regulations for veterinary practitioners. We are pleased this Act is finally moving forward," he said.