Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

Review of operation of Act

14.—(1) Each district council—

(a) must keep the operation of this Act in its district under review, and

(b) must provide the Food Standards Agency with such information as it may request for the purpose of carrying out a review under this section.

(2) The Food Standards Agency must, within three years of the commencement of section 1, review the operation of this Act throughout Northern Ireland.

(3) The review must include a consideration of the following matters—

(a) where this Act specifies a period in which something may or must be done, whether that period is adequate for the purpose;

(b) whether section 3 is operating satisfactorily;

(c) whether section 4 is operating satisfactorily and, in particular, whether there should be a limit on the number of occasions on which the right to make a request for a re-rating under that section may be exercised.

(4) The Food Standards Agency may carry out subsequent reviews of the operation of this Act throughout Northern Ireland as and when it considers appropriate.

(5) Having conducted a review under this section, the Food Standards Agency—

(a) must prepare a report of the review, and

(b) must send the report to the Department.

(6) Where, in the light of a review under this section, the Food Standards Agency has recommendations to propose for improvements to the operation of this Act, the report under subsection (5) must specify those recommendations.

(7) The Department must, on receiving the report under subsection (5), publish the report.

(8) The Department must publish its response to the report; and its response must indicate—

(a) whether it proposes to exercise one or more of the powers under sections 1(7), 3(12), 4(12) and 16(1),

(b) in so far as it does so propose, the amendments it proposes to make and its reasons for doing so, and

(c) in so far as it does not so propose, its reasons for not doing so.

(9) The Food Standards Agency must promote the scheme provided for by this Act.