The Animal Feedingstuffs from Belgium (Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

1999 No. 261

FOOD

The Animal Feedingstuffs from Belgium (Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Made

8th June 1999

Coming into operation

8th June 1999

The Department of Agriculture, being the Department designated(1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2) in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the said section 2(2) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Animal Feedingstuffs from Belgium (Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 8th June 1999.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“authorised officer” means an officer of the Department authorised by it to enforce and execute these Regulations;

“controlled entity” means any creature, product or material which is excluded from the definition of “relevant animal or animal product” in the Food (Animal and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999(3) solely by reason that it is neither food nor a food source;

“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland; and

“the Order” means the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(4).

(2) In these Regulations—

(a) other expressions which are also used in the Order have the same meaning as they have in that Order; and

(b) expressions which are also used in the Food (Animal and Animal Products from Belgium) (Emergency Control) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999 have the same meaning as in that Order.

(3) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(5) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Prohibitions and offences

3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2)—

(a) a person shall not sell any controlled entity, which is not a live creature, for the purposes of its being used to feed to an animal or in the manufacture of a product for such use;

(b) a person shall not possess, offer, expose, advertise, prepare, present, label, wrap, store or transport any such controlled entity for sale for that purpose;

(c) a person shall not consign, deliver or serve any such controlled entity by way of sale for that purpose;

(d) a person shall not derive material from any controlled entity for that purpose; and

(e) a person shall not import or export any controlled entity for that purpose.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not prohibit the bringing into Northern Ireland from a member State of any controlled entity in free circulation in that member State.

(3) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

Enforcement

4.—(1) These Regulations shall be enforced and executed by the Department.

(2) An authorised officer shall have the same powers of entry for the purposes of the exercise of his functions under these Regulations as are bestowed on an officer of a district council or officer of a Northern Ireland Department by Article 33 of the Order for the purposes of the Order or regulations or orders made under the Order.

Application and modification of various provisions of the Order

5.—(1) Article 8 of the Order (Inspection and seizure of suspected food) shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations, subject to the modifications set out in paragraph (2).

(2) The modifications of Article 8 of the Order referred to in paragraph (1) are as follows—

(a) paragraphs (1) and (2) shall extend to any creature, product or material which appears to an authorised officer to come within the definition of “controlled entity” in regulation 2(1); and

(b) paragraphs (3) to (8) shall apply—

(i) to any creature, product or material falling within sub-paragraph (a) as it applies to food which appears to an authorised officer to fail to comply with food safety requirements or to be likely to cause food poisoning or any disease communicable to human beings; and

(ii) to any controlled entity as if it were food which failed to comply with food safety requirements;

(c) paragraphs (3) to (8) shall apply as if—

(i) each reference to human consumption was a reference to animal consumption;

(ii) where a notice under paragraph (3)(a)(i) is given in relation to a live creature, the notice related to material which may come to be derived from the live creature;

(iii) paragraph (6) applies in relation to the destruction or disposal of a live creature so as to prevent any material which may come to be derived from it being used for animal consumption and had effect so that a justice of the peace may only decline to condemn any creature, product or material falling within that paragraph if it is proved to him that it does not comprise a controlled entity; and

(d) any reference to—

(i) a district council or Northern Ireland Department shall be treated as if it were a reference to the Department;

(ii) an officer of a district council or Northern Ireland Department shall be treated as if it were a reference to an authorised officer; and

(e) paragraph (9) shall be omitted.

(3) The following provisions of the Order shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations and any reference in those provisions to the Order shall be construed, for the purposes of these Regulations as a reference to these Regulations—

(a) Article 34 (obstruction etc. of officers);

(b) Article 36(1) (punishment of offences) as far as it relates to offences under Article 34 as applied by sub-paragraph (a);

(c) Article 36(2) in so far as it relates to offences under Article 8 as applied to paragraph (1); and

(d) Article 43 (protection of public analyst acting in good faith).

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture on

L.S.

Liam McKibben

Assistant Secretary

8th June 1999.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations provide for the implementation in Northern Ireland, in relation to animal consumption, of the Commission Decision of 3rd June 1999 on protective measures with regards to contamination by dioxins of certain animal products intended for human or animal consumption.

The Regulations—

(a) define “controlled entity” and prohibit the carrying out of specified operations with respect thereto (regulations 2 and 3);

(b) specify the enforcement authorities (regulation 4); and

(c) apply, with modifications, provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (regulation 5).

Contravention of the regulation 3 prohibitions is an offence punishable on summary conviction by a maximum fine of level 5 on the standard scale or imprisonment for a maximum of three months (regulation 3(3)).

(1)

S.I. 1972/1811

(2)

1972 c. 68

(3)

S.R. 1999 No. 255

(4)

S.I. 1991/762 (N.I. 7) as amended by S.I. 1996/1633 (N.I. 12)

(5)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)