PART IINTRODUCTION
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 and shall come into operation on 6th December 2002.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations –
“the Agency” means the Food Standards Agency;
“the Animal By-Products Order” means the Animal By-Products Order (Northern Ireland) 2002(1);
“approved rendering premises” means premises approved in accordance with Article 7 of the Animal By-Products Order;
“Article 9 product” means a product from a third country which is first introduced into the relevant territories at one border inspection post but is intended for import via another, as described (in relation to consignments) in Article 9(1) of Directive 97/78/EC, whether or not the product is transhipped or unloaded at the first border inspection post;
“authorised officer” means a person appointed by the Department, the Agency, a district council or by the Commissioners either generally or specially, to act in matters arising under these Regulations, whether or not he is an officer of the Department, the Agency, the district council or the Commissioners;
“border inspection post” means –
premises designated and approved for the time being in accordance with Article 6(2) or 6(4) of Directive 97/78/EC as an inspection post for the carrying out of veterinary checks on products arriving from third countries at the border of a member State;
a border inspection post in the Republic of Iceland or the Kingdom of Norway which is included in the list contained in point 39 in Part 1.2 of Chapter I of Annex I to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992(2), as amended by any decision of the EFTA Surveillance Authority fixing the border inspection posts for the EFTA States which is adopted before the date on which these Regulations were made; and
an inspection post for the carrying out by or on behalf of the authorities of the principality of Andorra or the Faeroe Islands of veterinary checks on products arriving from third countries;
“border inspection post of destination” means the border inspection post via which an Article 9 product is intended for import;
“border inspection post of introduction” means the border inspection post at which an Article 9 product is first introduced into the relevant territories;
“carrier who has charge for the time being” of a product, consignment or part of a consignment includes the driver of any vehicle, the pilot of any aircraft and the master of any vessel (but not the driver of any train) transporting the same;
“certificate of veterinary clearance” means a certificate issued by an official veterinary surgeon or an authorised officer in the form set out as in Part II of Schedule 1;
“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customs and Excise;
“Community establishment of origin” means the premises located in a member State at which a returned product attained the form in which it was originally exported from the relevant territories;
“consignment” means a quantity of products of the same type covered by the same veterinary certificate or veterinary document, or other document provided for by veterinary legislation, conveyed by the same means of transport and coming from the same third country or part of a third country;
“corporate officer” means a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a body corporate, or a person who purports to act in such capacity;
“the Customs Code” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code(3);
“the customs territory of the Community” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Customs Code;
“customs warehouse” means a warehouse which fulfils the conditions of Articles 98 to 113 of the Customs Code, in which goods are stored subject to the customs warehousing procedure referred to in those Articles;
“Decision 93/13/EEC” means Commission Decision 93/13/EEC laying down the procedures for veterinary checks at Community border inspection posts on products from third countries(4);
“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;
“destination establishment” in relation to a product, means the establishment identified in the “Country of destination” entry on the notice of the product’s introduction or presentation pursuant to regulation 17;
“Directive 92/118/EEC” means Council Directive 92/118/EEC laying down animal health and public health requirements governing trade in and imports into the Community of products not subject to the said requirements laid down in specific Community rules referred to in Annex A (I) to Directive 89/662/EEC and, as regards pathogens, to Directive 90/425/EEC(5);
“Directive 97/78/EC” means Council Directive 97/78/EC laying down the principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on products entering the Community from third countries(6);
“documentary check” means the examination of the veterinary certificates or veterinary documents or other documents accompanying a consignment, carried out in accordance with Article 4(3) of Directive 97/78/EC and Annex A to Decision 93/13/EEC;
“fishery products” means all seawater and freshwater animals, whether or not live, including –
aquaculture animals and aquaculture products as defined in Article 2 of Council Directive 91/67/EEC concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products(7),
bivalve molluscs as defined in Article 2(1) of Council Directive 91/492/EEC laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of live bivalve molluscs(8),
echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods, and
fishery products and aquaculture products as defined in Article 2 of Council Directive 91/493/EEC laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of fishery products(9);
but excludes aquatic mammals, reptiles and frogs and parts thereof;
“free circulation” has the same meaning as in Articles 23(2) and 24 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;
“free warehouse” and “free zone” have the same meanings as in Title IV, Chapter 3, Section 1 of the Customs Code;
“hay” means any grass, clover, lucerne or sainfoin which has been dried, either naturally or artificially, and includes any product which is obtained by so drying any grass, clover, lucerne or sainfoin;
“identity check” means a check by visual inspection to ensure that the veterinary certificates or veterinary documents or other documents accompanying a consignment tally with the products comprised in the consignment, carried out in accordance with Article 4(4)(a) of Directive 97/78/EC and Annex A to Decision 93/13/EEC;
“import” as a noun, means release for free circulation within the meaning of Article 79 of the Customs Code;
“import conditions” in relation to a product, means the conditions laid down for the import of that product in any directive, decision or regulation listed in Schedule 2, including –
conditions as to the country or establishment of origin of the product;
specific requirements laid down for the import of that product into a particular member State or a particular area of a member State, and
conditions laid down for the import of that product for specific purposes;
“intermediate storage warehouse” means cold storage facilities approved for intermediate storage of products as referred to in Chapter 10 of Annex I to Directive 92/118/EEC;
“introduce” means bring into; and a person introduces a product into a territory or area, if–
he brings it into that territory or area as its owner;
he brings it into that territory or area as a carrier;
a carrier brings it into that territory or area on that person’s instructions;
but a product on board a means of transport operating internationally and intended for consumption by the crew or passengers of that means of transport is not introduced into a territory or area if it is not unloaded, or if it is transferred directly from one means of transport operating internationally to another at the same port or airport and under supervision, within the meaning of Article 4(13) of the Customs Code, by the Commissioners;
“non-conforming product” means a product which does not comply with the import conditions;
“official veterinary surgeon” means a veterinary surgeon who has participated in a special training programme referred to in Article 27 of Directive 97/78/EC and who is appointed by the Department in accordance with regulation 6(1)(a);
“operator” means –
in relation to a border inspection post, the person who provides premises and other facilities for the carrying out of veterinary checks at that border inspection post; and
in relation to a Community establishment of origin, an intermediate storage warehouse or a destination establishment, the person who occupies the same for the purposes of his business;
“owner” in relation to a product, consignment or part of a consignment, means the person in whom the property in the product, consignment or part is for the time being vested;
“person appearing to have charge” of a product, consignment or part of a consignment means any person, including a carrier, who appears to have possession, custody or control thereof;
“person responsible for” a product, consignment, or part of a consignment means –
until the product, consignment or part first arrives at a border inspection post in Northern Ireland or, in the case of an Article 9 product, or a consignment or part of a consignment of Article 9 products, until it arrives at a border inspection post of destination in Northern Ireland –
the person referred to in Article 38(1) of the Customs Code who brings the product, consignment or part into the customs territory of the Community;
a person referred to in Article 38(2) of the Customs Code who assumes responsibility for the carriage of the product, consignment or part after it has been brought into the customs territory of the Community; and
a person referred to in Article 44(2)(b) of the Customs Code, in whose name the persons referred to in paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) acted;
from the time the product, consignment or part first arrives at a border inspection post in Northern Ireland, or, in the case of an Article 9 product, or a consignment or part of a consignment of Article 9 products, from the time it arrives at a border inspection post of destination in Northern Ireland, until it leaves that first border inspection post, or that border inspection post of destination, as the case may be –
the person referred to in Article 44(2)(b) of the Customs Code in whose name the persons referred to in paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) acted; or
if the product, consignment or part is in temporary storage, as referred to in Article 50 of the Customs Code, the person referred to in Article 51(2) of the Customs Code who holds it in temporary storage; or
if the person referred to in paragraph (b)(i) or (ii), as the case may be, has appointed a representative in his dealings with the custom authorities, within the meaning of Article 5 of the Customs Code, who is given or assumes responsibility for ensuring the product, consignment or part undergoes veterinary checks, that representative; and
after the product, consignment or part leaves that first border inspection post, or, in the case of an Article 9 product, or a consignment or part of a consignment of Article 9 products, after it leaves the border inspection post of destination–
the person who made a customs declaration, within the meaning of Article 64 of the Customs Code, covering the product, consignment or part; or
if no such customs declaration has yet been made, the person capable of making it;
“physical check” means a check on the product itself (which may include checks on packaging and temperature and also sampling and laboratory testing) carried out in accordance with Article 4(4)(b) of, and Annex III to, Directive 97/78/EC and Annex C to Decision 93/13/EEC;
“premises” includes any construction, installation, container or means of transport;
“product” means –
any product of animal origin covered by the directives listed in Schedule 3;
hay; and
straw;
“the regulatory functions” means the functions assigned by these Regulations to authorised officers, official veterinary surgeons, and assistants appointed pursuant to regulation 6;
“relevant document” means any required document and any other veterinary, commercial or other certificate or document relating to a product, including the manifest of any sea-going vessel or aircraft;
“the relevant territories” means an area comprising the territories of the member States, as listed in Annex I to Directive 97/78/EC, the territory of the Republic of Iceland, the territory of the Kingdom of Norway (except Svalbard), the Principality of Andorra and the Faeroe Islands;
“required document” means any original veterinary certificate, original veterinary document or other original document required in relation to a product by virtue of any directive or decision listed in Schedule 2;
“returned product” means a product originally exported from the customs territory of the Community returned there because it has been refused by a third country;
“ships' store” means closed premises referred to in Article 13(1)(c), or a specially approved warehouse referred to in Article 13(2)(a), of Directive 97/78/EC;
“straw” means any green cereal which has been dried either naturally or artificially and includes any product (other than grain) which is obtained by drying any green cereal;
“third country” means a country not comprised in the relevant territories;
“transhipped product” means an Article 9 product which is transhipped or unloaded in the way described (in relation to consignments) in Article 9(1) of Directive 97/78/EC at its border post of introduction;
“transit” means transit from one third country to another, passing through one or more member States, under the external transit procedure referred to in Articles 91 to 97 of the Customs Code;
“transit product” means a product originating in a third country which, according to the information forwarded in advance referred to in Article 3(3) of Directive 97/78/EC, will undergo transit;
“veterinary check” means any check provided for in Directive 97/78/EC including a documentary check, an identity check or a physical check.
(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(10) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(3) Products introduced into Northern Ireland from the Republic of Iceland, other than fishery products, are regarded as introduced from a third country.
(4) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.
Exemptions
3.—(1) These Regulations do not apply to products introduced into Northern Ireland from a third country with the previous written authorisation of the Department as trade samples, for exhibition or for particular studies or analyses.
(2) Part III, with the exception of regulations 15, 21 and 25, and Parts IV to IX do not apply to products whose total weight does not exceed one kilogram introduced into Northern Ireland –
(a)in the personal luggage of a traveller and intended for his personal consumption; or
(b)by post or carrier and addressed to a private individual in the relevant territories otherwise than by way of trade or as a trade sample,
where such products either come from a third country or part of a third country which satisfies the conditions laid down in paragraph (3) or have undergone heat treatment in a hermetically sealed container to an F0 value of 3.00 or more.
(3) The conditions referred to in paragraph (2) are that the third country or part of a third country –
(a)appears on a list of third countries or parts of third countries from which member States shall authorise the importation of the product or products concerned, established by a Community instrument in force on the date on which these Regulations are made; and
(b)is not one from which importation of the product or products concerned is prohibited by any Community instrument in force on that date.
O.J. No. L1, 3.1.94, p. 3
O.J. No. L302, 19.10.92, p. 1, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No. 2700/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. No. L311, 12.3.2000, p. 17)
O.J. No. L9, 15.1.93, p. 33 as last amended by Commission Decision 96/32/EC (O.J. No. L9, 12.1.1996, p. 9)
O.J. No. L62, 15.3.93, p. 49 as last amended by Commission Decision 2001/7/EC (O.J. No. L2, 5.1.2001, p. 27)
O.J. No. L24, 30.1.98, p. 9
O.J. No. L46, 19.2.91, p. 1, as last amended by Council Directive 98/45/EC (O.J. No. L189, 3.7.98, p. 12)
O.J. No. L268, 24.9.91, p.1, as last amended by Council Directive 97/79/EC (O.J. No. L24, 30.1.98, p. 31)
O.J. No. L268, 24.9.91, p. 15, as last amended by Council Directive 97/79/EC (O.J. No. L24, 30.1.98, p. 31)