Feeding Stuffs (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Feeding Stuffs Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (S.R. 2001 No.47, as already amended) and the Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/1872, as already amended).

These Regulations implement Article 4 of Directive 2001/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition and Directives 70/524/EC, 96/25/EC and 1999/29/EC on animal nutrition (O.J. No. L 234, 1.9.2001, p. 55). Article 4 repeals Article 12(3) and (4) of Council Directive 1999/29/EC on the undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition. Those provisions contained an obligation on a person in possession of feedingstuffs which contained undesirable substances to inform the competent authorities. This obligation is now provided for in Article 16a of Directive 95/53/EC as inserted by Directive 2001/46/EC.

The Regulations also provide for the enforcement of the following Community Regulations –

(a) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1252/2002 concerning the provisional authorisation of a new additive in feedingstuffs (O.J. No. L183, 12.7.2002, p. 10);

(b) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1876/2002 concerning the provisional authorisation of a new use of an additive in feedingstuffs (O.J. No. L284, 22.10.2002, p. 7); and

(c) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2188/2002 concerning the provisional authorisation of new uses of additives in feedngstuffs (O.J. No. L333, 10.12.2002, p. 5).

The Regulations amend the Feeding Stuffs Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 by –

(i) inserting into regulation 2 a definition of the term “the Enforcement Directive” (regulation 3),

(ii) imposing on those responsible for establishments producing products for animal nutrition an obligation to notify the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and supply them with specified information, if they have evidence that feed materials which they have imported or put into circulation contain certain undesirable substances at levels above the maximum ones prescribed (regulation 4),

(iii) correcting a typographical error in regulation 23(1) (regulation 5), and

(iv) adding three new Commission Regulations to the list of Commission Regulations under which authorisation for the marketing of feed additives has been granted, which is contained in Part IX of the Table to Schedule 3, and making a consequential amendment to the footnote to Part VII of that Table (regulation 6 and the Schedule).

The Regulations also make consequential amendments to the Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999 (regulation 7).