56.—(1) The Licensing Authority may—
(a)licence any occupier of premises to use the premises for any use in connection with—
(i)the collection or transport of specified risk material; or
(ii)the rendering or incineration of specified risk material, or any other manner of disposal or destruction of specified risk material; and
(b)license any occupier of a slaughterhouse or cutting premises to use the slaughterhouse or cutting premises in connection with—
(i)the removal referred to in regulation 36(1) above of vertebral column or regulation 37 above of spinal cord; or
(ii)the removal referred to in regulation 45(1)(a) above of the spinal cord, or any part of the spinal cord, from the vertebral column of a sheep or goat,
subject to such conditions as the Authority believes are necessary to ensure the occupier of the slaughterhouse or cutting premises is able to comply with the requirements of Part A of Annex XI to the Community TSE Regulation and these Regulations which apply to the use concerned.
(2) On an application made by an occupier of any premises to the Licensing Authority for a licence under this regulation, the Authority shall grant the occupier a licence if it is satisfied that—
(a)the occupier has in place facilities, procedures and methods of operation sufficient for him to be able to comply with such of the requirements the observance of which Member States are required to ensure under Part A of Annex XI to the Community TSE Regulation which apply to the use of the premises to which the application relates;
(b)in respect of an application for a licence to use premises in connection with rendering of specified risk material, the premises have the facilities specified in Part I of Schedule 5 below sufficient to enable the occupier of the premises to render the specified risk material at the premises by one of the methods specified in Part II of that Schedule; and
(c)there is no significant risk that inspection on behalf of the Authority of the use of the premises will be hampered or denied.
(3) In considering applications for a licence for the purposes of this regulation the Licensing Authority may (in addition to any other relevant matters) have regard to the need for the efficient enforcement of this Part of these Regulations.
(4) In this Part of these Regulations—
(a)in relation to premises licensed under—
(i)the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995;
(ii)premises which are licensed under the Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995(1);
(iii)premises which are licensed under the Wild Game Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995(2);
(iv)combined premises as defined in the Meat Products (Hygiene) Regulations 1994(3); and
(v)combined premises as defined in the Minced Meat and Meat Preparations (Hygiene) Regulations 1995(4),
“the Licensing Authority” is the Agency or the Secretary of State;
in relation to any other premises, “the Licensing Authority” is the Secretary of State;
“licensed collection centre” means premises used for any use in connection with the collection or transport of specified risk material which its occupier is licensed by the Licensing Authority under this Part of these Regulations to use for a purpose which would otherwise be subject to a prohibition by this Part of these Regulations;
“licensed incinerator” and “licensed rendering plant” means an incinerator or, as the case may be, a rendering plant, which its occupier is licensed by the Licensing Authority under this Part of these Regulations to use for a purpose which would otherwise be subject to a prohibition by this Part of these Regulations; and
“licensed slaughterhouse” and “licensed cutting premises” means a slaughterhouse or, as the case may be, cutting premises, which its occupier is licensed by the Licensing Authority under this Part of these Regulations to use for a purpose which would otherwise be subject to a prohibition by this Part of these Regulations.