Food (Brazil Nuts) (Emergency Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Application of various provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 and sampling and analysis

5.—(1) 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 19 (offences due to fault of another person);

(b) Article 34 (obstruction, etc., of officers); and

(c) Article 36(1) (punishment of offences), in so far as it relates to offences under Article 34(1) and (2) as applied by sub–paragraph (b).

(2) Article 29 of the Order (procurement of samples) shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the modifications that –

(a) for paragraph (b)(ii) there shall be substituted the following provision –

(ii) is found by him at any premises which he is authorised to enter by virtue of regulation 4(2)(b) of the Food (Brazil Nuts) (Emergency Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003”;

(b) the power to take samples under paragraphs (b) and (d) shall be limited to the taking of samples in accordance with the methods of taking samples described or referred to in Annex I to Directive 98/53/EC;

(c) paragraph (c) shall be omitted; and

(d) for “any of the provisions of this Order or of regulations or orders made under it” in paragraph (d) there shall be substituted “the Food (Brazil Nuts) (Emergency Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003”.

(3) Where, pursuant to Article 29(b) of the Order as applied for the purposes of these Regulations by paragraph (2), an authorised officer has taken a sample of any Brazil nuts, he shall ensure that –

(a) the sample is prepared in accordance with –

(i) paragraphs 1.1, 2 and 3 of Annex II to Directive 98/53/EC, and

(ii) in the case of whole nuts, paragraph 1.2 of that Annex;

(b) an analysis of the sample is carried out at a laboratory which complies with Council Directive 93/99/EEC on the subject of additional measures concerning the official control of foodstuffs(1);

(c) that analysis is carried out as soon as practicable by a suitably qualified analyst in accordance with methods of analysis which –

(i) so far as practicable, comply with paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Annex to Council Directive 85/591/EEC concerning the introduction of Community methods of sampling and analysis for the monitoring of foodstuffs intended for human consumption(2), and

(ii) meet the criteria specified in paragraph 4.3 of Annex II to Directive 98/53/EC as read with the notes thereto; and

(d) the reporting of the result of that analysis –

(i) makes use of the definitions in paragraph 4.1 of Annex II to Directive 98/53/EC, and

(ii) is in accordance with paragraph 4.4 of that Annex.

(4) Before an analyst agrees to analyse a sample in accordance with paragraph (3)(c) he may demand the payment in advance of such reasonable fee as he may require.

(5) An analyst who has analysed a sample in accordance with paragraph (3)(c) shall give to the person by whom it was submitted a certificate which shall both specify the result of the analysis and be signed by the analyst.

(6) In any proceedings under these Regulations, the production by one of the parties of –

(a) a document purporting to be a certificate given by an analyst under paragraph (5); or

(b) a document supplied to him by the other party as being a copy of such a certificate,

shall be sufficient evidence of the facts stated in it unless, in a case falling within sub-paragraph (a), the other party requires that the analyst shall be called as a witness.

(7) Where a sample procured under Article 29 of the Order as applied for the purposes of these Regulations by paragraph (2) has been analysed in accordance with paragraph (3)(b) and (c), the owner shall be entitled on request to be supplied with a copy of the certificate of analysis by the district council.

(8) Nothing in paragraph (3)(c) shall be taken as preventing an analysis being made by a person acting under the analyst’s direction.

(1)

O.J. No. L290, 24.11.93, p. 14

(2)

O.J. No. L372, 31.12.85, p. 50