2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Agriculture Act 1970(1);
“authorised person” means a person (whether or not an officer of the competent authority) who is authorised by the competent authority, either generally or specially, to act in relation to matters arising under these Regulations;
“commercial document” has the same meaning as in article 9 of Directive 95/53;
“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customs and Excise;
“the competent authority” means—
in Great Britain—
in relation to the checking of products for compliance with any Community provision covered by the first indent of Article 2.1(a) of Directive 95/53, insofar as that provision is implemented in the Feedingstuffs (Zootechnical Products) Regulations 1999(2), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain,
for all other purposes, the authority which, by virtue of section 67(1), (1A) or (2) of the Act, has the duty to enforce Part IV of the Act; and
in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland;
“controlled place”, in relation to any product, means any place at which, with the permission of the Commissioners, it may be released for free circulation;
“the customs territory of the Communtity” has the same meaning as in Article 5 of Directive 95/53;
“description of goods” has the same meaning as in box 8 of the document at Annex A to Directive 98/68;
“Directive 95/53” means Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition(3) (with effect from 1st October 1999 as amended by Council Directive 1999/20/EC(4);
“Directive 98/68” means Commission Directive 98/68/EC(5) laying down the standard document referred to in Article 9(1) of Council Directive 95/53/EC and certain rules for checks at the introduction into the Community of feeding stuffs from third countries;
“documentary check” has the meaning given in Article 2.1(b) of Directive 95/53;
“free circulation” shall be construed in accordance with Article 24 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;
“identity check” has the meaning given in Article 2.1(c) of Directive 95/53;
“importer” means, in relation to a product, any person who introduces it into the customs territory of the Community as described in Article 5 of Directive 95/53 and, insofar as, under that Directive, any other person might be a recipient in relation to the product of—
a prohibition and order in accordance with Article 8 thereof, or
a document indicating the type of check carried out and its outcome, in accordance with Article 9 thereof,
also includes any such person.
“inspection” has the meaning given in Article 2.1(a) of Directive 95/53;
“member State” means a member State other than the United Kingdom;
“the Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;
“model document” means a document comprising a single sheet of paper, based on the model contained in Annex A to Directive 98/68, and completed as specified in Annex B to, and not invalidated as specified in Article 1.4 of, that Directive;
“physical check” has the meaning given in Article 2.1(d) of Directive 95/53 and, to the extent that such a check consists in sampling and analysis, means—
in relation to the checking of products for compliance with any Community provision covered and implemented as described in sub-paragraph (a)(i) of the definition in this paragraph of “competent authority”, sampling and analysis carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Feedingstuffs (Zootechnical Products) Regulations 1999,
in relation to the checking of products for compliance with any Community provision covered by Article 2.1(a) of Directive 95/53, insofar as that provision is implemented in the Feeding Stuffs (Establishments and Intermediaries) Regulations 1999(6), sampling and analysis carried out in accordance with the requirements of those Regulations, and
in any other case, sampling and analysis carried out in accordance with the requirements set out in Part IV of the Act as modified in and for the purposes of these Regulations, and as read with regulation 8.
“product” has the meaning given in Article 2.1(e) of Directive 95/53;
“the Scottish Ministers” has the meaning given in section 44(2) of the Scotland Act 1998; and
“third country” means a country other than a member State or the United Kingdom.
(2) In these Regulations—
(a)any reference to a numbered regulation is a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations, and
(b)any reference within a regulation to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in that regulation.