/ Statutory Rule 1998 No. 45
Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
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STATUTORY RULES OF NORTHERN IRELAND
1998 No. 45
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
ANIMALS
Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
Made / 17th February 1998
Coming into operation in accordance with regulation 1(2) and (3)
The Department of Agriculture, being a Department designated[1] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[2] in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Economic Community, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the said section 2(2) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Part I
Introduction
Citation and commencement
1. - (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.
(2) Except as provided by paragraph (3) these Regulations shall come into operation on 23rd March 1998.
(3) Regulations 10 and 11 shall come into operation on 23rd June 1998.
Interpretation
2. - (1) In these Regulations any expressions used have the meaning they bear in Directive 89/662[3] and Directive 90/675[4], and
"aquaculture product" means any product subject to Council Directive 91/67/EEC concerning the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products[5];
"authorised officer" means a person appointed by the Department, or by a district council, to act as such for the purposes of these Regulations;
"bivalve molluscs" means filter-feeding lamellibranch molluscs;
"border inspection post" means the Port of Belfast or Belfast International Airport;
"customs warehouse" has the same meaning as in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code[6];
"Decision 97/778" means Commission Decision 97/778/EC drawing up a list of border inspection posts agreed for veterinary checks on products and animals from third countries, laying down detailed rules concerning the checks to be carried out by the veterinary experts of the Commission and repealing Decision 96/742/EC[7], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 71/118" means Council Directive 71/118/EEC on health problems affecting trade in fresh poultry meat[8], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 72/462" means Council Directive 72/462/EEC on health and veterinary inspection problems upon importation of bovine animals and swine and fresh meat from third countries[9], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 82/894" means Council Directive 82/894/EEC on the notification of animal diseases within the Community[10], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 89/662" means Council Directive 89/662/EEC concerning veterinary checks in intra-Community trade with a view to the completion of the internal market[11], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 90/425" means Council Directive 90/425/EEC concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market[12], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 90/667" means Council Directive 90/667/EEC laying down the veterinary rules for the disposal and processing of animal waste, for its placing on the market and for the prevention of pathogens in feedingstuffs of animal or fish origin and amending Directive 90/425/EEC[13], as amended by Directive 92/118[14];
"Directive 90/675" means Council Directive 90/675/EEC laying down the principles governing the organisation of veterinary checks on products entering the Community from third countries[15], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 91/493" means Council Directive 91/493/EEC laying down the health conditions for the production and placing on the market of fishery products[16], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 92/45" means Council Directive 92/45/EEC on public health and animal health problems relating to the killing of wild game and the placing on the market of wild game meat[17], as read in accordance with Schedule 1;
"Directive 92/118" means Council Directive 92/118/EEC laying down animal and public health requirements governing the 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, as read in accordance with Schedule 3;
"the Department" means the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland;
"Divisional Veterinary Officer" means a Divisional Veterinary Officer of the Department;
"establishment" means any undertaking which produces, stores or processes products of animal origin;
"fishery products" has the same meaning as in Council Directive 91/493/EEC laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of fishery products;
"free zone and free warehouse" have the same meaning as in Article 166 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code;
"import" means brought into Northern Ireland by any means whatsoever but does not include any transhipment of products to which regulation 23 applies;
"importer" means any person who, whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent or broker or otherwise, is in possession of or in any way entitled to the custody or control of any imported product of animal origin;
"Member State" means any Member State of the European Communities other than the United Kingdom;
"New Zealand Equivalence Agreement" means the Agreement and Annexes to the Council Decision 97/132/EC[18] on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and New Zealand on sanitary measures applicable to trade in live animals and animal products;
"official veterinary surgeon", except in regulation 12, means a veterinary surgeon appointed by the Department for the purposes of these Regulations;
"other shell fish" means echinoderms, tunicates or marine gastropods;
"product of animal origin", means -
(a) in relation to trade to which Part III applies -
(i) a product subject to one or more of the Directives listed in Annex A to Directive 89/662 (except for aquaculture products not intended for human consumption); and
(ii) a product in Annex B to Directive 89/662; and
(b) in relation to trade to which Parts IV or V apply -
(i) the products referred to in sub-paragraph (a);
(ii) aquaculture products;
(iii) semen, embryos, ova and hatching eggs referred to in Directive 90/425;
(iv) hay and straw; and
(v) any product controlled by Directive 90/667.
"Regulation 1274/91" means Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 1274/91 introducing detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1907/90 on certain marketing standards for eggs[19] as amended[20];
"third country" means a country or territory outside the European Community.
(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[21] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, goods are in customs temporary storage arrangements if they have been presented to Customs under Articles 50 to 53 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92.
(4) Any reference in these Regulations to a European Community instrument listed in Schedule 1 or 3 is a reference to that Community instrument as amended by the instruments listed in those Schedules as amending it.
(5) Any notice served on a person under these Regulations:
(a) shall be in writing;
(b) shall be subject to such conditions as may be specified therein; and
(c) may at any time be amended, suspended or revoked by a further notice in writing served on the same person.
(6) Any person on whom a notice is served under these Regulations shall comply with the requirements thereof.
(7) These Regulations (other than regulation 5) shall not apply in the circumstances described in Article 14 of Directive 90/675.
Part II
Enforcement
District councils
3. - (1) Each district council shall, whenever the Department so directs, make to the Department a report on the exercise of its functions under these Regulations in such form and containing such particulars as the Department may direct.
(2) The Department may recover from any district council any expenses reasonably incurred by it in making good any default by that district council under these Regulations.
Powers to give directions
4. - (1) The Department shall have the power to give directions in writing to a district council concerning the execution and enforcement by it of any provisions of these Regulations for which that council is responsible.
(2) In the exercise of the functions conferred on it by these Regulations, a district council shall comply with all relevant provisions of a direction given to it under paragraph (1).
(3) Any directions given under paragraph (1) shall, on the application of the Department, be enforceable by mandamus.
Powers of authorised officers
5. - (1) An authorised officer shall, on producing, if required to do so, a duly authenticated document showing his authority, have the power at all reasonable hours to enter any premises for the purposes of ascertaining whether there is or has been on the premises any breach of animal and public health requirements of legislation relating to the importation of products of animal origin to which these Regulations apply or whether there are any products on the premises in respect of which an offence may have been committed under these Regulations.
(2) In enforcing these Regulations an authorised officer shall have the power to -
(a) carry out inspections of premises, plant and equipment used for or relating to products of animal origin, cleaning and maintenance products, procedures used for the production and processing of products of animal origin and the marking, labelling or presentation of those products;
(b) carry out checks on whether staff at any premises comply with the requirements of any legislation relating to animal and public health;
(c) take samples to establish whether or not these Regulations are being complied with and by notice served on the person in charge of any products of animal origin detain those products pending the analysis of those samples;
(d) examine documentary or computer material relevant to his powers under this regulation;
(e) take with him a representative of the European Commission who is acting as an inspector for the purposes of Directives 89/662 or 90/675 or a representative of the New Zealand authorities acting as an inspector under the New Zealand Equivalence Agreement.
(3) If a justice of the peace, on sworn information in writing, is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for the entry into any premises for any of the purposes of this regulation and either -
(a) that admission to the premises has been refused, or a refusal is reasonably apprehended, and that notice of the intention to apply for admission has been given to the occupier; or
(b) that an application for admission, or the giving of such a notice, would defeat the object of the entry, or that the case is one of urgency, or that the premises are unoccupied or the occupier temporarily absent,
the justice may by warrant signed by him, and valid for one month, authorise the authorised officer to enter the premises, if need be by reasonable force.
(4) In this regulation "premises" includes any place, installation, vehicle, container, ship, vessel, boat, craft, hovercraft or aircraft.
(5) Paragraph (2) shall apply to a representative of the New Zealand authorities acting as an inspector under the New Zealand Equivalence Agreement in the same way as it applies to an authorised officer.
Returns
6. - (1) Each district council shall send to the Department, in accordance with any determination made under paragraph (2), a return comprising the following information -
(a) details, categorised by country of origin (and including a description of the product concerned), of all consignments of products of animal origin checked by authorised officers of the council, the importation of which has been refused or which has been re-exported, destroyed or authorised for use other than for human consumption and the reason for such action;
(b) a list of all samples taken by those officers for laboratory analysis for the purposes of these Regulations, the tests carried out in relation thereto and the results of those tests; and
(c) the total number of consignments of products of animal origin checked by those officers and the total weight of those consignments categorised by product and by country of origin.
(2) The Department shall determine how frequently a district council shall make the returns set out in paragraph (1).
Notification of decisions
7. If the consignor or his representative so requests, any decision taken under these Regulations refusing importation of products of animal origin or varying the conditions of importation of such products shall be forwarded to him in writing and shall give the reasons for the decision and the details of that person's rights to challenge the decision, including the relevant time limits.
Part III
Intra-Community Trade
Application of Part III
8. This Part shall apply in relation to -
(a) trade between Northern Ireland and any Member State in products of animal origin originating within the European Communities;
(b) trade between Northern Ireland and any Member State in products of animal origin which -
(i) originate in a third country, and
(ii) are in free circulation in Member States; and
(c) imported fishery products which -
(i) were landed from a third country vessel,
(ii) were caught in their natural environment, and
(iii) have not or had not been on land prior to their importation into the European Communities.
Exports
9. - (1) A person shall not export or consign for export to a Member State any product of animal origin which is covered by one or more of the Regulations specified in Schedule 2 or by Directive 92/118 unless -
(a) it complies with -
(i) the relevant provisions of those Regulations or that Directive;
(ii) any option permitted by any of the Directives specified in Schedule 3 which has been exercised by the Member State of destination; and
(iii) any additional animal or public health requirements of legislation regulating imports into the Member State of destination;
(b) it is accompanied by any documents required by Regulations specified in Schedule 2, by Directive 92/118 or by the Member State of destination;
(c) where Directive 92/118 requires that a computerised system message, fax or telex is transmitted in advance of the export of the product, at least 24 hours' notice of the export has been given to the Department by the exporter; and
(d) if the product is produced, processed, stored in, or supplied from an establishment which, by virtue of regulation 10 or 11, has to be registered or notified, the establishment is so registered or notified.
(2) A person shall not export or consign for export to a Member State any product of animal origin in any case falling outside paragraph (1) unless the product fulfils all the animal or public health requirements of the Member State of destination, including any documentary requirements.
(3) Each person who has control of an establishment shall ensure that all products of animal origin produced, stored or processed in that establishment and intended for export to a Member State comply with the requirements of paragraph (1) or (2).
(4) Where a person exports, or consigns for export, products of animal origin to more than one destination, he shall ensure that they are grouped together in batches by reference to those places of destination, and that all documents required by paragraph (1) or (2) accompany each such batch.
(5) A person shall not export or consign for export to a Member State any product of animal origin specified in Annex B to Directive 89/662 if it cannot lawfully be marketed in Northern Ireland (unless it cannot be so marketed only by reason of a failure to comply with requirements as to labelling).
(6) This regulation shall apply without prejudice to the requirements of the Bovines and Bovine Products (Despatch Prohibition and Production Restriction) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997[22].
Registration of certain establishments which produce, process or store products of animal origin
10. - (1) This regulation shall apply to any establishment which, for the purpose of export or consignment for export to a Member State -
(a) produces or processes any product of animal origin which is covered by Directive 92/118 and which is not already registered or approved under or pursuant to any Community legislation referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 or 13 to 15 of Schedule 3; under the Animal By-Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993[23] or under Regulation 1274/91 and in respect of which there is not a licence issued under Section 8 of the Medicines Act 1968[24]; or
(b) stores any product of animal origin for which Directive 92/118 lays down specific storage requirements.
(2) Any person who has control of an establishment to which this regulation applies shall register that establishment with the Department.
(3) A person who has control of an establishment to which this regulation applies shall give the Department such assurance as to compliance with these Regulations as the Department may require.
(4) The Department shall keep a register of establishments for the purposes of paragraph (2).
(5) The Department may remove an establishment from the register kept under paragraph (4) if it is satisfied that the establishment in question has ceased to comply with the requirements of regulations 9, 10 and 11.
Notification of certain establishments which supply or store products of animal origin
11. - (1) Subject to paragraph (2), this regulation shall apply to any establishment which is not already registered or approved under or pursuant to any Community legislation referred to in paragraphs 1 to 14 of Schedule 3, under the Animal By-Products Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993, under Regulation 1274/91 or under the Medicines Act 1968 and which -
(a) supplies for export or consignment for export to a Member State, or
(b) acts as an intermediate storage facility for,
any product of animal origin covered by Directive 92/118.
(2) This regulation shall not apply in the case of any establishment registered under regulation 10.
(3) Any person with control of an establishment to which this regulation applies shall notify the Department of the name and address of the establishment.
(4) The occupier of an establishment to which this regulation applies shall notify the Department of the name and address of the establishment and shall give to it such assurances as to the compliance with these Regulations as the Department may require.