S.I. No. 317/1976:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (FRESH POULTRY MEAT) REGULATIONS, 1976.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (FRESH POULTRY MEAT) REGULATIONS, 1976.

I, MARK CLINTON, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), hereby make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Fresh Poultry Meat) Regulations, 1976, and shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1977.

2. In these Regulations--

"assistant" means a person appointed by the Minister to act as assistant to an official veterinarian;

"authorised officer" means a person appointed by the Minister pursuant to Regulation 10 to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations;

"the Council Directive" means Council Directive No. 71/118/EEC of 15 February, 1971¹ (as amended by Council Directive No. 75/431/EEC of 10 July, 1975²);

¹ OJ No. L55/23, 8/3/1971, p. 106.

² OJ No. L192/6, 24/7/1975.

"fresh poultry meat'" means all parts--

( a ) which are fit for human consumption, and

( b ) which have not undergone any preserving process ( other than chilling or freezing),

of domestic animals of the following species:-- fowls, turkeys, guinea fowls, ducks and geese;

any reference to sale includes a reference to barter, offer or expose for sale and invitation to buy;

"Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries;

"official veterinarian" means a person appointed by the Minister to discharge the functions assigned to an official veterinarian by the Directive.

3. (1) Fresh poultry meat which is intended to be exported to a Member State or has been imported shall not be sold unless it complies with the provisions of the Council Directive.

(2) Fresh poultry meat shall not be exported to a Member State or imported unless it complies with the provisions of the Council Directive.

(3) Without prejudice to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Regulation, fresh poultry meat which has been imported shall not be sold if it is found, on examination by an authorised officer in the State, to be unfit for human consumption or not to comply with Articles 3, 8 or 14 of the Council Directive.

4. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), fresh poultry meat shall not be sold in the State unless it complies with the provisions of the Council Directive.

(2) ( a ) This Regulation shall not come into operation until the 15th day of August, 1981, in respect of the sale of fresh poultry meat by poultry producers whose normal average weekly production does not exceed 100 birds, provided--

(i) such sales are directly to the final consumer at markets held in the closest location to the producer's land or premises, or

(ii) such sales are to retailers who carry on business in the same county as the producer or in an adjoining county and the retailer sells directly to the final consumer.

( b ) The sales referred to in paragraph 2 (a) of this Regulation shall not include itinerant sale, sale by mail order or, as regards the retailer, sale on a market.

5. (1) The Minister may, for the purpose of Article 5 of the Directive, approve slaughterhouses or cutting premises in respect of which he is satisfied that the relevant provisions of the Council Directive are complied with, and no person shall operate a slaughterhouse or cutting premises without such approval.

(2) The Minister may, if he is not satisfied that the relevant provisions of the Council Directive are complied with in respect of a slaughterhouse or cutting premises, refuse to approve such slaughterhouse or cutting premises, or revoke any approval already given pursuant to this Regulation.

(3) The Minister shall not--

( a ) revoke an approval given under this Regulation, or

( b ) refuse an application for approval pursuant to this Regulation, without--

(i) notifying the holder of, or applicant for, the approval of his intention to revoke or refuse the approval, as the case may be,

(ii) specifying his reasons for the revocation or refusal, as the case may be, or

(iii) affording the holder of, or applicant for, the approval an opportunity of making representations to the Minister in relation to the proposed revocation or refusal, as the case may be.

6. (1) Fresh poultry meat shall not be stored in a cold store situated outside an approved slaughterhouse or cutting premises unless that cold store has been approved for that purpose by the Minister.

(2) The Minister shall not--

( a ) revoke an approval given under this Regulation, or

( b ) refuse an application for approval pursuant to this Regulation, without--

(i) notifying the holder of, or applicant for, the approval of his intention to revoke or refuse the approval, as the case may be,

(ii) specifying his reasons for the revocation or refusal, as the case may be, or

(iii) affording the holder of, or applicant for, the approval an opportunity of making representations to the Minister in relation to the proposed revocation or refusal, as the case may be.

7. Fresh poultry meat shall not be transported unless the vehicles or containers in which the fresh poultry meat is carried comply with the provisions of the Council Directive.

8. (1) A person who contravenes Regulations 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(2) Any person who obstructs an authorised officer, an official veterinarian or an assistant in the discharge of his duties shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

9. (1) Subject to the provisions of the Council Directive, the Minister may exempt slaughterhouses and cutting premises--

( a ) from the provisions of Annex I, chapters I and II of the Council Directive until the 15th day of August, 1977,

( b ) from the provisions in the Council Directive relating to the supervision of slaughterhouses and cutting premises and to ante mortem and post mortem inspections until the 15th day of August, 1979,

( c ) from the provisions of Annex I, chapter V of the Council Directive until the 15th day of August, 1981.

(2) Where any of the exemptions specified in paragraph (1) of this Regulation are granted, use of the health marking provided for in Annex I, chapter X of the Council Directive shall be prohibited.

10. (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many of his officers as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer and when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by these Regulations shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

11. An authorised officer may at all reasonable times enter--

( a ) any premises in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that poultry from which fresh poultry meat is derived are slaughtered or prepared for sale in the State or export to a Member State or kept for sale in the State or export to a Member State, or

( b ) any railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel or aircraft in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that fresh poultry meat is being transported for sale in the State or export to a Member State, or kept for the purposes of such transport.

and there or at any other place--

(i) make such examinations, tests and inspections, and

(ii) take such reasonable samples (without payment) of any fresh poultry meat which he finds in the course of his inspection,

as he may consider appropriate for the purposes of these Regulations and the Council Directive.

12. An officer of customs and excise may detain and seize any fresh poultry meat being exported to a Member State, or being attempted to be imported or exported, in contravention of these Regulations and may for that purpose open any package containing or suspected by him to contain fresh poultry meat, and the provisions of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, relating to the condemnation and disposal of goods seized under that Act shall apply and have effect in relation to all articles seized under this Regulation as if the articles had been seized under that Act.

13. If any person fraudulently--

( a ) tampers with any fresh poultry meat so as to procure that any sample of it taken under these Regulations does not correctly represent the meat, or

( b ) tampers or interferes with any sample taken under these Regulations,

he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

14. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

15. (1) There shall be charged such fees in respect of services parformed by the Minister or an officer of the Minister in connection with matters to which these Regulations relate as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(2) Fees under these Regulations shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister.

(3) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879 (1879, C. 58), shall not apply in respect of fees under these Regulations.

16. The European Communities (Fresh Poultry Meat) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 129 of 1973 ), and the European Communities (Fresh Poultry Meat) Regulations, 1975 ( S.I. No. 176 of 1975 ), are hereby revoked.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 31st day of December, 1976.

MARK CLINTON,

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Regulations give statutory effect to the provisions of the EEC Council Directives on health problems affecting trade in fresh poultry meat. These Directives specify conditions under which fresh poultry meat of domestic fowls, turkeys, guinea-fowls, ducks and geese for human consumption may be marketed in home or intra-community trade.