S.I. No. 202/1998:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (VETERINARY INSPECTION FEES) REGULATIONS, 1998.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (VETERINARY INSPECTION FEES) REGULATIONS, 1998.

I, JOE WALSH, Minister for Agriculture and Food, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 96/43/EC⁽¹⁾ of 26 June 1996, hereby make the following Regulations:--

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L162 of 1.7.1996, p.1

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Veterinary Inspection Fees) Regulations, 1998.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 6th day of July, 1998.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

"authorised officer" means--

(a) a person who, for the time being, stands appointed under Regulation 11, or

(b) an inspector;

"border inspection post" means a border inspection post listed in Commission Decision No. 97/778/EC⁽²⁾ of 22 July 1997, as last amended by Commission Decision No. 98/166/EC⁽³⁾ of 17 February 1998 and situated in the State;

⁽²⁾O.J. No. L313 of 19.11.1997, p.15

⁽³⁾O.J. No. L62 of 3.3.1998, p.29

"the Council Directive" means Council Directive No. 96/43/EC of 26 June 1996;

"import" means brought directly into the State from a third country by any means whatsoever and intended for final destination within the State or any other Member State;

"importer" means any person who, whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent or broker, is in possession of or in

any way entitled to the custody or control of any imported animal;

"inspector" means an inspector within the meaning of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966 (No. 6 of 1966);

"Member State" means a Member State of the European Community;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture and Food;

"third country" means a country which is not a Member State.

(2) In these Regulations a reference to a Regulation or Schedule is to a Regulation of or Schedule to these Regulations, unless it appears that reference to some other provision is intended.

(3) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Council Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning in these Regulations that it has in the Council Directive.

3. (1) The Minister shall charge and levy a fee, to be paid by the importer, on each consignment of animals imported directly into the European Community from a third country at a border inspection post.

(2) The consignments of animals and the rates of fees to be charged are specified in the First Schedule.

(3) A fee under this Regulation shall fall due and is payable on the date on which the consignment is checked at the border inspection post and approved for entry into the European Community by an inspector.

(4) The inspector shall not release the consignment for circulation into the European Community until the fee due under this Regulation has been paid.

4. (1) The Minister shall charge and levy a fee, to be paid by the operator or owner of the establishment concerned, in relation to the controls carried out on live animals and products provided for in Council Directive No. 96/23/EC⁽⁴⁾ of 29 April 1996.

⁽⁴⁾O.J. No. L125 of 23.5.1996, p.10

(2) The animals and products concerned and the rates of fees to be charged are specified in the Second Schedule.

(3) For the purposes of the application of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, the establishment shall be--

(a) in the case of the fees provided for in point 1 of the Second Schedule, the slaughterhouse concerned,

(b) in the case of the fees provided for in point 2 of the Second Schedule, the raw milk collection establishment concerned.

5. (1) A fee due and payable to the Minister by a person under these Regulations may be recovered from him by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) A fee paid to the Minister under these Regulations shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance.

(3) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply to fees under these Regulations.

6. (1) The Minister may, in respect of such period as may be specified by him, prepare a certificate (referred to subsequently in these Regulations as "a certificate of indebtedness") for any establishment in respect of which fees under Regulation 4 became due during that period.

(2) A certificate of indebtedness for an establishment shall specify the operator or owner of the establishment and the amount of the fees that became due by such operator or owner under Regulation 4 during the period concerned in respect of the establishment.

7. A copy of a certificate of indebtedness shall be served on the person to whom it relates and, where such a certificate is so served--

(a) the amount of the fees specified therein shall be payable by the person to the Minister not later than 14 days from the date of the service of the certificate unless, within that period, the person shows to the satisfaction of the Minister either that no such fees or fees of amounts other than those specified in the certificate are payable by him to the Minister in respect of the period to which the certificate relates,

(b) if the person shows pursuant to paragraph (a) of this Regulation that an amount other than the amount specified in the certificate is payable by him, the amount so shown shall be payable by him to the Minister in accordance with paragraph (a) of this Regulation and if any sum in excess of the latter amount has been paid by the person to the Minister pursuant to the certificate, that sum shall be repaid by the Minister to the person,

(c) if, at any time after the service of the copy of the certificate on the person, the Minister becomes satisfied that an amount other than the amount specified in the certificate is payable by the person, the Minister may complete another certificate of indebtedness (a copy of which shall be served on the person) specifying the first-mentioned amount and that certificate shall be deemed to be in substitution for the first-mentioned certificate and this Regulation shall apply and have effect accordingly in relation to it, and any amount paid to the Minister pursuant to the first-mentioned certificate shall be deemed to have been paid pursuant to the other certificate.

8. In any proceedings, a certificate of indebtedness shall be evidence until the contrary is proved of the matters stated therein and a document purporting to be such a certificate and to be signed by an officer of the Minister and bearing an indorsement that purports to be signed by that officer and states that a copy of the certificate was served on the person to whom the certificate relates shall be deemed, until the contrary is shown, to be such a certificate and to have been served on that person and it shall not be necessary to prove that the person purporting to have signed the certificate was an officer of the Minister or that he was duly authorised by the Minister to sign the certificate.

9. A copy of a certificate of indebtedness may be served on a person--

(a) if the person is an individual--

(i) by delivering it to him, or

(ii) by sending it to him by post addressed to him at his usual or last known place of residence or business, or

(iii) by leaving it for him at a place referred to in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph,

(b) if the person is a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons, by sending it to the body by post to, or addressing it to and leaving it at, in the case of a company, its registered office (within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963 ) and, in any other case, its principal place of business.

10. (1) Where the whole or part of a fee payable by a person to the Minister under these Regulations is not paid within the time specified in Regulation 7, the Minister may charge and levy on the person, and if the Minister does so, the person shall pay to the Minister, interest at the rate of 15 per cent. per annum on the amount unpaid of the fee in respect of the period during which that amount remains unpaid after the time at or before which it was required by Regulation 7 to be paid.

(2) The Minister may, in relation to any period in respect of which interest is payable by a person to him under paragraph (1) of this Regulation, prepare a certificate (referred to subsequently in these Regulations as "an interest certificate") specifying the name and address of the person, the amount of the interest, the amount of the fees concerned, the period to which the interest relates and the establishment and period to which the fees relate.

(3) Regulations 7, 8 and 9 shall apply to an interest certificate as they apply to a certificate of indebtedness with the modification that references in Regulation 7 to fees shall be construed as references to interest and with any other necessary modifications.

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

(2) An authorised officer, when exercising any power conferred on him by these Regulations, shall, if so requested by any person affected, produce evidence in writing of his appointment as an authorised officer or inspector.

12. (1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Council Directive--

(a) at all reasonable times, enter any premises or place, and any vehicle, wagon, vessel, aircraft or other means of transport (other than a premises, place or means of transport consisting of a dwelling or other than so much thereof as consists of a dwelling) where he reasonably suspects that there are or have been any animals or products to which these Regulations or the Council Directive apply or applies,

(b) there or at any other place, examine and inspect any such animal or product,

(c) require any person at the premises or place or on or in the means of transport and the owner or person in charge thereof and any person employed in connection therewith to give to him such information and to produce to him such books, certificates, documents and other records as he may reasonably require for the purposes of such functions.

(2) A person who obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power or, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement, under this Regulation or who in purported compliance with such a requirement gives information to an authorised officer that he knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both.

(3) An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

FIRST SCHEDULE

(Regulation 3)

⁽⁵⁾ O.J. No. L268 of 14.9.1992, p.54

SECOND SCHEDULE

(Regulation 4)

1. Live animals for slaughter and meat covered by Chapter 1 of Annex A to the Council Directive £1.08 per tonne of slaughtered meat

2. Milk and milk products £0.016 per 1,000 litres of raw milk

3. Egg products and honey The amount corresponding to the actual cost of the control.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 15th day of June, 1998.

JOE WALSH,

Minister for Agriculture and Food.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations implement Council Directive 96/43/EC of 26 June 1996 amending and consolidating Directive 85/73/EC in order to ensure financing of veterinary inspections and controls on live animals and certain animal products insofar as that Directive requires charges to be applied in relation to--

(a) imports of animals from third countries, and

(b) testing carried out under Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products.

The Regulations also provide for the approval of authorised officers to enforce the Regulations, the prosecution of offences, and the level of fees to be charged.