PART 5Administration
Notifications and authorisations
30. Any notification or authorisation must be in writing, may be subject to conditions and may be amended, suspended or revoked by further notice in writing at any time.
Enforcement authorities
31. In these Regulations the enforcement authorities are local authorities and port health authorities.
Enforcement
32.—(1) At a border inspection post these Regulations are enforced—
(a)in relation to animals by the Welsh Ministers; and
(b)in relation to products by the local authority.
(2) Outside a border inspection post, in relation to animals they are enforced by the local authority.
(3) Outside a border inspection post, in relation to products they are enforced by—
(a)the local authority; or
(b)by the Food Standards Agency at any cutting plant, game-handling establishment or slaughterhouse, or premises at which the Agency enforces the Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006().
(4) In addition, in relation to products they are enforced by a general customs official in any place (other than the inspection facilities in a border inspection post) where goods are subject to customs supervision by that official under Articles 37 and 38 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code.
(5) The Welsh Ministers may direct, in relation to cases of a particular description or a particular case, that the Welsh Ministers may discharge any duty imposed on a local authority under this regulation.
(6) An officer of an enforcement authority who, when exercising any statutory function, discovers at any place under customs supervision a product that may have been brought in in breach of these Regulations must notify a general customs official and detain the consignment or product until such officer takes charge of it.
Powers of entry
33.—(1) An authorised officer of the Welsh Ministers or an enforcement authority may, on producing a duly authenticated authorisation if required, enter any premises at any reasonable hour for the purpose of enforcing these Regulations; and in these Regulations “premises” (“mangre”) includes any place, vehicle, trailer, container, stall, moveable structure, ship or aircraft.
(2) The officer may be accompanied by such other persons as the officer considers necessary, including any representative of the European Commission.
(3) Admission to any premises used only as a private dwellinghouse may not be demanded as of right unless the entry is in accordance with a warrant granted under this regulation.
(4) If a justice of the peace, on sworn information in writing, is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for entry into any premises for any purpose in paragraph (1) and that either—
(a)admission to the premises has been refused, or a refusal is anticipated, and that notice of the intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier; or
(b)an application for admission, or the giving of such 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 signed warrant authorise an authorised officer to enter the premises, if need be by reasonable force.
(5) A warrant granted under this regulation continues in force for one month.
(6) An officer who enters any unoccupied premises must leave them as effectively secured against unauthorised entry as they were before entry.
Powers of authorised officers
34. An authorised officer of the Welsh Ministers or an enforcement authority may—
(a)inspect and examine any animal;
(b)inspect any product, or genetic material, including its packaging, seals, marking, labelling and presentation, and any plant or equipment used for or in connection with it;
(c)have access to, and inspect and copy any documents or records (in whatever form they are held), and remove them to enable them to be copied;
(d)have access to, inspect and check the operation of any computer and any associated apparatus used in connection with the records; and may require any computer records to be produced in a form in which they may be taken away;
(e)seize and retain anything required as evidence in proceedings under these Regulations;
(f)open any bundle, package, packing case, or item of personal luggage, or require any person in possession of or accompanying the same to open it and inspect the contents;
(g)take samples of any animal or product for laboratory tests, for checking against any relevant document relating to the animal or product or otherwise for checking compliance with these Regulations or any condition of import enforced by these Regulations.
Consignments from another member State constituting a risk to health
35.—(1) If an animal or genetic material brought in from another member State constitutes a serious risk to human or animal health or comes from a region contaminated by an epizootic disease, an officer of the Welsh Ministers may serve a notice on the person appearing to be in charge of the animal or genetic material requiring that person—
(a)to detain and isolate—
(i)the animals;
(ii)any animals with which they have been in contact; and
(iii)the genetic material;
and take such further action as may be specified in the notice for the purpose of preventing the introduction or spreading of disease; or
(b)without delay, to slaughter an animal, or, in the case of genetic material, destroy it, in accordance with such conditions as may be specified in the notice.
(2) An officer of the Welsh Ministers who knows or suspects that animals or genetic material do not comply with the provisions of Article 3 of Council Directive 90/425/EEC, may, if animal health and welfare considerations so permit, give the person in charge of the consignment or the person appearing to be in charge of those animals or genetic material by way of notice the choice of—
(a)where the cause of non-compliance is the presence in animals of residues in excess of that permitted under regulation 9 of the Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) Regulations 1997(), maintaining the animals under supervision until the residue levels fall to the levels permitted by the legislation;
(b)slaughtering the animals or destroying the genetic material in accordance with such conditions as may be specified in the notice; or
(c)returning the animals or genetic material to the member State of despatch, with the authorisation of the competent authority of the member State of despatch and with prior notification to any member State of transit.
(3) If the consignment fails to comply only by reason of an irregularity in respect of the required consignment documentation, the officer may not serve such a notice unless—
(a)the officer has given the person in charge of the consignment a notice requiring the production of the required documentation within seven days and to detain the consignment in accordance with the terms of the notice; and
(b)the required documentation has not been produced within that time.
(4) If a notice served under this regulation is not complied with an inspector may seize any animal or genetic material to which it relates, and arrange for the requirements of the notice to be complied with at the expense of the person on whom the notice was served.
Obstruction
36. No person may—
(a)intentionally obstruct any person acting in the execution of these Regulations;
(b)without reasonable cause, fail to give any person acting in execution of these Regulations any assistance or information that that person may reasonably require for the purpose of carrying out functions under these Regulations; or
(c)furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any information knowing it to be false or misleading.
Exchange of information
37.—(1) The Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, a general customs official and any enforcement authority may exchange information for the purposes of these Regulations, and may divulge information to the enforcement authorities in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland for the purposes of this Part or the equivalent legislation in those jurisdictions.
(2) Paragraph (1) is without prejudice to any other power of the Commissioners, any general customs official or any enforcement authority to disclose information.
(3) No person, including a servant of the Crown, may disclose any information received from the Commissioners or a general customs official under paragraph (1) if—
(a)the information relates to a person whose identity—
(i)is specified in the disclosure; or
(ii)can be deduced from the disclosure;
(b)the disclosure is for a purpose other than the purposes specified in paragraph (1); and
(c)the Commissioners have not given their prior consent to the disclosure.
Fees
38. The Welsh Ministers may charge a reasonable fee in relation to any activity relating to trade between member States in animals or genetic material under these Regulations, and the consignor’s representative and the person in charge of the animal or the genetic material are jointly and severally liable for that fee().
Offences
39. Breach of the following provisions is an offence—
Provision | Description of the offence |
---|
regulation 5(1) | Consigning an animal or genetic material without a health certificate |
regulation 5(2) | Failing to keep a certificate for at least three years |
regulation 6(5) | Signing a certificate without being authorised by the Welsh Ministers |
regulation 6(6) | Signing a certificate knowing it to be false, or not believing it to be true |
regulation 7 | Notification |
regulation 13 | Importation other than at a border inspection post |
regulation 14 | Notification |
regulation 15(1) | Failing to present a consignment for inspection |
regulation 15(2) | Failing to comply with a notice |
regulation 16(1) | Removal from a border inspection post without a CVED |
regulation 16(2) | Failing to transport a consignment to the place specified in the CVED |
regulation 17 | Movement other than under Customs supervision and failure to notify the Welsh Ministers |
regulation 28 | Bringing a non-compliant product into a warehouse etc. |
regulation 29(2) | Bringing in an animal or product in breach of a declaration |
regulation 36 | Obstruction |
regulation 37(3) | Disclosure of information |
Schedule 2: | |
paragraph 5(1) | Trading in apes |
paragraph 6(2) | Keeping records |
paragraph 6(3) | Notification of movement |
paragraph 7 | Movement of animal by-products |
paragraph 8(2) | Slaughter of animals |
paragraph 8(3) | Keeping animals at their place of destination |
paragraph 9(2) | Transport of birds to approved quarantine facilities or centres |
paragraph 9(3) | Release of birds from quarantine |
paragraph 11 | Use of a certificate relating to ships' stores |
Schedule 3 paragraph 4(3) | Destruction or redispatch in accordance with the authorisation |
Offences by bodies corporate
40.—(1) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under these Regulations, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of—
(a)any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or
(b)any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,
that person as well as the body corporate is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation “director” (“cyfarwyddwr”), in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.
Offences by partnerships and unincorporated associations
41.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under these Regulations alleged to have been committed by a partnership or an unincorporated association may be brought in the name of the partnership or association.
(2) For the purposes of such proceedings—
(a)rules of court relating to the service of documents are to have effect as if the partnership or association were a body corporate;
(b)section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925() and Schedule 3 to the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980() apply in relation to the partnership or association as they apply in relation to a body corporate.
(3) A fine imposed on a partnership or association on its conviction for an offence under these Regulations is to be paid out of the funds of the partnership or association.
(4) Where an offence under these Regulations committed by a partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, that partner (as well as the partnership) is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
For these purposes, “partner” (“partner”) includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
(5) Where an offence under these Regulations committed by an unincorporated association is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the association, that officer (as well as the association) is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(6) For these purposes, “officer” (“swyddog”) means an officer of the association or a member of its governing body, or a person purporting to act in such capacity.
Penalties
42.—(1) A person guilty of an offence of disclosure in breach of regulation 37(3) (disclosure of information) is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both;
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, to a fine or to both.
(2) A person guilty of any other offence under these Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
Revocations
43.—(1) The following are revoked—
(a)the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996 insofar as they relate to Wales();
(b)the Fresh Meat (Import Conditions) Regulations 1996 insofar as they relate to Wales();
(c)the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations 1997 insofar as they relate to Wales();
(d)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Wales) Regulations 2006();
(e)the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (Wales) Regulations 2007().
(2) Schedule 4 makes amendments consequential to these Regulations.