Specified Risk Material (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2001

Import of Specified Risk Material

5.  For Article 6 there shall be substituted the following Article—

“Import of specified risk material

6.— (1) A person shall not import into Northern Ireland from any place outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, any specified risk material except where it is to be transported directly to—

(a) licensed premises;

(b) a veterinary or medical school, laboratory, hospital or similar institution for instructional, diagnostic or research purposes; or

(c) in the case of specified risk material imported from another member State—

(i) the premises referred to in regulation 21(1)(a), of the Specified Risk Material Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997(1) for direct consignment therefrom to the premises referred to in regulation 21(1)(d) of those Regulations; or

(ii) the premises referred to in regulation 21(1)(d) of those Regulations.

(2) A person shall not import into Northern Ireland from any place outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, any food or feedingstuff listed in Schedule 1, except food or feedingstuff which—

(a) does not contain specified risk material; and

(b) in the case of any food or feedingstuff that is imported from a third country, is accompanied by a certificate in the form set out in Schedule 2, issued by the appropriate veterinary authority of the place from which the food or feedingstuff was dispatched.

(3) Where specified risk material is imported under paragraph (1), the importer shall ensure that it is transported to its place of destination without delay.

(4) A person shall not be considered to have contravened any prohibition in paragraph (2) where he is able to prove—

(a) where it is alleged that he imported a food or feedingstuff listed in Schedule 1 containing specified risk material, that he did not know or have any reason to believe that the food or feedingstuff imported by him contained any specified risk material;

(b) where it is alleged that he imported a food or feedingstuff listed in Schedule 1 without the certificate referred to in paragraph (2)(b) accompanying it, that the food or feedingstuff was accompanied by a document purporting to be the certificate required by that paragraph, which he did not know or have any reason to believe to be false; and

(c) where it is alleged that he imported a food or feedingstuff listed in Schedule 1 which contained specified risk material and was not accompanied by the certificate referred to in paragraph (2)(b), that he did not know or have reason to believe that the food or feedingstuff contained specified risk material.

(5) It shall be a defence for any person charged with an offence under paragraph (3) to prove that he took all reasonable steps to ensure that the specified risk material to which the charge relates was transported to its place of destination as required by that paragraph.”.

(1)

S.R. 1997 No. 552 as amended by S.R. 1999 No. 157, S.R. 1999 No. 431 and S.R. 2000 No. 295