The Beef and Pig Carcase Classification Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

PART 5 N.I. ENFORCEMENT AND OFFENCES

Powers of entry N.I.

17.—(1) An authorised officer may at any reasonable hour and on producing, if so required, a duly authenticated authorisation, enter an approved slaughterhouse and any associated premises in which carcases may be handled or records relating to those carcases may be kept, for the purpose of ascertaining whether—

(a) any offence under these Regulations is being or has been committed on the premises; or

(b) there is on the premises any evidence of any such offence.

(2) The officer may be accompanied by such other persons as the officer considers necessary, including any representative of the European Commission.

(3) If a lay magistrate, on sworn information in writing, is satisfied that there is reasonable ground for entry into 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 operator; 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 operator temporarily absent,

the lay magistrate may by signed warrant authorise an authorised officer to enter the premises, if need be by reasonable force.

(4) A warrant granted under this regulation continues in operation for 3 months.

(5) An officer who enters any unoccupied premises, or premises in which the operator is temporarily absent, must leave them as effectively secured against unauthorised entry as they were before entry.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 17 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Powers of authorised officers N.I.

18.  An authorised officer entering premises under these Regulations may—

(a) inspect any bovine carcase or pig carcase or part of such a carcase, or any carcase or part of a carcase which the officer reasonably suspects to be a bovine carcase or pig carcase or part of such a carcase, on those premises;

(b) examine any record which an operator is required to keep under regulation 11 or 16 or under the Commission Regulation, and where any such record is kept by means of a computer, have access to and inspect and check the operation of any computer and associated apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with that record;

(c) require that copies of or extracts from any such record be produced and, where such record is kept by means of a computer, require it to be produced in a form in which it may be taken away; and

(d) retain any such record which the officer has reason to believe may be required as evidence in proceedings under these Regulations.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 18 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Enforcement notices N.I.

19.—(1) If the Department (“D”) has reason to believe that a person (“P”) has committed an offence under these Regulations, D may give P a notice (an enforcement notice) in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) An enforcement notice must—

(a) state D’s grounds for believing this;

(b) specify the matter that constitutes the offence;

(c) specify what P must stop doing, or the measure that, in D’s opinion, P must take in order to comply with these Regulations;

(d) require P to stop doing the action specified in the notice, or take the measures specified in the notice, or measures at least equivalent to them, within the period (being not less than 14 days) specified in the notice;

(e) inform P of the right of appeal conferred by regulation 20; and

(f) inform P of the period within which such an appeal may be brought.

(3) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with an enforcement notice is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I3 Reg. 19 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Appeals against enforcement notices N.I.

20.—(1) A person may appeal to a magistrates’ court against an enforcement notice if that person has reason to believe that the notice should not have been given.

(2) A person may appeal within 21 days beginning with the date on which the notice was given.

(3) The procedure is by way of complaint for an order, and the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 applies to the proceedings.

(4) On an appeal the court may either cancel or affirm the notice and, if the court affirms the notice, it may do so either in its original form or with such modifications as the court thinks fit.

Commencement Information

I4 Reg. 20 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: European beef provisions N.I.

21.—(1) Subject to regulation 7, (labelling instead of marking), any person who—

(a) fails to comply with any requirement under a European beef provision; or

(b) contravenes any prohibition contained in a European beef provision,

is guilty of an offence.

(2) But a person falling within paragraph (3) does not commit an offence if that person—

(a) fails to comply with any requirement under a Part 2 European beef provision; or

(b) contravenes any prohibition contained in a Part 2 European beef provision.

(3) A person falls within this paragraph if the person is—

(a) an operator of an approved slaughterhouse which itself bones all the bovine carcases which it obtains; or

(b) responsible for the classification of bovine carcases in such a slaughterhouse.

(4) In this regulation, “Part 2 European beef provision” means a provision of the Commission Regulation which is specified in column 2 of Part 2 of Schedule 1.

Commencement Information

I5 Reg. 21 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: European pig provisions N.I.

22.  Subject to regulation 15, (records instead of marking), any person who—

(a) fails to comply with any requirement under a European pig provision, or

(b) contravenes any prohibition contained in a European pig provision,

is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I6 Reg. 22 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: notifications by operators N.I.

23.  Any person who fails to comply with any requirement of regulation 4 (notifications by operators) is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I7 Reg. 23 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: licences (bovine carcases) N.I.

24.—(1) If classification of a bovine carcase is carried out at an approved slaughterhouse—

(a) without a licence granted under regulation 8, or

(b) in breach of any term or condition of such a licence,

the person who carries out the classification and the operator of that slaughterhouse are each guilty of an offence.

(2) If classification of a bovine carcase is carried out at an approved slaughterhouse by means of automated grading equipment—

(a) without a licence granted under regulation 9 for the use of that equipment at that slaughterhouse, or

(b) in breach of any term or condition of such a licence,

the person who carries out the classification and the operator of that slaughterhouse are each guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person who makes an alteration to a licence granted under regulation 8 or 9 is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I8 Reg. 24 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: records and marks N.I.

25.—(1) Any person who fails to comply with any requirement of regulation 11 (records: bovine carcases) or regulation 16 (records: pigs carcases) is guilty of an offence.

(2) Any person who—

(a) applies to a bovine carcase or part of such a carcase a mark—

(i) prescribed by Article 6(3) of the Commission Regulation, or

(ii) closely resembling a mark prescribed by that provision,

which is likely to mislead;

(b) applies to a pig carcase or part of such a carcase a mark—

(i) prescribed by Article 21(3) of the Commission Regulation, or

(ii) closely resembling a mark prescribed by that provision,

which is likely to mislead;

(c) applies to a label relating to a bovine carcase or part of such a carcase an indication—

(i) prescribed by Article 6(4) of that Regulation, or

(ii) closely resembling an indication prescribed by that provision,

which is likely to mislead; or

(d) applies to a pig carcase or part of such a carcase a label prescribed by the last sub-paragraph of Article 21(3) of the Commission Regulation which is likely to mislead,

is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I9 Reg. 25 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: obstruction etc. N.I.

26.  Any person who—

(a) without reasonable excuse obstructs any person acting under these Regulations,

(b) without reasonable cause, fails to give any person acting under these Regulations any assistance or information that that person may reasonably require for the purpose of carrying out functions under these Regulations,

(c) gives any person acting under these Regulations any information knowing it to be false or misleading, or

(d) fails to produce any document or record when required to do so by any person acting under these Regulations,

is guilty of an offence.

Commencement Information

I10 Reg. 26 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Period for bringing prosecution N.I.

27.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under regulation 19(3), 21, 22, 23, 24, 25(1) or 26 may be brought within a period of 12 months from the date on which the prosecutor first knows of evidence sufficient, in the prosecutor’s opinion, to justify proceedings.

(2) But no such proceedings may be brought more than 18 months from the commission of the offence.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)—

(a) a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which the prosecutor first knew of evidence sufficient to justify the proceedings is conclusive evidence of that fact;

(b) a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed is deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

Commencement Information

I11 Reg. 27 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Defence of due diligence N.I.

28.  It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under these Regulations (“P”) to prove that P took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by P or by a person under P’s control.

Commencement Information

I12 Reg. 28 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Offences: punishment N.I.

29.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under—

(a) regulation 19(3) (enforcement notices);

(b) regulation 21 (European beef provisions);

(c) regulation 22 (European pig provisions);

(d) regulation 23 (notifications by operators);

(e) regulation 24 (licences (bovine carcases));

(f) regulation 25(1) (records); or

(g) regulation 26 (obstruction etc.),

is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 25(2) (misleading marks etc.) is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Commencement Information

I13 Reg. 29 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

Revocation N.I.

30.  The following are revoked—

(a) the 1994 Regulations;

(b) the 2005 Regulations;

(c) the Pig Carcase (Grading) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(1);

(d) the Pig Carcase (Grading) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007(2).

Commencement Information

I14 Reg. 30 in operation at 6.8.2010, see reg. 1

(1)

S.R. 2006 No. 253

(2)

S.R. 2007 No. 271