The Food Safety (Fishery Products) (Import Conditions and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1994

Regulation 10

SCHEDULE 5 AMENDMENTS TO THE DEROGATIONS REGULATIONS

1.—(1) In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 of the Derogations Regulations (interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “the Council Directive”, after the words “fishery products” there shall be inserted the words “, as adapted for the purposes of the EEA Agreement(1)”;

(b) after the definition of “establishment” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992(2) as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(3);”;

(c) for the definition of “fishery products” there shall be substituted the following definition—

• ““fishery products” means—

  (a)

  all seawater or freshwater animals, including their roes; and

  (b)

  parts of such animals, except in circumstances where they—

  (i)

  are combined (in whatever way) with other foodstuffs, and

  (ii)

  comprise less than 10 per cent of the total weight of the combined foodstuffs,

  but excluding aquatic mammals, frogs and aquatic animals covered by Community Acts other than the Council Directive, and parts of such mammals, frogs and aquatic animals;”;

(d) for the definition of “processed product” there shall be substituted the following definition—

• ““processed” means—

  (a)

  except in relation to bivalve molluscs or other shellfish, having undergone a chemical or physical process such as the heating, smoking, salting, dehydration or marinating of chilled or frozen products, or a combination of these various processes;

  (b)

  in relation to bivalve molluscs or other shellfish, any process or any combination of processes such as those referred to in sub-paragraph (a) above, unless as a result of that process or combination of processes the bivalve molluscs or other shellfish remain alive;”.

(2) In paragraph (4) of regulation 2 of the Derogations Regulations, after sub-paragraph (d) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(e) a reference to the competent authority or the supervisory authorities shall be treated as if it were a reference to the food authority;”.

2.—(1) In the Schedule to the Derogations Regulations (requirements of Chapters I to IV of the Annex), in column (1)—

(a) in paragraph 2(a) of Section I of Chapter I (conditions applicable to factory vessels—conditions concerning design and equipment), for the word “holds” there shall be substituted the word “holes”;

(b) in each of the following provisions—

(i) paragraph 4 of Section I of Chapter I,

(ii) paragraph 1 of Section II of Chapter I (conditions of hygiene relating to on-board handling and storage of fishery products),

(iii) paragraph 3 of Section I of Chapter III (general conditions for establishments on land—general conditions relating to premises and equipment),

(iv) paragraph 2 of Section IIB of Chapter III (general hygiene conditions applicable to staff),

(v) paragraph 1 of Section II of Chapter IV (special conditions for handling fishery products on shore—conditions for frozen products), and

(vi) paragraph 2 of Section III of Chapter IV (conditions for thawing products),

for the words “the Directive”, wherever they occur, there shall be substituted the words “the Council Directive”;

(c) after paragraph 5 of Section II of Chapter I there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“5A.— (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), any on-board processing (in particular any cooking) of shrimps or molluscs must be undertaken in accordance with such of—

(a) the approved treatments set out in Commission Decision 93/25/EEC approving certain treatments to inhibit the development of pathogenic micro-organisms in bivalve molluscs and marine gastropods; and

(b) the standards and other obligations set out in Commission Decision 93/51/EEC on the microbiological criteria applicable to the production of cooked crustaceans and molluscan shellfish,

as are appropriate in the particular circumstances of the case.

(2) For the purposes of Commission Decision 93/51/EEC—

(a) the reference in article 2 to a processing plant shall be treated as if it were a reference to a factory vessel;

(b) the reference in article 3(1) to the requirements of article 6 of the Council Directive shall be treated as if it were a reference to Schedule 5 to the Food Safety (Fishery Products) Regulations 1992; and

(c) the reference to competent authorities in the first indented paragraph of article 3(2) shall be treated as a reference to the food authority which approved the factory vessel in question.”;

(d) in Section IV of Chapter IV (conditions for processed products)—

(i) in paragraph 2, for the words from “approved” to “Member State” there shall be substituted the words “a form of treatment mentioned in the Annex to Commission Decision 93/25/EEC approving certain treatments to inhibit the development of pathogenic micro-organisms in bivalve molluscs and marine gastropods”,

(ii) in paragraph 4(c), for the words “another approved laboratory” there shall be substituted the words “a laboratory recognised by the competent authority”;

(iii) for paragraph 7(c), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(c) every manufacturer must carry out microbiological checks at regular intervals, complying with the standards and other obligations set out in Commission Decision 93/51/EEC on the microbiological criteria applicable to the production of cooked crustaceans and molluscan shellfish, but for the purposes of that Commission Decision—

(i) the reference in article 3(1) to the requirements of article 6 of the Council Directive shall be treated as if it were a reference to Schedule 5 to the Food Safety (Fishery Products) Regulations 1992; and

(ii) the reference in the first indented paragraph of article 3(2) to competent authorities shall be treated as a reference to the food authority which approved the establishment in question.”;

(e) in paragraph 1 of Section V of Chapter IV (conditions concerning parasites), for the final unnumbered sub-paragraph there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

• “This inspection must be carried out in accordance with the rules set out in the Commission Decision 93/140/EEC laying down the detailed rules relating to the visual inspection for the purpose of detecting parasites in fishery products, but for the purposes of that Commission Decision—

  (a)

  the competent authority to which article 4 of that Decision refers is the food authority; and

  (b)

  the provisions referred to in that article (the provisions in accordance with which a sampling plan must be drawn up) are those specified in Schedule 5 to the Food Safety (Fishery Products) Regulations 1992.”.

(2) In column (2) of the Schedule to the Derogations Regulations (whether derogation possible and limitations), opposite paragraph 5A of Section II of Chapter I, there shall be inserted the word “no”.

(1)

See paragraph 24 of the basic texts in Annex I to the EEA Agreement.

(2)

OJ No. L 1, 3.1.94, p.3.

(3)

OJ No. L 1, 3.1.94, p.572.