The Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-And-Mouth Disease) (No. 3) Regulations 2002

Title, commencement, extent and cessation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (No. 3) Regulations 2002; they extend to England and come into force at 8.00 p.m. on 25th January 2002.

(2) These Regulations shall apply until midnight on 31st March 2002.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“approved” means approved in accordance with regulation 3;

“the Decision” means Commission Decision 2001/740/EC concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom and repealing Decision 2001/356/EC(1) as last amended by Commission Decision 2002/48/EC (amending for the seventh time Decision 2001/740/EC concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom(2));

“dispatch” means dispatch from a place within the restricted area to a place outside the restricted area and includes consigning for dispatch;

“export” means export outside the British Islands and includes consigning for export;

“inspector” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State or a local authority to be an inspector for the purposes of these Regulations or by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or a local authority for the purposes of the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000(3) or the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996(4) and includes a veterinary inspector;

“HACCP” means Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points, which is a system in which the critical points of the manufacturing process have been identified, assessments have been made of the potential risks at those points, and necessary steps have been taken to minimise those risks;

“local authority” means—

(a)

where there is, within the meaning of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(5), a unitary authority for that local government area, that authority;

(b)

where there is not a unitary authority—

(i)

in a metropolitan district, the council of that district;

(ii)

in a non-metropolitan county, the council of that county;

(iii)

in each London borough (except in relation to imported animals) the council of that borough; or

(iv)

in the City of London, and for all London boroughs in relation to imported animals, the Common Council;

“meat products” means meat products as defined in Article 2 of Council Directive 77/99/EEC (on health problems affecting the production and marketing of meat products and certain other products of animal origin(6));

“Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

“milk” and “milk products” have the meaning given in Article 2 of Council Directive 92/46/EC (laying down the health rules for the production and placing on the market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products(7));

“official veterinary surgeon” means a person appointed as such under regulation 8 of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995(8);

“restricted area” means the British Islands other than Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man; and

“veterinary inspector” means a veterinary surgeon appointed for export certification by the Secretary of State or the Minister.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to an instrument of the European Community is to that instrument as amended at the time these Regulations are made.

(3) A notice under these Regulations shall be in writing, may be subject to conditions and may be amended or revoked by further notice in writing at any time.

Approvals

3.—(1) The Secretary of State shall approve premises for the purposes of these Regulations if she is satisfied that the occupier of the premises will comply with the conditions of these Regulations.

(2) Any approval shall be in writing, may be made subject to conditions and may be amended, suspended or revoked by notice in writing at any time, and in particular may be suspended or revoked if the Secretary of State is reasonably of the opinion that the provisions of these Regulations are not being complied with.

(3) Any requirement for approved premises shall be fulfilled if the premises are in a part of the British Islands outside England and are approved by the relevant authority for the purposes of the Decision.

Importation of live animals

4.—(1) No person shall import any live animal of species susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease into England from another member State.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to animals brought in under the following conditions—

(a) the transport must be subject to authorisation by the competent authorities at the place from which the animals are sent;

(b) the Secretary of State must be notified by those competent authorities, at least three working days before arrival in England, of the details of the consignment, the journey and the port of arrival;

(c) before the animals are imported the importer must have obtained a movement licence under the Foot-And-Mouth Disease Order 1983(9) permitting movement from the port of import to the place of destination;

(d) the animals must enter through a port specified in Schedule 1;

(e) when animals are brought in by road, each vehicle must contain only a single consignment;

(f) the consignment must be taken directly to a single holding;

(g) after unloading the animals, and before the vehicle departs from Great Britain, the empty vehicle must be moved under a licence issued by an officer of the local authority or the Secretary of State to cleansing and disinfection premises approved by the Secretary of State;

(h) after cleansing and disinfection the Secretary of State shall issue a certificate in the form set out in Schedule 2;

(i) the driver of the vehicle shall keep the certificate with him until the vehicle leaves Great Britain and shall produce it to an inspector on demand.

Dispatch of live animals

5.—(1) No person shall dispatch any live animal of the bovine, ovine, caprine or porcine species or any other biungulate.

(2) By way of derogation from the preceding paragraph, the Secretary of State may by licence in writing authorise the dispatch of biungulate animals originating outside the restricted area if the animals travelled through that area in direct and uninterrupted transit on main roads or by rail or sea.

(3) Without prejudice to the provisions of Council Directive 64/432/EEC (on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine(10)), Council Decision 98/256/EC (concerning emergency measures to protect against bovine sponigiform encephalopathy(11)) and the restriction on movement imposed under the Foot-And-Mouth Disease Order, the prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to the dispatch of bovine or porcine animals.

(4) The health certificates provided for in Council Directive 64/432/EEC accompanying the animals shall bear the following words—

• “Animals conforming to Commission Decision 2001/740/EC of 19 October 2001 concerning certain protective measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

Dispatch of fresh meat, minced meat and meat preparations

6.—(1) No person shall dispatch any fresh meat of animals of the bovine, ovine, caprine or porcine species or other biungulate coming from the restricted area or obtained from animals originating in that area.

(2) In paragraph (1), the reference to “fresh meat” includes minced meat and meat preparations to which Council Directive 94/65/EC (laying down the requirements for the production and placing on the market of minced meat and meat preparations(12)) applies.

(3) The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to meat—

(a) marked with the health mark in accordance with Chapter XI of Annex I to Council Directive 64/433/EEC (on health problems affecting the production and marketing of meat products and certain other products of animal origin(13)) or, in the case of meat from other biungulates, in Chapter III of Annex I to Council Directive 91/495/EEC (concerning public health and animal health problems affecting the production and placing on the market of rabbit meat and farmed game meat(14));

(b) which is clearly identified;

(c) which has been transported and stored since the date of production separately from meat not eligible for dispatch under these Regulations;

(d) which was—

(i) obtained before 1 February 2001; or

(ii) derived from animals slaughtered or, in the case of meat obtained from wild game of species susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease, killed in Great Britain after 19 October 2001;

(iii) derived from animals reared and slaughtered or, in the case of meat obtained from wild game of species susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease, killed outside Great Britain.

(4) Meat consigned to another member State shall be accompanied by an official certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate which bears the following words—

• “Meat conforming to Commission Decision 2001/172/EC of 1st March 2001 concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

Dispatch of meat products

7.—(1) No person shall dispatch meat products of animals of the bovine, ovine, caprine or porcine species or any other biungulate coming from the restricted area or prepared using meat obtained from animals originating in that area.

(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply to meat products meeting the public health requirements of Council Directive 77/99/EEC and which—

(a) are made from meat specified in regulation 6(3);

(b) have undergone one of the treatments laid down in Article 4(1) of Council Directive 80/215/EEC (on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in meat products(15)), or have been subjected during preparation uniformly throughout the substance to a pH value of less than 6.

(3) Meat products consigned to another member State shall be accompanied by an official certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate which bears the following words—

• “Meat products conforming to Commission Decision 2001/172/EC of 1st March 2001 concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

(4) Paragraph (3) shall not apply to meat products which conform to the requirements of paragraph (2) if such compliance is stated in the commercial document accompanying the consignment, endorsed in accordance with regulation 9, and the products have been processed in an establishment operating HACCP and an auditable standard operating procedure which ensures that standards for treatment are met and recorded.

(5) Paragraph (3) shall not apply to meat products treated in hermetically sealed containers so as to ensure they are shelf stable if the heat treatment applied is stated in the commercial document accompanying the consignment.

(6) The prohibition in this regulation shall not apply in relation to—

(a) products produced and packaged outside the United Kingdom if the packaging indicates the country of origin and they remain in their original packaging; or

(b) products which are—

(i) produced in an establishment in the restricted area approved by the Secretary of State or the Minister from pre-processed products originating outside that area which, since introduction into the United Kingdom have been transported, stored and processed separately from products not destined for dispatch; and

(ii) accompanied by a commercial document or official certificate as required by these Regulations.

Dispatch of semen, ova and embryos

8.—(1) No person shall dispatch semen, ova or embryos of animals of the bovine, ovine, caprine and porcine species and other biungulates.

(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to—

(a) frozen bovine and porcine semen produced before 1st February 2001; or

(b) frozen bovine and porcine semen and bovine embryos imported into the United Kingdom in accordance with the conditions laid down in—

(i) Council Directive 88/407/EEC (laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of deep-frozen semen of domestic animals of the bovine species(16));

(ii) Council Directive 89/556/EEC (on animal health conditions governing intra-Community trade in and importation from third countries of embryos of domestic animals of the bovine species(17)); and

(iii) Council Directive 90/429/EEC (laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of semen of domestic animals of the porcine species(18));

and which since introduction into the United Kingdom have been stored and transported separately from semen and embryos to which the prohibition in paragraph (1) applies;

(c) frozen bovine and porcine semen produced in accordance with the provisions of Council Directive 88/407/EEC or Council Directive 90/429/EEC after 30th September 2001 and also approved under these Regulations, subject to the following conditions—

(i) the donor bull or boar showed no clinical sign of foot-and-mouth disease on the day of collection of the semen;

(ii) no animal was introduced into the semen collection centre during the 30 days prior to the collection of the semen;

(iii) the semen collection centre has been free from foot-and-mouth disease for at least three months and no case of foot-and-mouth disease occurred within a 10 kilometre radius around the semen collection centre for the 30 days before and after the collection of the semen;

(iv) no animal in the semen collection centre has been vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease;

(v) prior to dispatch the frozen semen was stored for a period of at least 30 days immediately following collection and during the first 30 days of the storage period no animal in the semen collection centre where the donor boar or bull was kept showed any sign of foot-and-mouth disease;

(vi) the semen was collected, processed and stored separately from semen which is not eligible for dispatch; and

(vii) all semen collected, processed and frozen in the semen collection centre was dispatched from the semen collection centre in a way that avoids any risk of introducing foot-and-mouth disease into the centre.

(d) fresh and frozen bovine semen and porcine semen produced in accordance with Directives 88/407/EEC and 90/429/EEC respectively after 15 January 2002 in Great Britain.

(3) The health certificate provided for in Council Directive 88/407/EEC accompanying frozen bovine semen consigned to another member State shall bear the following words—

• “Frozen bovine semen conforming to Commission Decision 2001/172/EC of 1st March 2001 concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

(4) The health certificate provided for in Council Directive 89/556/EEC accompanying bovine embryos consigned to another member State shall bear the following words—

• “Bovine embryos conforming to Commission Decision 2001/172/EC of 1st March 2001 concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

(5) The health certificate provided for in Council Directive 90/429/EC accompanying porcine semen to other member States shall bear the following words—

• “Frozen porcine semen conforming to Commission Decision 2001/740/EC of 19 October 2001 on certain protective measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

Endorsement of commercial documents

9.—(1) Where reference is made to a commercial document being endorsed in accordance with this regulation, the document must have attached to it an official certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate stating that the production process has been audited and found to be in accordance with these Regulations and suitable to destroy the foot-and-mouth disease virus or that the products concerned have been produced from pre-processed materials which have been certified accordingly and that provisions are in place to avoid possible re-contamination with the foot-and-mouth disease virus after treatment.

(2) The certificate shall bear a reference to the Decision, shall be valid for 30 days, shall state the expiry date and shall be renewable after inspection of the establishment.

(3) In case of products for retail sale to the final consumer, a consolidated load of products other than fresh meat, minced meat and meat preparations, each of which is eligible for dispatch in accordance with these Regulations, may be dispatched from approved premises accompanied by a commercial document endorsed by the attachment of a copy of an official veterinary certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate which—

(a) confirms that the premises of dispatch has in place a system to ensure that goods can only be dispatched if they are traceable to documentary evidence of compliance with these Regulations;

(b) confirms that this system has been audited and found satisfactory;

(c) refers to the Decision;

(d) is valid for 30 days;

(e) states the expiry date; and

(f) is renewable only after the establishment had been audited with satisfactory results.

Third country certificates

10.  No person shall dispatch anything to which these Regulations apply to a third country unless the consignment is accompanied by an official certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate certifying compliance with the Regulations.

Offers to dispatch or export

11.  No person shall offer to dispatch or export, or accept orders for the dispatch or export of, anything prohibited from being dispatched or exported by these Regulations, whether on the internet or otherwise.

Powers of inspectors

12.—(1) An inspector shall, on producing, if required to do so, some duly authenticated document showing his authority, have the right at all reasonable hours to enter any land or premises for the purposes of ascertaining whether there is or has been on the premises any contravention of these Regulations; and in this regulation “premises” includes any place, installation, vehicle (including any container, trailer, semi-trailer, caravan or other thing which is designed or adapted to be towed by another vehicle), train, ship, vessel, boat, craft, hovercraft or aircraft.

(2) An inspector shall have powers to carry out all checks and examinations necessary for the enforcement of these Regulations, and in particular may—

(a) carry out inspections of any processes used for the marking and identification of animals, any premises and any installation;

(b) examine documentary or data processing material relevant to the checks carried out under these Regulations; and

(c) take with him a representative of the European Commission acting for the purposes of the Decision.

Powers of customs officers

13.  A customs officer may detain any vehicle, vessel, container or anything which he reasonably suspects to contain animals or products controlled by these Regulations for as long as is reasonably necessary to enable an inspector to exercise a power under these Regulations.

Illegal consignments of animals

14.—(1) Where an inspector knows or suspects that animals are intended for dispatch and do not comply with the requirements of these Regulations he may serve a notice on the person in charge of the consignment prohibiting the dispatch of the animals in the consignment until he is satisfied that the animals comply with the Regulations.

(2) No person shall dispatch anything subject to a notice served under this regulation unless it has been revoked.

(3) Animals imported in contravention of these Regulations shall be dealt with as specified in regulation 13 of the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000(19).

Illegal consignments of products

15.—(1) This regulation shall have effect when an inspector, on reasonable grounds, suspects that anything other than animals is intended to be dispatched in contravention of these Regulations.

(2) The inspector may either—

(a) give notice to the person in charge of the consignment that, until the notice is withdrawn, it may not be removed or must be removed to and stored in a place specified in the notice; or

(b) seize it and remove it in order to have it dealt with by a justice of the peace.

(3) Where an inspector exercises the power conferred by paragraph (2)(a) he shall as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within 21 days, determine whether the consignment is one which may be dispatched under these Regulations, and-

(a) if it he is satisfied that its dispatch is not in contravention of these Regulations, he shall withdraw the notice;

(b) if he is not so satisfied, shall seize it and remove it in order to have it dealt with by a justice of the peace.

(4) Where an inspector seizes a consignment under paragraph (2)(b) or (3)(b), he shall inform the person appearing to him to be in charge of the consignment of his intention to have it dealt with by a justice of the peace, and—

(a) any person who might be liable for prosecution under these Regulations in relation to the dispatch shall, if he attends before the justices of the peace by whom the consignment falls to be dealt with, be entitled to be heard and to call witnesses; and

(b) the justice of the peace may, but need not, be a member of the court before which any person is charged with an offence under these Regulations in relation to that consignment.

(5) If it appears to a justice of the peace that there was an intention to dispatch the consignment in contravention of these Regulations he shall, unless he is satisfied that the consignment can be returned to the owner without risk of a further attempt to dispatch it in contravention of these Regulations, order that the consignment shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of so as to prevent it from being despatched.

(6) When under the preceding paragraph a justice of the peace is satisfied that there was an intention to dispatch a consignment in breach of these Regulations, the owner, the consignor and the consignee shall be jointly and severally liable for the costs reasonably incurred in its removal to storage, its storage and its destruction or disposal.

(7) Where a notice served under this regulation is withdrawn or the justice of the peace refuses to make an order under paragraph (5), the body who appointed the inspector who served the notice shall compensate the owner of the consignment for any depreciation in its value resulting from the action taken by the inspector; but this paragraph shall not apply if the notice was served because the consignment was not accompanied by the correct documentation, and the consignment was detained until the correct documentation was provided.

Fees

16.  The Food Standards Agency may charge the occupier of any premises at which supervision or inspection is carried out for the purposes of establishing the eligibility for dispatch of products under these Regulations a reasonable fee in respect of costs reasonably incurred.

Obstruction

17.—(1) No person shall—

(a) intentionally obstruct any person acting in the execution of these Regulations;

(b) without reasonable cause, fail to give to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require for the purposes of his functions under these Regulations, or

(c) furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any information which he knows to be false or misleading.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1)(b) above shall be construed as requiring any person to answer any question or give any information if to do so might incriminate him.

Furnishing false information

18.  No person shall furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations any information which he knows to be false or misleading.

Offences by bodies corporate

19.—(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,

he as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of the offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) above, “director” in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

Penalties

20.—(1) A person contravening any provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 11 or regulation 17(1)(a) or (b) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both.

(3) A person guilty of any other offence under these Regulations shall be liable—

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

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

Certificates, approvals, etc. issued in another part of the British Islands

21.—(1) Where these Regulations require any certificate, licence or approval to be issued or granted by the Secretary of State in England, an equivalent certificate, licence or approval issued in another part of the British Islands by the relevant competent authority is valid.

(2) Where these Regulations require anything to be processed in approved premises in England, anything processed in premises approved for those purposes in another part of the British Islands shall be treated as if it had been processed in approved premises in England.

Enforcement

22.  These Regulations shall be enforced by the Secretary of State or the local authority.

Revocations

23.  The Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (No. 2) Regulations 2002(20) are revoked.

Alun Michael

Minister of State

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

2.00pm 25th January 2002