Until the coming into force of the first Order under section 31 of the 1999 Act (animal feedingstuffs), the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety shall have the same power to make, or join in making, Regulations under Part IV of the Agriculture Act 197041 in relation to feedingstuffs as had the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in relation to Northern Ireland, immediately before the coming into operation of these Regulations.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety may, jointly with or instead of, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, exercise the power conferred on it by paragraph (1).

Any consultation undertaken wholly or partly before the coming into operation of these Regulations relating to Regulations made under or partly under the power conferred on the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety by paragraph (1) shall be as effective for the purposes of the exercise of that power as if undertaken after these Regulations come into operation.

For the purposes of the exercise of the power conferred on the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety by paragraph (1) the Agency shall consult with such persons or organisations as appear to it to represent the interests concerned; and the consultation shall be as effective for the purposes of section 84 of the Agriculture Act 1970 as if undertaken under that section.