PART 1PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement1.

These Regulations may be cited as the Official Feed and Food Controls Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 and shall come into operation on 11th January 2006.

Interpretation2.

(1)

In these Regulations—

“the Agency” means the Food Standards Agency;

“authorised officer”—

(a)

in relation to a competent authority, means any person (whether or not an officer of the authority) who is authorised by them in writing for the purposes of regulation 14; and

(b)

in relation to a relevant enforcement authority, means any person (whether or not an officer of the authority) who is authorised by the authority in writing, either generally or specially, to act in matters arising under Part 2 of these Regulations in relation to its enforcement responsibilities under regulation 17;

“competent authority” means the authority which, by virtue of regulation 3, is designated for the purposes of any of the provisions of Regulation 882/2004;

“Directive 2004/41”, “Regulation 178/2002”, “Regulation 852/2004”, “Regulation 853/2004”, “Regulation 882/2004”, “Regulation 1688/2005”, “Regulation 2073/2005”, “2074/2005” and “Regulation 2076/2005” have the meanings respectively given to them in Schedule 1;

“the Department” means the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety;

“feed authority” means the authority identified in section 86(3) of the Agriculture Act 19708 as having a duty to enforce that Act;

“the Imports Provisions” means Part 3 of these Regulations and Articles 15 to 24 of Regulation 882/2004;

“the Official Control Regulations” means these Regulations and Regulation 882/2004;

“the Order” means the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 19919;

“premises” includes any establishment, any place, vehicle, stall or moveable structure and any ship or aircraft;

“primary production” has the meaning it bears in Regulation 852/2004;

“relevant enforcement authority” means a body which, by virtue of regulation 17, is made responsible for executing and enforcing any provision of Part 2 of these Regulations;

“relevant feed law” has the meaning given to it in Schedule 2; and

“relevant food law” has the meaning given to it in Schedule 3.

(2)

Subject to paragraph (3), any expression other than one defined in paragraph (1) that is used both in these Regulations and in the Order has the meaning it bears in the Order.

(3)

Unless the contrary intention appears, any expression used both in these Regulations and in Regulation 178/2002 or Regulation 882/2004 has the meaning it bears in Regulation 178/2002 or Regulation 882/2004, as the case may be.

(4)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 195410 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.