The Carcase Classification and Price Reporting Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018

Powers of entry

19.—(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 authorised officer may be accompanied by such other persons as the authorised officer considers necessary.

(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 force for three months.

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