The Beef Carcase (Classification) (England) Regulations 2004

Title, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Beef Carcase (Classification) (England) Regulations 2004 and shall come into force on 7th June 2004.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to England only.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“1991 Regulations” means the Beef Carcase (Classification) Regulations 1991(1);

“1995 Regulations” means the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995(2);

“adult bovine animal” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/99 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(3);

“approval number” means (in relation to a regulated slaughterhouse) the unique number of that regulated slaughterhouse required to be specified in the centre of a health mark (as defined by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations);

“authorised officer” means a person authorised by the Secretary of State for the purposes of these Regulations;

“classification” means the classification of regulated carcases in accordance with Articles 3 and 4(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 determining the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals(4);

“classification requirements” means the requirements relating to the classification and identification of carcases specified in the Community provisions and in regulations 5, 6 and 7 of these Regulations;

“Commission Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EEC) No 344/91 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC) No 1186/90 to extend the scope of the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals(5);

“Community provision” means a provision of a regulation of the European Community referred to in column 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations which is specified in column 2, and the subject matter of which is described in column 3, of that Schedule;

“exempt carcase” means a regulated carcase which has been obtained in the circumstance specified in the second indent to Article 2(2) of the Commission Regulation;

“exempt occupier” means an occupier of a regulated slaughterhouse to which the first indent to Article 2(2) of the Commission Regulation applies;

“MLC” means the Meat and Livestock Commission established under section 1 of the Agriculture Act 1967(6);

“occupier” means a person carrying on the business of a regulated slaughterhouse;

“prescribed communication” means a communication of the results of classification as required by Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1186/90 extending the scope of the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals(7);

“regulated carcase” means the carcase or half-carcase of an adult bovine animal which has been marked in accordance with regulation 11 of, and Schedule 12 to, the 1995 Regulations(8); and

“regulated slaughterhouse” means a slaughterhouse (as defined by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations) licensed in accordance with regulation 4 of the 1995 Regulations(9).

(2) Other expressions used in these Regulations have, in so far as the context admits, the same meanings as in the Community provisions.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date these Regulations are made.

Exemption

3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the classification requirements shall not be compulsory in relation to an exempt occupier or an exempt carcase.

(2) Notwithstanding the exemptions from the classification requirements granted under paragraph (1), regulations 4, 8(2) and 10 to 14 shall apply to an exempt occupier.

Registration

4.—(1) Every person who on 7th June 2004 is, or who on a subsequent date becomes, an occupier shall within 28 days of that date give written notice to the Secretary of State of the particulars specified in Schedule 2.

(2) A person who has given notice pursuant to regulation 4(1) of the 1991 Regulations of the particulars specified in Schedule 2 to those Regulations shall be deemed to have given notice pursuant to paragraph (1).

(3) Where any change occurs in any of the particulars required to be notified under paragraph (1) the occupier shall within 28 days of the change give written notice to the Secretary of State of particulars of the change.

(4) Where an occupier of a regulated slaughterhouse ceases to be its occupier he shall within 10 days of such cessation give written notice to the Secretary of State of—

(a) the date of such cessation; and

(b) the person (if any) succeeding him as occupier of that slaughterhouse.

(5) Where a regulated slaughterhouse ceases to be such a slaughterhouse its occupier shall within 10 days of such cessation give written notice to the Secretary of State of the date of such cessation.

Labelling instead of marking

5.  Subject to—

(a) the final paragraph of Article 1(2) of the Commission Regulation;

(b) Article 4(3)(b) and (c) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 562/00 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/99 as regards the buying-in of beef(10); and

(c) Article 3(2)(a) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 907/00 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/99 as regards aid for private storage in the beef and veal sector(11),

an occupier may, instead of marking a regulated carcase in accordance with Article 1(1) of the Commission Regulation, label it in accordance with Article 1(2) of that Regulation, and such labels shall be applied on the positions specified in Article 1(1) of that Regulation.

Licensed classifiers

6.—(1) Classification shall not be carried out by any person unless he holds a licence granted under this regulation and complies with the terms and conditions of that licence.

(2) The Secretary of State may grant a licence to any person appearing to him to be qualified to carry out classification.

(3) A licence under this regulation—

(a) shall come into force on the date of its issue;

(b) shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 3;

(c) shall be subject to the conditions specified in that form; and

(d) may be suspended or revoked—

(i) for contravention of any condition specified in that form, or

(ii) in the circumstances referred to in the fifth paragraph of Article 3(2) of the Commission Regulation.

Licence for automated grading

7.—(1) Classification shall not be carried out by means of automated grading equipment at any premises unless the occupier holds a licence granted under this regulation for the use of that equipment at those premises, and complies with the terms and conditions of that licence.

(2) The Secretary of State may grant a licence to an occupier pursuant to Article 3(1a) of the Commission Regulation authorising the use of automated grading equipment for classification at premises in England.

(3) A licence under this Regulation—

(a) shall come into force on the date of its issue;

(b) shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 4;

(c) shall be subject to the conditions specified in that form; and

(d) may be suspended or revoked—

(i) for contravention of any condition specified in that form, or

(ii) in the circumstances referred to in the fifth paragraph of Article 3(2) of the Commission Regulation.

Keeping, retention and production of records

8.—(1) An occupier who is not an exempt occupier shall—

(a) keep a record of the particulars specified in Part I of Schedule 5 relating to each regulated carcase which is classified in a regulated slaughterhouse occupied by him; and

(b) keep a record of the particulars specified in Part II of Schedule 5 relating to each exempt carcase which is obtained in a regulated slaughterhouse occupied by him.

(2) An exempt occupier shall keep a record of the particulars specified in Part III of Schedule 5.

(3) A person who under paragraph (1) or (2) is required to keep a record shall—

(a) retain that record for a period of two years from the end of the calendar year to which the record relates; and

(b) upon demand by an authorised officer produce or cause to be produced the record for inspection by the authorised officer and shall allow him to take copies and make extracts from it.

Classifications by the MLC

9.—(1) The MLC may, under an agreement with the occupier, carry out the classification requirements in respect of regulated carcases at a regulated slaughterhouse occupied by him.

(2) Where an agreement is made under paragraph (1) the MLC shall immediately give written notice to the Secretary of State of that agreement.

(3) The MLC shall as soon as is reasonably practicable after carrying out classification requirements provide the occupier with the particulars specified in paragraphs 1, 3 and 5 of Part I of Schedule 5 and any other details relating to those classification requirements as the occupier may reasonably require so as to enable him to give the prescribed communication and to comply with regulation 8.

(4) Where the MLC suspends or revokes an agreement under paragraph (1), it shall immediately give written notice to the occupier and the Secretary of State of that fact.

(5) Where the occupier suspends or revokes an agreement under paragraph (1), he shall immediately give written notice to the MLC and the Secretary of State of that fact.

Powers of authorised officers

10.—(1) An authorised officer may at all reasonable hours and on producing, if so required, a duly authenticated document showing his authority, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Community provisions or these Regulations have been or are being complied with—

(a) enter any regulated slaughterhouse or any slaughterhouse which he reasonably suspects to be such a slaughterhouse;

(b) inspect any regulated carcase or part of such a carcase, or any carcase or part of a carcase which he reasonably suspects to be such a carcase or part of such a carcase, in that slaughterhouse;

(c) examine any records which an occupier is required to keep under regulation 8 and where any such record is kept by means of a computer, have access to and inspect and check the operation of any computer and associated apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with that record;

(d) require that copies of or extracts from any such record be produced and, where such record is kept by means of a computer, require it to be produced in a form in which it may be taken away;

(e) retain any such record which he has reason to believe may be required as evidence in proceedings under these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer entering a regulated slaughterhouse or other slaughterhouse by virtue of this regulation may take with him such other persons and such equipment as he considers necessary.

Assistance to authorised officers

11.  An occupier, and the MLC when carrying out the classification requirements under regulation 9, shall give to an authorised officer such assistance as he may reasonably request so as to enable him to exercise any power conferred under regulation 10.

Notices

12.—(1) A written notice to be given under these Regulations or a prescribed communication may be given—

(a) by delivering it to that person;

(b) by leaving it or sending it in a pre-paid letter addressed to him, at his usual or last known place of business or residence, or in the case of a body corporate its principal place of business in Great Britain or registered office, or in the case of the MLC its head office; or

(c) by sending it to that person by fax or other means of electronic communication which produces a text of the document.

(2) A written notice or prescribed communication may be sent to a person as mentioned in paragraph (1)(c) only if he has given his consent to the use of that method of communication.

(3) A written notice or prescribed communication sent as mentioned in paragraph (1)(c) shall be regarded as sent when the text of it is received in a legible form.

Offences and penalties

13.—(1) If any person—

(a) intentionally obstructs an authorised officer in the exercise of the powers conferred by regulation 10; or

(b) fails to comply with a request under regulation 8(3)(b), 10(1)(d) or 11,

he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(2) If any person—

(a) fails to comply with any other requirement imposed on him under a Community provision or these Regulations;

(b) contravenes any prohibition contained in a Community provision or these Regulations;

(c) for the purpose of obtaining a licence under regulation 6 or 7 knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular; or

(d) makes an alteration to such a licence,

he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(3) Proceedings for an offence under paragraph (1) or (2) may, subject to paragraph (4), be brought within a period of six months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify proceedings comes to his knowledge.

(4) No such proceedings shall be brought by virtue of paragraph (3) more than twelve months from the commission of the offence.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (3)—

(a) a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which evidence sufficient in his opinion to justify the proceedings came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact;

(b) a certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

(6) If any person—

(a) makes an entry which he knows to be false in any record which is required to be kept by virtue of regulation 8(1) or (2) or, with intent to deceive, makes use of any entry which he knows to be false;

(b) with intent to deceive—

(i) applies to a regulated carcase or part of such a carcase a mark prescribed by Article 1(1) of the Commission Regulation, or

(ii) applies to a label attached by virtue of regulation 5 an indication prescribed by Article 1(2) of that Regulation;

(c) applies to a regulated carcase or part of such a carcase a mark so closely resembling a mark prescribed by Article 1(1) of the Commission Regulation as to be calculated to deceive; or

(d) applies to a label attached by virtue of regulation 5 an indication so closely resembling an indication prescribed by Article 1(2) of the Commission Regulation as to be calculated to deceive,

he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

(7) 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 be 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.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7), “director”, in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

Defence of due diligence

14.  It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under these Regulations to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence by himself or by a person under his control.

Amendment of the Agriculture Act 1967

15.  In paragraph 10A of Part I of Schedule 1 to the Agriculture Act 1967(12) for “regulation 10 of the Beef Carcase (Classification) Regulations 1991 (undertaking of classification etc of certain carcases)” substitute “regulation 9 of the Beef Carcase (Classification) (England) Regulations 2004 (classifications by the MLC)”.

Revocation

16.  The 1991 Regulations(13), the Beef Carcase (Classification) (Amendment) Regulations 1994(14) and the Beef Carcase (Classification) (Amendment) Regulations 1998(15) are hereby revoked in so far as they apply in relation to England.

Whitty

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

12th May 2004