Obtaining samples and analysis etc.U.K.
17.—(1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of ascertaining whether any offence under these Regulations has been committed, purchase or take a sample of any organic product.
(2) An authorised officer who considers that the sample should be analysed, examined or tested, must submit it for that purpose to the public analyst for the area in which it was obtained (or, if the office of the public analyst for the area is vacant, to the public analyst for some other area).
(3) The public analyst must then—
(a)ensure that the sample is analysed, examined or tested as soon as practicable; and
(b)give the person who submitted the sample a certificate specifying the result.
(4) In any proceedings, the production by one of the parties—
(a)of a document purporting to be a certificate under paragraph (3)(b), or
(b)of a document supplied to the party by the other party as being a copy of such a certificate,
is evidence (and, in Scotland, sufficient evidence) of the facts stated in it unless, in a case falling within sub-paragraph (a), the other party requires that the analyst be called as a witness.
(5) In any such proceedings, if a person charged or summonsed intends to produce a certificate of a public analyst or require, under paragraph (4), the analyst to be called as a witness, written notice of the intention together with a copy of the certificate (if appropriate) must be given to the other party at least three clear days before the hearing or trial.
(6) If such notice is not given, the court may adjourn the proceedings on such terms as it thinks fit.
(7) In this regulation, “public analyst” has the same meaning as in—
(a)section 27 of the Food Safety Act 1990(1), except in relation to Northern Ireland; and
(b)regulation 27 of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(2), in relation to Northern Ireland.
1990 c. 16. Section 27(2) was amended by the Food Standards Act 1999 (c. 28), section 40(1) and Schedule 5, paragraphs 7, and 8. There are further amendments not relevant to these Regulations.
S.I. 1991/762 (N.I.7), to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.