Food (Peanuts from Egypt) (Emergency Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations revoke and re-enact with changes the Food (Peanuts from Egypt) (Emergency Control) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999.

The Regulations implement Commission Decision 2002/49/EC repealing Decision 1999/356/EC and imposing special conditions on the import of peanuts and certain products derived from peanuts originating in or consigned from Egypt (O.J. No. L19, 25.1.2000, p. 46) as amended by Commission Decision 2003/580/EC (O.J. No. L197, 5.8.03, p. 31).

The categories of products which are subject to those conditions are specified in Article 1.1 of Commission Decision 2002/49/EC as so amended.

The Regulations –

(a)prohibit the importation of “Egyptian peanuts” (defined in regulation 2(1)), except where they are accompanied by an Egyptian Government health certificate and the results of official sampling and analysis, the importation takes place only through a specified point of entry and the consignment is identified with a code corresponding with that specified on the health certificate and on the accompanying report containing the sampling and analysis results (regulation 3);

(b)provide for their enforcement (regulation 4);

(c)apply with modifications certain provisions of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 for the purposes of the Regulations and provide for sampling and analysis (regulation 5); and

(d)provide for the re-dispatch or destruction of illegal imports of controlled Egyptian peanuts (regulation 6).

The principal changes effected by these Regulations are that –

(a)the previous requirement that each consignment of controlled Egyptian peanuts be subjected to sampling and analysis in order to ensure compliance with Commission Decision 2002/49/EC is modified by providing that –

(i)only approximately 10% of such consignments selected at random should be so subjected,

(ii)consignments so subjected must be detained for that purpose,

(iii)the period of detention should not exceed 15 working days, and

(iv)an authorised officer must issue a notice in writing stating that sampling has taken place and the results of the analysis of the sample; and

(b)an authorised officer is empowered (subject to a right of appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction) to issue a notice ordering the re-dispatch of illegal imports of controlled Egyptian peanuts.

(The CN codes referred to in the definition of “Egyptian peanuts” in regulation 2(1) are the code numbers of the combined nomenclature established by Council Regulation 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the customs tariff (O.J. No. L256, 7.9.87, p. 1)).