PART 5N.I.ADMINISTRATION

Notices, authorisations and declarationsN.I.

30.—(1) A notice served, authorisation granted, or declaration made under these Regulations—

(a)shall be in writing;

(b)may be made subject to conditions; and

(c)may be amended, suspended or revoked by a further notice in writing at any time.

(2) Any notice, authorisation or declaration under these Regulations shall be complied with.

Enforcement authoritiesN.I.

31.  The enforcement authorities are the Department, the Agency or a district council within its district.

EnforcementN.I.

32.—(1) At a border inspection post these Regulations are enforced—

(a)in relation to animals and genetic material by the Department; and

(b)in relation to products by the Department or the district council as the case may be.

(2) Outside a border inspection post, in relation to animals they are enforced by—

(a)the Department;

(b)otherwise by the district council in its district.

(3) Outside a border inspection post, in relation to genetic material they are enforced by the Department.

(4) Outside a border inspection post, in relation to products they are enforced by—

(a)the district council (except in relation to animal feed, where it is the Department); or

(b)by the Agency at—

(i)any cutting plant, game-handling establishment or slaughterhouse, or

(ii)premises at which the Agency enforces the Food Hygiene Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(1).

(5) In addition, in relation to products they are enforced by a general customs official in any place where goods are subject to customs supervision by that official [F1under Articles 134 and 135 of Council Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 laying down the Union Customs Code, as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2016/2339].

(6) The Department may direct, in relation to cases of a particular description or a particular case, that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development may discharge any duty imposed on a district council under this regulation.

[F2(7) Where an authorised officer, when exercising any statutory function, discovers at any place other than a border inspection post a consignment or product that the officer considers may have been brought in breach of regulation 13, the officer shall detain or seize the consignment or product, or cause the consignment or product to be detained or seized, pending investigation, and any costs incurred shall be at the expense of the person responsible for the consignment or product.]

(8) In cases where an officer of a district council who is not an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations, when exercising any statutory function, discovers at any place other than a F3... border inspection post, a consignment or product—

(a)in relation to which the officer considers these Regulations may not have been complied with; or

(b)that the officer considers is from a third country and may present a risk to animal or public health,

the officer shall notify an authorised officer and detain the consignment or product until an authorised officer takes charge of it [F4and any costs incurred shall be at the expense of the person responsible for the consignment or product.]

Powers of entryN.I.

[F533.—(1)  An authorised officer may at any reasonable hour during normal working hours without prior notice enter any premises (except any premises used wholly or mainly as a private dwelling) if the officer believes that it is necessary to enter for the purpose of enforcing these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer must, if requested to do so, produce a duly authenticated authorisation document.

(3) A Lay Magistrate may sign a warrant to permit an authorised officer to enter any premises, including a dwelling-house, if the Lay Magistrate on sworn complaint in writing is satisfied—

(a)that there are reasonable grounds to enter those premises for the purpose of enforcing these Regulations; and

(b)that one or more of the conditions in paragraph (4) are met.

(4) The conditions are—

(a)that entry to the premises has been, or is likely to be, refused, and notice of the intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier;

(b)that asking for admission to the premises, or giving such a notice, would defeat the object of the entry;

(c)that entry is required urgently; or

(d)that the premises are unoccupied or the occupier is temporarily absent.

(5) A warrant is valid for 30 days from the date of signature by the Lay Magistrate.

(6) An authorised officer entering any premises which are unoccupied or from which the occupier is temporarily absent must leave them as effectively secured against unauthorised entry as they were before entry.

(7) An authorised officer may—

(a)be accompanied by such other persons (up to a maximum of three) as the officer considers necessary;

(b)bring onto the premises such equipment as the officer considers necessary.]

Powers of authorised officersN.I.

34.  An authorised officer may—

(a)inspect and examine any animal;

(b)inspect any product, or genetic material, including its packaging, seals, marking, labelling and presentation, and any plant or equipment used for or in connection with it;

(c)have access to, and inspect and copy any documents or records (in whatever form they are held), and remove them to enable them to be copied;

(d)have access to, inspect and check the operation of any computer and any associated apparatus used in connection with the records; and may require any computer records to be produced in a form in which they may be taken away;

(e)seize and retain anything required as evidence in proceedings under these Regulations;

(f)open any bundle, package, packing case, or item of personal luggage, or require any person in possession of or accompanying the same to open it and inspect the contents;

(g)take samples of any animal or product for laboratory tests, for checking against any relevant document relating to the animal or product or otherwise for checking compliance with these Regulations or any condition of import enforced by these Regulations.

[F6(h)require the slaughter of any imported animal which is non-compliant with import or animal welfare requirements in these Regulations or the EU Regulation or any Implementing Regulations and Delegated Regulations made under it, or suspected by the Department of posing a risk to animal or human health;

(i)require the quarantine of any imported animal that is suspected by the Department of posing a risk to animal or human health.]

[F7Protection of officials acting in good faithN.I.

34A.—(1) An authorised officer shall not be personally liable in respect of any act done by that person in the performance or purported performance of the functions within the scope of that person’s employment, if the person did that act in the honest and reasonable belief that his duties under these Regulations required or entitled the person to do so.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not relieve an enforcement authority from any liability in respect of acts of its officers.]

[F8Importation of animals or products constituting a risk to animal or public healthN.I.

35.—(1)  If imported animals or products are suspected by the Department of constituting a serious risk to human or animal health or animal welfare, or, in a case of suspected non-compliance, the animals or products come from a region contaminated by an epizootic disease, the authorised officer may require—

(a)an investigation in order to confirm or eliminate that suspicion;

(b)an investigation into the extent of any suspected non-compliance and to establish the import operator's responsibilities;

(c)intensified official controls on consignments of animals or products from a particular region until such imports are no longer regarded by the officer as constituting such health risk;

(d)the official detention of any of the animals or products;

(e)appropriate measures to ensure that the person responsible for the animals or products remedies the non-compliance and prevents further occurrences of such non-compliance.

(2) In a case within paragraph (1)(a), the importer must assist the officer with establishing the region of origin.

(3) Where the Department is satisfied that imported animals or products constitute a risk to animal or public health, the authorised officer may, following written notice, take any reasonable action to ensure compliance with any rules laid down in accordance with Article 1(2) of the EU Regulation, including—

(a)taking samples for testing and ordering or performing veterinary treatments on animals;

(b)ordering the unloading of animals and their transfer via another means of transport to a specified holding for a specified quarantine period, (whether or not involving the postponement of the slaughter of animals);

(c)the slaughter or killing of animals, provided that this is the most appropriate measure to safeguard human health as well as animal health and welfare;

(d)restricting or prohibiting the placing on the market, the movement or the export of the animal or product, or requiring its return to the country of dispatch;

(e)ordering the importer to increase the frequency and thoroughness of systematic checks and controls before importing further animals or goods from the same region;

(f)ordering the isolation or closure, for an appropriate period of time, of all or part of a business operation (including any related internet and on-line sales of products that may constitute a risk to animal or human health) affected by the importation of an animal or product that constitutes a risk to animal or human health;

(g)the recall, withdrawal, removal or destruction of products;

(h)the treatment of products for human consumption, the alteration of labels or the provision of corrective information to consumers;

(i)the temporary suspension or withdrawal of the registration or approval of an affected establishment, plant, holding or means of transport concerned, or of an authorisation of a transporter;

(j)the use of products for purposes other than those for which they were originally intended.

(4) An authorised officer must provide an affected business operator, or its representative, with—

(a)written notification of the decision concerning the action or measure to be taken in accordance with this regulation, together with the reasons for that decision; and

(b)information on any right of appeal against such decision in accordance with regulation 35A.

(5) In the case of the issue of false or misleading official certificates in Northern Ireland, or where there is evidence of abuse of official certificates, the authorised officer, may take appropriate measures, including—

(a)the temporary suspension of the certifying officer from certifying any certificates related to any relevant trade;

(b)the withdrawal of the authorisation of a person to sign official certificates; and

(c)any other measure believed by the officer to be necessary to prevent a reoccurrence of any non-compliance or abuse.]

[F9AppealsN.I.

35A.  Any person aggrieved by a decision made under these Regulations may appeal within one month of the decision to a Magistrates' court by way of sworn complaint in writing for an order and the Magistrates' Court (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 applies to the proceedings.]

ObstructionN.I.

36.—(1) A person shall not—

(a)intentionally obstruct any person acting in the execution of these Regulations [F10or the EU Regulation];

(b)without reasonable cause, fail to give any person acting in execution of these Regulations [F10or the EU Regulation] any assistance or information that that person may reasonably require for the purpose of carrying out functions under these Regulations [F10or the EU Regulation]; or

(c)furnish to any person acting in the execution of these Regulations [F10or the EU Regulation] any information knowing it to be false or misleading.

(2) Nothing in paragraph 1(b) shall be construed as requiring any person to answer any question or give any information if to do so might incriminate them.

Exchange of informationN.I.

37.—(1) The enforcement authority may exchange information for the purposes of these Regulations, and may divulge information to the enforcement authorities in England, Scotland and Wales for the purposes of this Part or the equivalent legislation in those jurisdictions.

(2) Paragraph (1) is without prejudice to any other power of the enforcement authority, to disclose information.

(3) No person shall disclose any information received from the enforcement authority under paragraph (1) if—

(a)the information relates to a person whose identity–

(i)is specified in the disclosure; or

(ii)can be deduced from the disclosure;

(b)the disclosure is for a purpose other than the purposes specified in paragraph (1); and

this shall include a servant of the Crown.

FeesN.I.

38.—(1) The Department, the district council or the Agency (whichever is responsible under regulation 32) may charge a reasonable fee in relation to any activity relating to trade between member States in animals or genetic material under these Regulations.

(2) The consignor, the consignor’s representative and the person in charge of any animal or genetic material are jointly and severally liable for that fee(2).

OffencesN.I.

39.  A person contravening any of the provisions of these Regulations specified in Schedule 1 shall be guilty of an offence.

PenaltiesN.I.

40.—(1) A person guilty of an offence of disclosure in breach of regulation 37(3) (disclosure of information) is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, to imprisonment not exceeding 3 months, or to both;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, to a fine or to both.

(2) A person guilty of any other offence under these Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Disapplication of existing provisionsN.I.

41.—(1) The Landing of Carcases and Animal Products Order (Northern Ireland) 1985(3) and The Diseases of Animals (Importation of Bird Products) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996(4) shall not apply to products to which these Regulations apply, except the products referred to in paragraphs 2 and 4 of Schedule 4.

(2) The Artificial Reproduction of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1975(5) shall not apply to products to which these Regulations apply, except embryos, ova and semen of the ovine, caprine and bovine species.

RevocationsN.I.

42.—(1) The following are revoked—

(a)the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(6);

(b)the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(7);

(c)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(8);

(d)the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007(9);

(e)the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007(10);

(f)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Circuses and Avian Quarantine) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007(11);

(g)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008(12);

(h)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009(13);

(i)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010(14);

(j)the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010(15);

(k)the Animals and Animal Products (Import and Export) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011(16).

(2) Schedule 5 makes amendments consequential to these Regulations.