Agricultural Produce (Eggs) Act, 1939

Regulations as to marking eggs.

38.—(1) The Minister may by order make regulations prescribing the marks to be applied to every package of eggs consigned from any registered wholesaler's premises to any place, whether in or outside Ireland, for the purpose of indicating all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the grade of the eggs contained in such package;

(b) the premises in which such eggs were packed;

(c) in the case of preserved eggs, that such eggs are preserved:

(d) that the eggs were produced in Ireland;

(e) any other matter which in the opinion of the Minister should be indicated on such package.

(2) The Minister may by order make regulations prescribing the marks to be applied to every egg consigned from any registered wholesaler's premises to any place, whether in or outside Ireland, for the purpose of indicating all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the grade of the egg;

(b) the premises in which it was packed;

(c) the period during which the egg was tested or the period during which the egg was packed in those premises;

(d) in the case of a preserved egg, that it is preserved;

(e) that the egg was produced in Ireland;

(f) any other matter which in the opinion of the Minister should be indicated on the egg.

(3) Regulations made under this section may prescribe the manner in which and the means by which the marks prescribed under this section are to be applied to the eggs to which they are applicable.

(4) Different regulations may be made under this section in respect of eggs consigned for export and in respect of eggs not so consigned.

(5) For the purpose of so much of this section as relates to the indication by marks of the premises on which eggs were packed, the Minister may assign to every registered wholesaler's premises a distinctive mark, and may, by the regulations made under this section, require the marks so assigned to be used as the mark for indicating the premises on which packages or eggs were packed.

(6) For the purpose of so much of this section as relates to the indication by marks of the period during which eggs were tested or the period during which eggs were packed, the Minister may from time to time, by notice published in the Iris Oifigiúil and in such newspapers and periodicals as he shall think proper, appoint distinctive marks to indicate particular periods, and may by the regulations made under this section require the marks so appointed to be used as the marks for indicating, in relation to the testing or the packing of eggs, the periods in respect of which such marks are respectively so appointed.

(7) All eggs received at any registered wholesaler's premises and the packages in which they are packed in those premises shall be marked in accordance in all respects with the provisions of this section and the regulations made thereunder and for the time being in force.

(8) The application of a mark prescribed under this section to any eggs or packages of eggs in any circumstances in which the application thereof is not authorised by or is not in accordance with this section or the regulations made thereunder shall be taken to be a false trade description within the meaning of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1931, and those Acts, including the penal provisions thereof, shall apply accordingly.

(9) For the purpose of this section a mark shall be deemed to be applied if it is applied within the meaning of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1931.