Agricultural Produce (Eggs) Act, 1939

Divers regulations as to purchase, sale, and disposal of eggs.

52.—(1) The Minister may by order make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

(a) requiring that eggs in the shell of domestic fowl purchased by or on behalf of a registered proprietor shall be so purchased by weight;

(b) requiring registered proprietors (either generally or of any particular class or classes) who acquire, whether at their registered premises or elsewhere, eggs from producers to do the following things in respect of all eggs so acquired by them, that is to say:—

(i) to place such eggs, immediately upon the acquisition thereof, in a container of the design, dimensions, and materials specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section and obtained from a manufacturer similarly specified and marked with the mark similarly specified, and

(ii) to place in or on every such container the note, docket, or mark specified in that behalf by such regulations indicating the producer from whom and the date on which the eggs in such container were acquired, and such other particulars in relation to such eggs as may be so specified, and

(iii) save as may be otherwise provided by the regulations, to retain in such container such note or docket as aforesaid and also all eggs so placed therein until they are removed therefrom in the registered premises of a registered wholesaler for testing and grading, and

(iv) to retain for the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner all notes and dockets placed in such container in pursuance of the regulations;

(c) requiring that eggs (other than eggs packed in the registered premises of a registered wholesaler) consigned, offered or exposed for sale shall be packed in the manner and with the packing materials specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section;

(d) requiring that eggs (other than eggs packed in the registered premises of a registered wholesaler or a registered dealer) consigned, offered or exposed for sale shall be marked in the manner and with the mark specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section;

(e) requiring that the packages in which eggs (other than eggs packed in the registered premises of a registered wholesaler). consigned, offered or exposed for sale are packed shall be marked in the manner and with the mark specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section;

(f) requiring that all eggs sold or consigned, offered, exposed, or advertised for sale or invoiced before or after delivery on sale shall be sold or so consigned, offered, exposed, advertised or invoiced (as the case may be) under a description specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section;

(g) prohibiting the keeping of eggs on registered premises for longer than the maximum period specified by the regulations made under this section and applicable to such eggs;

(h) requiring that every registered proprietor, or every registered proprietor of premises registered in a particular register, who has in his possession any eggs the sale of which is prohibited by this Act shall dispose of such eggs only in a manner specified in that behalf by the regulations made under this section.

(2) For the purpose of so much of this section as relates to the marking of eggs, the Minister (in lieu of prescribing by regulations made under this section marks indicating the period during which eggs were tested or examined or the period during which eggs were packed) may from time to time by notice published in the Iris Oifigiúil and 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, the examining, or the packing of eggs, the periods in respect of which such marks are respectively so appointed.

(3) Every person who shall do any act (whether of commission or omission) which is a contravention of a regulation made under this section shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first such offence, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds or, in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(4) Every person who shall without lawful authority alter, deface, or remove—

(a) any mark placed on any egg, package or container in pursuance of regulations made under this section, or

(b) any note, docket, or mark placed in or on any container in pursuance of such regulations,

shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.