Chemicals Act 2008

Interpretation.

2.— (1) In this Act—

“ Act of 1972 ” means the European Communities Act 1972 ;

“ Authority ” means the Health and Safety Authority;

“ chemical ” includes—

(a) a chemical, preparation or article within the meaning of the Rotterdam Regulation,

(b) a detergent within the meaning of the Detergents Regulation, and

(c) a substance, preparation or article within the meaning of the REACH Regulation;

“ code of practice ” means a code of practice prepared and published, or approved of, by the Authority in accordance with section 7 , and includes part of a code of practice;

contravention notice has the meaning assigned to it by section 15 ;

“ Detergents Regulation ” means Regulation (EC) No. 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on detergents, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 907/2006 of 20 June 2006 4 ;

“ European Communities ” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1972;

“ European Regulations ” means—

(a) the Rotterdam Regulation,

(b) the Detergents Regulation, and

(c) the REACH Regulation;

“ external authority ” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 ;

“ improvement plan ” means a plan required to be submitted under section 14 ;

“ information notice ” has the meaning assigned to it by section 27 ;

“ inspector ” means a person appointed under section 11 by a national authority;

“ Member State ” means a state that is a member of the European Communities and includes states that are parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by the protocol done at Brussels on 17 March 1993;

“ Minister ” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

“ mutual cooperation arrangements ” means arrangements under section 9 ;

“ national authority ” means—

(a) a designated national authority in the State under section 8 (1),

(b) a competent authority in the State under section 8 (2) or 8 (3), or

(c) a person prescribed in accordance with section 5 (3);

“ place ” means any structure, premises, land or other location or part of such place, and includes any container, railway wagon, vessel, aircraft, motor or other vehicle;

“ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“ prohibition notice ” has the meaning assigned by section 16 ;

“ REACH Regulation ” means Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and establishing a European Chemicals Agency, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1354/2007 of 15 November 2007 5 ;

“ record ” includes any memorandum, book, report, statement, register, plan, chart, map, drawing, specification, diagram, pictorial or graphic work or other document, any photograph, film or recording (whether of sound or images or both), any form in which data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003) are held, any form (including machine-readable form) or thing in which information is held or stored manually, mechanically or electronically, and anything that is a part or copy, in any form, of any of, or any combination of, the foregoing;

“ relevant chemicals statutory provisions ” means—

(a) the European Regulations,

(b) this Act, or

(c) regulations made under this Act;

“ relevant Minister ” means, in relation to a national authority that is not a Minister of the Government, the Minister of the Government (other than the Minister) in whom functions are vested in relation to that national authority;

“ Rotterdam Regulation ” means Regulation (EC) No. 304/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals, as amended by the following:

(a) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1213/2003 of 7 July 2003 6 ;

(b) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 775/2004 of 26 April 2004 7 ;

(c) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 777/2006 of 23 May 2006 8 ;

(d) Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1376/2007 of 23 November 2007 9 ;

“ special report ” means a report made under section 18 .

(2) Subject to subsection (1), a word or expression that is used in this Act and is also used in a European Regulation has the same meaning in this Act that it has in that European Regulation.

4OJ No. L 168, 21.6.2006, p. 5.

5OJ No. L 304, 22.11.2007, p. 1.

6OJ No. L 169, 8.7.2003, p. 27.

8OJ No. L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 27.

8OJ No. L 136, 24.5.2006, p. 9.

9OJ No. L 307, 24.11.2007, p. 14.