S.I. No. 221/1997 - European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Products of Plant Origin, Including Fruit and Vegetables) Regulations, 1997.

S.I. No. 221 of 1997.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (PESTICIDE RESIDUES) (PRODUCTS OF PLANT ORIGIN, INCLUDING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES) REGULATIONS, 1997.

 I, IVAN YATES, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 90/642/EEC of 27 November 1990¹, as amended by Council Directive 93/58/EEC of 29 June 1993² and the corrigenda to Council Directive 93/58/EEC ³ Council Directive 94/30/EC of 23 June 1994⁴, Council Directive 95/38/EC of 17 July 1995⁵ and the corrigenda to Council Directive 95/38/EC Council Directive 95/61/EC⁶ of 29 November 1995⁷ and Council Directive 96/32/EC of 21 May 1996⁸, hereby make the following Regulations:

¹O.J. No. L350 of 14/12/1990.

²O.J. No. L211 of 23/8/1993.

³O.J. No. L219 of 24/8/1994.

⁴O.J. No. L189 of 23/7/1994.

⁵O.J. No. L197 of 22/8/1995.

⁶O.J. No. L155 of 28/6/1996.

⁷O.J. No. L292 of 7/.12/1995.

⁸O.J. No. L144 of 18/6/1996.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Products of Plant Origin, including Fruit and Vegetables) Regulations, 1997.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 22nd day of May 1997.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"authorised officer" means an officer of the Minister authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations:

"controlled product" means the portion of the products of plant origin, including fruit and vegetables, listed in the third column of Annex 1;

"designated analyst" means an appropriately qualified officer of the Minister who is authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations:

"the Directive" means Council Directive 90/642/EEC of 27 November 1990, as amended by Council Directive 93/58/EEC of 29 June 1993 and the corrigenda to Council Directive 93/58/EEC, Council Directive 94/30/EC of 23 June 1994, Council Directive 95/38/EC of 17 July 1995 and the corrigenda to Council Directive 95/38/EC, Council Directive 95/61/EC of 29 November 1995 and Council Directive 96/32/EC of 21 May 1996;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry;

"Annex I" (which is set out in Part I of the First Schedule) means Annex I to Directive 90/642/EEC as inserted by Directive 93/58/EEC;

"Annex II" (which is set out in Part 2 of the First Schedule) means Annex II to Directive 90/642/EEC as inserted by Directive 93/58/EEC, amended by Directive 94/30/EC, by Directive 95/38/EC, by Directive 95/61/EC and by Directive 96/32/EC;

"pesticide residue" means residues of the pesticides and of their metabolites and breakdown or reaction products as listed in the heading to the second and subsequent columns of Annex II which are present in or on the products listed in the first column of Annex II:

"putting into circulation" means any post-harvest handing over, whether or not for a consideration;

"the State Chemist" means the head of the State Laboratory or persons authorised in writing by the State Chemist to perform the functions assigned to the State Chemist under Regulation 10.

(2) A word or phrase that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive shall, unless the contrary intention appears, have the meaning that it has in the Directive.

(3) In these Regulations, unless otherwise indicated—

( a ) a reference to a Regulation is to a Regulation of these Regulations,

( b ) a reference to a Schedule is to a Schedule to these Regulations,

( c ) a reference to a paragraph is to the paragraph of the Regulation in which the reference occurs.

3. (1) These Regulations shall apply to products within the groups specified in Column I of Annex I, examples of which are given in Column 2 of Annex I, insofar as products in these groups, or parts of product described in Column 3 of Annex I, may contain certain pesticide residues.

(2) These Regulations shall apply without prejudice to the operation of the European Communities (Detailed Provisions on the Control of Additives, other than Colours and Sweeteners, for use in Foodstuffs) Regulations, 1997 — S.I. No. 128 of 1997 ; the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Feedingstuffs) Regulations, 1992 — S.I. No. 40 of 1992 ; the European Communities (Feedingstuffs) (Tolerances of Undesirable Substances and Products) Regulations, 1989 to 1996 — S.I. No. 216 of 1989 , S.I. No. 241 of 1991, S.I. No. 86 of 1993 , S.I. No. 34 of 1994, S.I. No. 73 of 1995 and S.I. No. 275 of 1996 ; the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Fruit and Vegetables) Regulations, 1989-1997 — S.I. No. 105 of 1989 and S.I. No. 218 of 1997 and the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Cereals) Regulations, 1988 to 1996 — S.I. No. 216 of 1988 , S.I. No. 316 of 1993, S.I. No. 164 of 1995 , S.I. No. 47 of 1996 and S.I. No. 337 of 1996 .

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this Regulation, these Regulations shall not apply, as regards the maximum levels of pesticide residues prescribed in Annex II, to products which are being exported to a third country, and in respect of which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister that, either a particular treatment is specifically requested by the third country of destination in order to prevent the introduction of harmful organisms into its territory, or the treatment is necessary to protect the products against harmful organisms during transport to the third country of destination and storage there.

(4) These Regulations shall not apply to the products described in paragraph (1) of this Regulation, which are shown to the satisfaction of the Minister, to be intended either for the manufacture of products other than foodstuffs and animal feeds, or for sowing or planting.

4. (1) A person shall not place on the market any controlled product if—

( a ) the product contains within it or on it a pesticide residue, and

( b ) the level of such pesticide residue exceeds the maximum specified in relation to the controlled product in the first column opposite the mention of such pesticide residue in the second and subsequent columns of Annex II;

(2) In the case of dried products, produced from products to which these Regulations apply, the maximum level of pesticide residue present shall be the level specified in Annex II adjusted to take account of the residue concentration caused by the drying process.

(3) A person who contravenes the provisions of paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

5. (1) Subject to paragraph (3), an authorised officer may at any reasonable time enter—

( a ) any place or premises including farms in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that a controlled product is being produced, put into circulation, processed, stored or used, or

( b ) any railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel, aircraft, container or other thing in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that such a product is being transported, stored or used, or

( c ) any premises in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that there are any books, documents or records, relating to any business whose activities consist of or include the putting into circulation, processing or storage of any controlled product,

and there or at any other place as he may consider appropriate—

(i) make such examinations, tests and inspections, and

(ii) take samples in accordance with the methods described in the Annex to Commission Directive 79/700/EEC of 21 July 1979⁹ or the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission, Recommended method of sampling for the determination of Pesticide Residues (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations CAC/PR5 1984), where relevant; and in accordance with other internationally accepted procedures in other cases, of any product which he finds in the course of his inspection and which he believes is or may be products to which these Regulations apply.

⁹O.J. No. L207 of 15/8/1979.

(2) A person who has in any place or land or on any premises or in any railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel, aircraft, container or other thing, a controlled product, shall at all reasonable times—

( a ) afford to an authorised officer such facilities and assistance as are reasonably necessary for an inspection and taking of samples pursuant to this Regulation;

( b ) give an authorised officer any information which he may reasonably require regarding the purchase, importation, processing, production, sale or use of any such product and which is within the person's knowledge or procurement, and

( c ) produce to an authorised officer any document relating to any such product which the authorised officer may reasonably require and when produced, permit the officer to inspect and take extracts from or copy such document.

(3) Where a sample is taken in accordance with the methods described in the Annex to Commission Directive 79/700/EEC of 24 July 1979, the authorised officer shall—

( a )  divide the sample into three parts, each of which he shall seal and mark,

( b ) give one part thereof to a designated analyst for analysis under paragraph (4),

( c ) leave with, or send by registered post to the defendant or his agent, a second part thereof, and

( d ) retain the remaining part thereof for possible analysis by the State Chemist under Regulation 10.

(4) Where a designated analyst receives a sample from an authorised officer taken in pursuance of these Regulations he shall make analyses thereof using validated analytical methods.

(5) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, evidence of the result of any analysis of, or any report on a sample taken pursuant to this Regulation, shall not be adduced unless it is proved that before the proceedings were instituted one of the parts into which the sample was duly divided was left with, or sent by registered post to, the defendant or his agent.

(6) (i) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, a certificate in the form set out in the Second or Third Schedule showing the results of an analysis shall, until the contrary is shown, be sufficient evidence of the facts certified to therein in relation to the presence of any pesticide residues and the level of such pesticide residues within or on a controlled product, and a document purporting to be such a certificate shall be deemed, until the contrary is shown, to be such a certificate.

(ii) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, each of the documents referred to in paragraph (1) (ii) and paragraph (4) may be proved by the production of a copy thereof.

(7) Any person who—

( a ) fails to comply with a requirement of paragraph (2), or

( b ) obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer in the course of exercising a power conferred on him by this Regulation.

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

(8) The Minister shall furnish an authorised officer with a certificate of his appointment, and when exercising any power conferred on him by these Regulations, the officer shall, if requested by a person affected, produce that certificate to that person.

(9) A designated analyst shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment by the Minister to carry out analyses as required by these Regulations.

6. (1) An authorised officer may seize and retain or seize, remove and retain any controlled product in relation to which the officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is or has been a failure to comply with these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer who has seized any controlled product pursuant to this Regulation may by a notice in writing, given to the owner or to the person in apparent charge or control of the product, require either—

( a ) specified things to be done in relation to the product before it is released by the officer, or

( b ) the disposal of the product by the owner, or the person in apparent charge or control of the product, in a manner and within a time specified in the notice and at the expense of the owner, such disposal to be such as will prevent the product being used for human or animal consumption,

and in either case, the authorised officer shall retain control of the product to which the notice relates until the requirements of the notice have been complied with.

(3) Where there has been a failure to comply with a requirement of a notice given under paragraph (2) (b), an authorised officer who in pursuance of this Regulation has seized any product, may, on giving notice in writing to the owner, or to the person in apparent charge or control of such product of his intention to do so, apply to the District Court in the District Court district in which the notice has been served for an order directing that the product be disposed of (by destruction or otherwise) in a manner, specified in the order, that will prevent its being used for human or animal consumption.

(4) Where an application is made under paragraph (3) to the District Court for an order directing the disposal of a controlled product, the Court, if it is satisfied that—

(i) the controlled product to which the notice relates contains within it or on it a pesticide residue in excess of the maximum specified in relation to that product under these Regulations, or

(ii) if such product were released, it might be put into circulation contrary to Regulation 4, or

(iii) such product if consumed would constitute a danger to human or animal health,

shall order that the product be disposed of (by destruction or otherwise) in a manner, specified in the order, that will prevent its being used for human or animal consumption.

(5) Where an order is made by the District Court under paragraph (4), the order may provide that the product to which it relates shall be disposed of in the manner specified in the notice given under paragraph (2) (b), or in such other manner as may be specified in the Court's order and which, in the opinion of the Court, will prevent the product being used for human or animal consumption.

(6) Where an order made by the District Court under paragraph (4), requires that a product to which it relates be disposed of by an authorised officer, the cost of disposing of the relevant product pursuant to and in accordance with the order, shall be recoverable by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from the person who was either the owner, or in apparent charge or control of the product, at the time it was seized.

(7) Any person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer in the course of exercising a power conferred on him under this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

7. (1) Where a product is seized pursuant to Regulation 6 (1), a person shall not tamper with, or without the permission of an authorised officer, move, dispose of or otherwise interfere in any way with the product.

(2) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

8. If any person fraudulently—

( a ) tampers with anything so as to procure that any sample taken pursuant to these Regulations does not correctly represent the product sampled, or

( b ) tampers or interferes with any sample taken under these Regulations,

he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

9. (1) An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

(2) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, the director, manager, secretary or other officer or any person purporting to act in such capacity shall, as well as the body corporate, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

10. (1) Where an appeal is made to the District Court concerning the results of any analysis made under Regulation 5 (4), the third part of the sample shall, if the defendant so requires, be analysed by the State Chemist.

(2) The State Chemist shall in making an analysis under this Regulation comply with the Codex Guidelines on good practice in Pesticide Residue Analysis and issue a certificate in the form set out in the Third Schedule to the defendant and to the designated analyst concerned.

11. The defendant shall be liable for the cost of the analysis carried out by the State Chemist under Regulation 10 in the event that the results of that analysis confirm that there has been a breach of Regulation 4 (1).

12. The following Regulations are hereby revoked:—

(i) the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Products of Plant Origin, including Fruit and Vegetables) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 190 of 1994 );

(ii) the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Products of Plant Origin, including Fruit and Vegetables) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 166 of 1995 );

and

(iii) the European Communities (Pesticide Residues) (Products of Plant Origin, including Fruit and Vegetables) (Amendment) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 316 of 1996 ).

FIRST SCHEDULE

PART 1 ANNEX I

List of products and the portion of the products to which the maximum residue levels apply

1. Fruit, fresh, dried or uncooked, preserved by freezing, not containing added sugar; nuts

2. Vegetables, fresh or uncooked, frozen or dry

3. Pulses

4. Oil seeds

5. Potatoes

6. Tea (dried leaves and stalks, fermented or otherwise, Camellia sinensis)

7. Hops (dried), including hop pellets and un-concentrated powder

Note: The word "fresh" is taken to extend to products which have been chilled or frozen and in the case of dried fruit and vegetables for which maximum levels are not fixed, the maximum level applicable will be that laid down in the Directives taking into account the residue concentration caused by the drying process.

FIRST SCHEDULE

PART 2 ANNEX II

Pesticide residues and maximum residue levels (mg/kg)

*Indicates lower limit of analytical determination.

(a) (b) (c) (d) Should levels not be adopted by 1 January 1998 for acephate and by 1 July 2000 for aldicarb and amitraz, the following maximum levels shall apply as indicated thereafter:

(a) 0.01*

(b) 0.02*

(c) 0.05*

(d) 0.1*

Pesticide residues and maximum residue levels (mg/kg)

*Indicates lower limit of analytical determination.

(a) (b) (c) (d) Should levels not be adopted by 1 January 1998 for benomyl carbendazim thiophanate-methyl and by 30 June 1999 for benfurocarb and benalaxyl, the following maximum levels shall apply as indicated thereafter:

(a) 0.01*

(b) 0.02*

(c) 0.05*

(d) 0.1*

Pesticide residues and maximum residue levels (mg/kg)