S.I. No. 339/1999 - European Communities (Fees For Health Inspections and Controls of Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1999.
I, JOE WALSH, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development 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 85/73/EEC of 29 January, 19851 (as amended by Council Directive 96/43/EC2 of 26 June, 1996) so far as it relates to meat, hereby make the following Regulations: | ||||||||
1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Fees for Health Inspections and Controls of Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1999. | ||||||||
(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 29th day of October, 1999. | ||||||||
2. (1) In these Regulations— | ||||||||
“abattoir” has the meaning assigned to it by the Abattoirs Act, 1988 (No. 8 of 1998); | ||||||||
“animal” means an animal to which the Council Directive applies and includes the animals referred to in the Schedule to these Regulations; | ||||||||
“approved cold store” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 4 of the Fresh Meat Regulations or regulation 4 of the Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations as a cold store; | ||||||||
“approved cutting plant” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 4 of the Fresh Meat Regulations or regulation 4 of the Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations as a cutting plant; | ||||||||
“approved farming game meat establishment” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 8 of the Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat Regulations. | ||||||||
“approved meat production plant” means an establishment approved by the Minister under— | ||||||||
(a) regulation 4 or 14 of the Meat Production Regulations, or | ||||||||
(b) regulation 4, 7 or 8 of the Minced Meat Regulations; | ||||||||
“approved meat slaughterhouse” means a premises registered in a register of slaughtering premises within the meaning of the Agricultural Production (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930 (No. 10 of 1930); | ||||||||
“approved poultry slaughterhouse” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 4 of the Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations as a slaughterhouse; | ||||||||
“approved rabbit meat slaughterhouse” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 4 of the Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat Regulations; | ||||||||
“approved wild game establishment” means an establishment approved by the Minister under regulation 4 of the Wild Game Regulations as a wild game processing house; | ||||||||
“authorised officer” means a person appointed as an authorised officer under regulation 14(1); | ||||||||
“certificate of indebtedness' means a certificate prepared under regulation 7 by the Minister; | ||||||||
“Council Directive” means the text set out in the Annex to Council Directive 96/43/EC of 26 June, 1996 replacing the title, the Articles and the Annexes to Council Directive 85/73/EEC of 29 January, 1985; | ||||||||
“Fresh Meat Regulations” means the European Communities (Fresh Meat) Regulations 1997 ( S.I. No. 434 of 1997 ); | ||||||||
“Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations” means the European Communities (Fresh Poultrymeat) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 3 of 1996 ); | ||||||||
“inspector” means, unless the context otherwise requires— | ||||||||
(a) a veterinary examiner within the meaning of the Meat Product Regulations or the Minced Meat Regulations; | ||||||||
(b) an auxiliary or official veterinarian within the meaning of the Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations, the Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat Regulations or the Wild Game Regulations, or | ||||||||
(c) an assistant, veterinary examiner or veterinary inspector within the meaning of the Fresh Meat Regulations; | ||||||||
and, in regulation 15, includes an inspector within the meaning of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966 (No. 6 of 1966) | ||||||||
“meat” includes poultry meat, rabbit meat, farmed game meat and wild game meat; | ||||||||
“Meat Products Regulations” means the European Communities (Meat Products and other Products of Animal Origin) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 126 of 1995 ); | ||||||||
“Minced Meat Regulations” means the European Communities (Minced Meat and Meat Preparations) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 243 of 1996 ); | ||||||||
“Minister” means the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development | ||||||||
“occupier”, in relation to an establishment or premises, however described, means— | ||||||||
(a) the holder of the exporter's licence under section 12, or a permit under section 17, of the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930 (No. 10 of 1930), | ||||||||
(b) the holder of a licence under section 24 of the Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935 (No. 24 of 1935), | ||||||||
(c) the holder of an approval under regulation 4 of the Fresh Poultrymeat Regulations, regulation 4 or 14 of the Meat Product Regulations or regulation 4, 7 or 8 of the Minced Meat Regulations, | ||||||||
(d) the holder of an approval for a cold store or cutting plant under regulation 4 of the Fresh Meat Regulations, | ||||||||
(e) the holder of an approval under regulation 4 or 8 of the Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat Regulations, | ||||||||
(f) the holder of an approval under regulation 4 of the Wild Game Regulations, | ||||||||
in relation to that establishment or premises; | ||||||||
“poultry” means broilers, hens, turkeys, ducks, geese or guinea fowl; | ||||||||
“Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat Regulations” means the European Communities (Rabbit Meat and Farmed Game Meat) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 278 of 1995 ); | ||||||||
“real inspection costs”, in relation to an establishment or premises, means the costs incurred by the Minister in the provision of the veterinary controls and inspections referred to in Chapter I of Annex A of the Annex to the Council Directive in relation to the establishment or premises, and includes any costs of administration incurred by the Minister in the provision of those controls and inspections; | ||||||||
“Wild Game Regulations” means the European Communities (Wild Game) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 298 of 1995 ); | ||||||||
“4 week period” means any of the consecutive periods of 4 weeks the first of which begins on the 15th day of November, 1999. | ||||||||
(2) A word or expression used in these Regulations that is also used in the Council Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning in these Regulations that it has in the Council Directive. | ||||||||
(3) In these Regulations— | ||||||||
(a) a reference to a regulation is a reference to a regulation in these Regulations, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other Regulations, is intended, | ||||||||
(b) a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a paragraph of the regulation, or subparagraph of the paragraph, in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended, and | ||||||||
(c) a reference to the schedule is a reference to the Schedule to these Regulations, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other Schedule is intended. | ||||||||
3. (1) Subject to paragraphs (7) and (8), there shall be charged and levied by the Minister on, and paid to the Minister by, the occupier of— | ||||||||
(a) an approved meat slaughterhouse, a fee of amount specified in Part I of the Schedule in respect of each animal slaughtered in the slaughterhouse, | ||||||||
(b) an approved poultry slaughterhouse, a fee of an amount specified in Part II of the Schedule in respect of poultry slaughtered in the slaughterhouse, | ||||||||
(c) an approved rabbit meat establishment, approved farmed game meat establishment or approved wild game establishment, a fee of an amount specified in Part II of the Schedule in respect of rabbits, small game birds or ground game slaughtered in the establishment concerned, | ||||||||
(d) an approved farmed game establishment or an approved wild game establishment, a fee of an amount specified in Part III of the Schedule in respect of wild boar or ruminants slaughtered in the establishment concerned, | ||||||||
(e) an approved cutting plant, a fee of 3 euro per tonne of meat entering the cutting plant, or | ||||||||
(f) an approved cold store or an approved meat product plant, the real inspection costs in relation to the premises | ||||||||
(2) Where the real inspection costs (including, in the case of wild boar, the cost of the trichinoscopic examination referred to in regulation 6(3) of the Wild Game Regulations)in relation to an establishment or premises for a 4 week period exceed the amount of the fees that, but for this paragraph, would be payable under paragraph (1) (a), (b), (c) or (d) by the occupier of the establishment or premises for that period, the Minister may charge and levy on the occupier, and, if the Minister does so, the occupier shall pay to the Minister, a fee of an amount not exceeding the real inspection costs. | ||||||||
(3) Where the real inspection costs in the relation to an establishment or premises for a 4 week period are less than the amount of the fees that, but for this paragraph, would be payable under paragraph (1)(a) (b), (c) or (d) by the occupier of the premises for that period, the Minister may charge and levy on the occupier, and, if the Minister does so, the occupier shall pay to the Minister, a fee of an amount not exceeding the real inspection costs, subject to the amount not being less than 55 per cent of the amount of the fees which would be payable under paragraph (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d). | ||||||||
(4) Where— | ||||||||
(a) an animal, poultry or game bird slaughtered in an establishment or premises referred to in paragraph (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) is, at the time of slaughter, the property of a person other than the occupier of the establishment or premises, or establishment or premises, or | ||||||||
(b) meat or a meat product in an establishment or premises referred to in paragraph (1)(c) is the property of a person other than the occupier of the premises, | ||||||||
the occupier of the establishment or premises may recover from that person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction— | ||||||||
(i) the amount of any fee paid by the occupier under paragraph (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) in respect of the slaughter of the animal, poultry or game bird, or the cutting of meat, and | ||||||||
(ii) so much of the real inspection costs paid by the occupier under paragraph (2) or (3) as are attributable to veterinary inspections and controls of the meat or meat product carried out at a time when it was the property of that person. | ||||||||
4. (1) Subject to the Council Directive, the Minister may enter into an agreement with the occupier of an establishment or premises providing for the recovery by the Minister of the real inspection costs incurred in relation to the establishment or premises. | ||||||||
(2) An agreement under paragraph (1) may provide for the giving of security, of such a nature as may be specified in the agreement, by the occupier of the establishment or premises to the Minister in respect of the real inspection costs relating to the establishment or premises. | ||||||||
5. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) and (3), there shall be charged and levied by the Local Authority in whose functional area an abattoir is situated and paid to it by the holder of the abattoir licence concerned, a fee of an amount specified in the Schedule in respect of each animal slaughtered in the abattoir. | ||||||||
(2) Where the real inspection costs in relation to an abattoir exceed the amount of the fees that, but for this paragraph, would be payable under paragraph (1) by the holder of an abattoir licence, the Local Authority may charge and levy on the licence holder, and if it does so the licence holder shall pay to the Local Authority, a fee of an amount not exceeding the real inspection costs. | ||||||||
(3) Where the real inspection costs in relation to an abattoir are less than the amount of the fees that, but for this paragraph, would be payable under paragraph (1) by the holder of an abattoir licence, the Local Authority may charge and levy on the licence holder, and if it does so the licence holder shall pay to the Local Authority, a fee of an amount not exceeding the real inspection costs, subject to the amount not being less than 55 per cent of the amount of the fees which would be payable under paragraph (1). | ||||||||
(4) A fee under this regulation shall be paid to the Local Authority concerned not later than 28 days after the end of the month in which the animal concerned is slaughtered. | ||||||||
(5) Fees due and payable by a person to a Local Authority under this regulation may be recovered by the authority from the person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction. | ||||||||
(6) In this regulation “Local Authority” means the Council of a country or corporation of a country borough. | ||||||||
6. A fee under regulation 3(1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) shall become due on the date on which the animal, poultry or game bird concerned is slaughtered, a fee under regulation 3(e) shall become due on the date on which the meat enters the cutting premises, and a fee under regulation 3(1)(f), or 3(2) or (3) shall become due on the date on which the veterinary inspection or control concerned took place. | ||||||||
7. (1) The Minister shall, in respect of each 4 week period, prepare a certificate of indebtedness for every establishment or premises, being an approved meat slaughterhouse, approved poultry slaughterhouse, approved rabbit meat establishment, approved farmed game meat establishment, approved wild game establishment, approved cutting plant, approved cold store or an approved meat product plant, in respect of which fees under regulation 3 become due during that period. | ||||||||
(2) A certificate of indebtedness for an establishment or premises shall specify the occupier of the establishment or premises and the amount of the fees that become due by such occupier under regulation 3 during the period concerned in respect of the establishment or premises. | ||||||||
8. A copy of a certificate of indebtedness shall be served on the person to whom it relates and, where so served— | ||||||||
(a) the amount of the fees specified in the certificate shall be payable by the person to the Minister not later than 14 days from the date of the service of the certificate unless, within that period, the person shows to the satisfaction of the Minister either that no such fees or fees of amounts other than those specified in the certificate are payable by him or her to the Minister in respect of the period to which the certificate relates. | ||||||||
(b) if the person shows pursuant to paragraph (a) (that an amount other than the amount specified in the certificate is payable by him or her, the amount so shown shall be payable by the person to the Minister in accordance with paragraph (a) and if any sum in excess of the latter amount has been paid by the person to the Minister pursuant to the certificate, that sum shall be repaid by the Minister to the person, | ||||||||
(c) if, at any time after the service of the copy of the certificate on the person, the Minister becomes satisfied that an amount other than the amount specified in the certificate is payable by the person, the Minister may complete another certificate of indebtedness (a copy of which shall be served on the person) specifying the first-mentioned amount and that certificate shall be deemed to be in substitution for the first-mentioned certificate and this Regulation shall apply and have effect accordingly in relation to it, and any amount paid to the Minister pursuant to the first-mentioned certificate shall be deemed to have been paid pursuant to the other certificate. | ||||||||
9. In any proceedings, a certificate of indebtedness shall be evidence until the contrary is proved of the matters stated in the certificate and a document purporting to be such a certificate and to be signed by an officer of the Minister and bearing an endorsement that purports to be signed by that officer and states that a copy of the certificate was served on the person to whom the certificate relates shall be deemed, until the contrary is shown, to be such a certificate and to have been served on that person and it shall not be necessary to prove that the person purporting to have signed the certificate was an officer of the Minister or that he or she was duly authorised by the Minister to sign the certificate. | ||||||||
10. A copy of a certificate of indebtedness may be served on a person— | ||||||||
(a) if the person is an individual— | ||||||||
(i) by delivering it to the person, | ||||||||
(ii) by sending it to the person by post addressed to the person at his or her usual or last known place of residence or business, or | ||||||||
(iii) by leaving it for the person at a place referred, to in subparagraph (ii), or | ||||||||
(b) if the person is a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons, by sending it to the body by post to, or addressing it to and leaving it at, in the case of a company, its registered office within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963 (No. 33 of 1963)) and, in any other case, its principal place of business. | ||||||||
11. Where a fee payable under these Regulation to the Minister is not paid, the Minister may direct inspectors not to perform the functions, or specified functions, in relation to which those fees are payable (that is to say, the provision by the inspectors of veterinary inspections and controls in respect of the animals, poultry, game birds, meat or meat products concerned at or entering the establishment or premises concerned) until the fee is paid, and the inspectors shall comply with the direction. | ||||||||
12. (1) Where the whole or part of a fee payable by a person to the Minister under these Regulations is not paid within the time specified in regulation 8, the Minister may charge and levy on the person, and if the Minister does so, the person shall pay to the Minister, interest at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum on the amount unpaid of the fee in respect of the period during which that amount remains unpaid after the time at or before which it was required by regulation 8 to be paid. | ||||||||
(2) The Minister may, in relation to any period in respect of which interest is payable by a person to the Minister under paragraph (1), prepare a certificate specifying the name and address of the person, the amount of the interest, the amount of the fees concerned, the period to which the interest relates and the establishment and period to which the fees relate. | ||||||||
(3) Regulations 8, 9 and 10 shall apply to a certificate under paragraph (2) as they apply to a certificate of indebtedness with the modification that references in regulation 8 to fees shall be construed as references to interest, and with any other necessary modifications. | ||||||||
13. (1) A fee or interest due and payable to the Minister under these Regulations by a person may be recovered from the person by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction. | ||||||||
(2) A fee or interest paid to the Minister under these Regulations shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance. | ||||||||
(3) The Public Officers Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply to a fee or interest under these Regulations. | ||||||||
14. (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many persons as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations. | ||||||||
(2) An authorised officer or inspector, when exercising a power conferred on him or her by these Regulations, shall, if so requested by any person affected, produce evidence in writing of his or her appointment as an authorised officer or inspector. | ||||||||
15. (1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Council Directive— | ||||||||
(a) at all reasonable times, enter any premises or place (other than a dwelling or so much thereof as consists of a dwelling) in which he or she reasonably believes that any of the business of an approved meat slaughterhouse, approved poultry slaughterhouse, approved rabbit meat establishment, approved farmed game meat establishment, approved cutting plant, approved cold store, approved meat product plant or abattoir is carried on, | ||||||||
(b) inspect the premises or place and examine and inspect any meat, animal, poultry or game bird found there, | ||||||||
(c) examine any books, documents or other records (in whatever form kept) found on the premises or place and take copies of any such records or of extracts therefrom, extract information from data (within the meaning of the Data Information Act, 1988 (No. 25 of 1988)) so found and take extracts from any data information (within the meaning of that Act) so found, and | ||||||||
(d) require any person at the premises or place and the occupier or person in charge thereof, and any person employed in connection therewith, to give to the authorised officer such information and to produce to him or her such books, certificates, documents and other records (in whatever form kept) within the power or procurement of the person as the authorised officer or inspector may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions. | ||||||||
(2) A person who obstructs or impedes an authorised officer or inspector in the exercise of a power or, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement, under this regulation or who in purported compliance with such a requirement gives information to an authorised officer or inspector that he or she knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both. | ||||||||
16. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister. | ||||||||
17. The following Regulations are hereby revoked: | ||||||||
(a) the European Communities (Fees for Health Inspections and Controls of Fresh Meat) Regulations, 1995 ( S.I. No. 34 of 1995 ); | ||||||||
(b) the European Communities (Fees for Health Inspections and Controls of Fresh Meat) (Amendment) Regulations, 1997 ( S.I. No. 207 of 1997 ). | ||||||||
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SCHEDULE | ||||||||
(Regulations 3 and 5) | ||||||||
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Part I | ||||||||
1. Bovine animals | ||||||||
—4.50 euro per animal for adult bovine animals, | ||||||||
—2.50 euro per animal for young bovine animals. | ||||||||
2. Solipeds and Equidae | ||||||||
—4.40 euro per animal. | ||||||||
3. Pigs | ||||||||
—0.50 euro per animal of less than 25 kilograms carcase weight, | ||||||||
—1.30 euro per animal of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 25 kilograms. | ||||||||
4. Sheep and Goats | ||||||||
—0.175 euro per animal of less than 12 kilograms carcase weight, | ||||||||
—0.35 euro per animal of a carcase weight between 12 and 18 kilograms, | ||||||||
—0.50 euro per animal of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 18 kilograms. | ||||||||
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Part II | ||||||||
5. Poultry | ||||||||
—0.01 euro per bird for broilers, other young poultry of less than 2 kilograms carcase weight and cast hens. | ||||||||
—0.02 euro per bird for other young poultry of a carcase weight between 2 and 5 kilograms. | ||||||||
—0.04 euro per bird for other heavy adult poultry of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 5 kilograms. | ||||||||
6. Rabbits, small game birds and ground game | ||||||||
—0.01 euro per rabbit, small game bird or ground game of less than 2 kilograms carcase weight. | ||||||||
—0.02 euro per rabbit, small game bird or ground game of a carcase weight between 2 and 5 kilograms. | ||||||||
—0.04 euro per rabbit, small game bird or ground game of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 5 kilograms. | ||||||||
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Part III | ||||||||
7. Wild Boar | ||||||||
—0.5 euro per animal of less than 25 kilograms carcase weight, | ||||||||
—1.30 euro per animal of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 25 kilograms. | ||||||||
8. Ruminants | ||||||||
—0.175 euro per animal of less than 12 kilograms carcase weight, | ||||||||
—0.35 euro per animal of a carcase weight between 12 and 18 kilograms weight, | ||||||||
—0.5 euro per animal of a carcase weight equal to or greater than 18 kilograms. | ||||||||
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EXPLANATORY NOTE. | ||||||||
(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.) | ||||||||
These regulations give effect to Council Directive 85/73/EEC of 29 January, 1985 (as amended by Council Directive 96/43/EC of 26 June, 1996) which lays down rules in relation to the financing of health inspections and controls on live animals and certain animal products. The regulations deal with the financing of inspections and controls in fresh meat establishments only. They lay down detailed rules in relation to the manner in which the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development can levy inspection fees on the occupiers of such establishments. | ||||||||
