S.I. No. 150/1994 - European Communities (Registration of Pedigree Animals) Regulations, 1994

S.I. No. 150 of 1994.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (REGISTRATION OF PEDIGREE ANIMALS) REGULATIONS, 1994

I, JOE WALSH, 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 No. 91/174/EEC of 25 March 1991¹, hereby make the following Regulations:

1 Citation and Commencement.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Registration of Pedigree Animals) Regulations, 1994.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 31st day of May, 1994.

2 Interpretation.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"application for approval" means an application to the Minister in respect of an approval for the maintenance of a register for the purposes of these Regulations and the Directive;

"an approval" means an approval granted by the Minister under Regulation 3;

"approved breeders' association or organisation" means—

( a ) a breeders' association or organisation which has its headquarters located within the State and has been granted an approval, or

( b ) a breeders' association or organisation which has its headquarters located in another Member State and is approved by the competent authority of that Member State,

"authorised officer" means a person authorised in writing by the Minister to exercise for the purposes of these Regulations and the Directive the powers conferred on an authorised officer by these Regulations;

"the Directive" means Council Directive No. 91/174/EEC of 25 March, 1991¹;

"register" means, any book, file or data medium in which pure-bred breeding animals of a specified breed are entered or registered with mention of their ancestors;

"marketed" means offered for sale;

"Member State" means a Member State of the European Communities;

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

"animal" means any animal covered by Annex II to the Treaty of Rome excluding sheep, goats, cattle, water buffalo, pigs and equidae.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning in these Regulations that it has in the Directive, save where the context otherwise requires.

(3) ( a ) In these Regulations a reference to a Regulation is to a Regulation of these Regulations, unless it is indicated that reference to some other Regulations is intended.

( b ) In these Regulations a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph is to the paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

3 Approval of breeders ' associations and organisations for the purposes of maintaining registers.

3. (1) The Minister shall for the purposes of these Regulations and the Directive grant an approval to a breeders' association or organisation, whose headquarters are located within the State, for the purposes of maintaining a register if the Minister is satisfied that the provisions of the Directive and any Decisions adopted under Article 6 of the Directive shall be complied with.

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L85, 5.4.1991, p. 37.

(2) An application for approval shall be—

( a ) submitted in writing by the applicant to the Minister,

( b ) legible and shall state the name and address of the applicant and where the applicant is a body corporate its principal place of business,

( c ) accompanied by the fee determined in accordance with Regulation 7, and

( d ) addressed to—

The Officer in Charge,

Livestock Breeding Division,

Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry,

Farnham Street,

Cavan.

or to such other person or address as the Minister may direct and as published in at least 2 daily newspapers published and circulating in the State.

(3) The Minister may, upon receipt of an application for approval, require such information from the applicant as he considers necessary for him to ensure that the Directive will be complied with and to decide whether or not to grant the approval.

(4) A person who in making an application for approval wilfully makes a false or misleading statement shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) Where the Minister grants an approval he shall notify the owner or person in charge of the breeders' association or organization concerned in writing of that approval.

(6) An approval shall be valid for 5 years.

(7) The Minister may, for the purpose of ensuring due compliance with the Directive and any Decisions adopted under Article 6 of the Directive, attach conditions to an approval at the time it is granted or subsequently and he may amend or revoke a condition attached to the approval and shall notify the owner or person in charge of the breeders' association or organization concerned in writing of the conditions, amendment or revocation in relation to that approval.

(8) The Minister may, if he is not satisfied that the relevant provisions of the Directive or Decisions adopted under Article 6 of the Directive are being or will be complied with by the breeders' association or organization refuse an application for approval or revoke an approval.

(9) The Minister shall not—

( a ) revoke an approval, or

( b ) refuse an application for approval, or

( c ) attach a condition to an approval or amend such a condition, without—

( d ) notifying the holder of, or applicant for, the approval of his intention to revoke the approval or refuse the application, or attach or amend the condition, as the case may be,

( e ) specifying his reasons for the intended revocation or refusal of the approval, or the attaching or amendment of the condition, and

( f ) affording the holder of, or applicant for, the approval the opportunity of making representations or having representations made on his behalf to the Minister in relation to the proposed revocation or refusal or to the attachment or amendment of the condition, as the case may be, within 14 days of the receipt by that person of the notification referred to in subparagraphh (d) and having had regard to any such representations.

(10) A person who contravenes an approval or a condition of an approval shall be guilty of an offence.

4 Entry and acceptance for breeding of animals in approved registers.

4. An animal shall not be entered or registered in a register maintained by an approved breeders' association or organisation otherwise than in accordance with Article 6 of the Directive.

5 Marketing of pure-bred animals, their embryos, semen and ova.

5. A breeding animal which is entered in a register maintained by an approved breeders' association or organisation and the semen, ova and embryos of such animal shall, when marketed, be accompanied by a zootechnical certificate drawn up in accordance with Article 6 of the Directive.

6 Powers of authorised officers.

6. (1) An authorised officer, on production of the officer's authorisation, if so required by any person affected, may, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Directive—

( a ) at all reasonable times enter any premises or place, including any land, vehicle, wagon, vessel, aircraft or other means of transport where he reasonably suspects that a register or part of a register, or any article, book, document or other record associated with a register maintained by an approved breeders association or organisation is being stored or transported,

( b ) require any person at the premises or place or the owner or person in charge thereof and any person employed in connection therewith to give him such information and to produce to him such books, documents and other records within the power of procurement of the person as he may reasonably require for the purposes of such functions,

( c ) examine and take copies of, or extracts from, any such records as aforesaid,

( d ) if accompanied by a member of the Garda Síocháná in uniform, stop any vehicle which he reasonably suspects to contain a register or part of a register or any article, book, document or other record associated with a register, maintained by an approved breeders' association or organisation.

(2) A person who obstructs or otherwise interferes with an authorised officer in the performance of his functions under this Regulation or who, in purported compliance with a requirement under subparagraph (1) (b), gives information to an authorised officer that he knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) If any person, with intent to deceive, tampers or interferes with any copy or extract taken under these Regulations, he shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) Where an authorised officer finds or comes into possession of any article, book, document or other record which he reasonably believes to be evidence of the commission of an offence under these Regulations, he may seize it and detain it for use in evidence in a prosecution under these Regulations for such period from the date of the seizure as may be reasonable or, if proceedings are commenced in which the article, book, document or other record is required for use in evidence, until the conclusion of the proceedings.

7 Fees.

7. (1) There shall be charged by the Minister in respect of an approval such fee as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(2) A fee charged under this Regulation shall be payable by the breeders' association or organisation to which the approval concerned relates and the Minister may refuse to grant an approval until the fee under this Regulation in respect thereof has been paid.

(3) Fees under this Regulation shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance.

(4) A fee payable under this Regulation may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(5) A fee charged under this Regulation shall not exceed an amount equal to the costs, estimated by the Minister, incurred in relation to the approval concerned and the performance of functions under these Regulations in relation to the breeders' association or organisation concerned by an authorised officer for the purposes of the approval.

8 Penalties and offences.

8. (1) A person who contravenes Regulation 4 or 5 shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.

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

(4) Where an offence under these Regulations has been 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 wilful neglect on the part of a person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(5) Where a person after conviction for an offence under these Regulations continues to contravene the provisions concerned, he shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the contravention continues and for each such offence he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 25th day of May, 1994.

JOE WALSH,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and

Forestry.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations, which give legal effect to the body of Council Directive 91/174/EEC and which come into effect on 31st May, 1994, provide for the approval and recognition of organisations which maintain registers for pure-bred animals excluding sheep, goats, cattle, horses and pigs, set out the criteria to be used for entry into such registers and set out the certification which must accompany such animals, their semen, ova or embryos when marketed.