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STATUTORY
INSTRUMENTS
1995No.
1544
FOOD
The
Eggs (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1995
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Laid before Parliament
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19th June 1995
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Coming into force
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10th July 1995
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The Minister of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of
State for Wales, acting jointly, in relation to England and Wales, and the
Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Scotland, in exercise of the
powers conferred on them by sections 6(4), 16(1), 17, 26(2) and (3) and 48(1)
of the Food Safety Act 1990[1] and of all other
powers enabling them in that behalf; the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food and the Secretary of State, being Ministers designated[2] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the
European Communities Act 1972[3] in relation to
the common agricultural policy of the European Community, acting jointly, in
exercise (so far as is required for the revocation of Regulations made under
the said section 2(2)) of the powers conferred upon them by the said section
2(2), and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, after
consultation in accordance with section 48(4) of the said Act of 1990 with
such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests likely
to be substantially affected by the Regulations (in so far as the Regulations
are made in exercise of the powers conferred by the said sections of the said
Act of 1990) hereby make the following Regulations:—
Title,
commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the
Eggs (Marketing Standards) Regulations 1995, and shall come into force on
10th July 1995.
(2) These Regulations
shall apply to Great Britain.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the
context otherwise requires—
"the Act" means the
Food Safety Act 1990;
"Council Decision"
means Council Decision 94/371/EC laying down specific public health
conditions for the putting on the market of certain types of eggs[4];
"Community provision"
means—
(a) any provision of a
Regulation of the European Communities which is referred to in column 1 of
the Schedule to these Regulations which is specified in column 3 thereof; and
(b) any provision of the
Council Decision specified in regulation 3 of these Regulations;
"food authority" does
not include—
(a) except in relation
to regulation 3(2), the council of a district in a non-metropolitan county in
England and Wales; and
(b) the appropriate
Treasurer referred to in section 5(1)(c) of the Act (which deals the the
Inner Temple and the Middle Temple);
"Minister" means—
(a) in relation to
England the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and
(b) in relation to
Scotland or Wales the Secretary of State.
(2) Other expressions used in these Regulations have,
in so far as the context admits, the same meaning as in the relevant
Community provision.
Requirements
under the Council Decision
3.—(1) In relation to the sale of any eggs,
any person carrying on an activity regulated by a Community provision shall
comply with Articles 2, 3(1) and (2) and 4 of the Council Decision.
(2) Any person using
eggs in catering kitchens including restaurants and for the preparation of
non-industrial scale egg products or products containing eggs shall comply
with Article 5 of the Council Decision.
(3) In this regulation
the expressions "eggs", "catering kitchens",
"restaurants" and "non-industrial scale egg products"
have the same meaning as in Articles 1(2) and 5 of the Council Decision
respectively.
Enforcement
authorities
4.—(1) It shall be the duty of each food
authority to enforce and execute within its area the Community provisions in
so far as they relate to—
(a) the sale of eggs by a
retailer;
(b) the use of eggs as
described in regulation 3(2).
(2) The Minister shall enforce and execute the
Community provisions in all other respects.
Powers of
authorised officers
5. For the purpose of enforcing
any Community provision, an authorised officer of the Minister, on producing
if so required a duly authenticated document showing his authority, may—
(a) require any person
not to remove or cause to be removed any eggs from any land or premises for
such period as he may reasonably specify as necessary for the purposes of his
inspection of those eggs;
(b) require that any
container of eggs which does not comply in any respect with the requirements
of any Community provision, whether in relation to eggs contained in it or
otherwise, be made so to comply before it is removed from such land or
premises, except as may be otherwise directed by an authorised officer of the
Minister.
Keeping of
records
6. If so required by notice in
writing served on him by or on behalf of the Minister, any person carrying on
any activity regulated by a Community provision shall keep or cause to be
kept such records as the Minister may reasonably require for the purpose of
enforcing or executing any such provision, and shall provide the Minister
with such information derived from such records as the Minister may from time
to time require.
United
Kingdom official mark
7. The official mark for the
purposes of Article 19 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 1274/91[5] shall consist of the letters "UK",
each letter being 1 centimetre high and surrounded by a line describing an
oval.
Offences
and penalty
8.—(1) Any person who
(a) fails to comply with
any requirement properly made to him by an authorised officer of the Minister
or of a food authority under these Regulations, or
(b) contravenes or fails
to comply with any Community provision,
shall be guilty of an offence
and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on
the standard scale.
(2) Where an offence
under these Regulations is committed in Scotland by a Scottish partnership
and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to
be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, he as well as the
partnership shall be guilty of the offence and be liable to be proceeded
against and punished accordingly.
Trade
Descriptions Act 1968
9. The descriptions and marks
applied in pursuance of any Community provision shall be deemed not to be
trade descriptions for the purposes of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968[6].
Application
of various sections of the Act
10. The following provisions of
the Act shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations as they apply for
the purposes of section 8, 14 or 15 of the Act and, unless the context
otherwise requires, any reference in them to the Act shall be construed as a
reference to these Regulations—
section 2 (extended meaning of
"sale" etc.);
section 3 (presumption that
food is intended for human consumption);
section 20 (offences due to
fault of another person);
section 21 (defence of due
diligence);
section 30(8) (which relates to
documentary evidence);
section 32 (powers of entry);
section 33 (obstruction etc. of
officers);
section 36 (offences by bodies
corporate);
section 44 (protection of
officers acting in good faith); and
section 50 (service of
documents).
Revocations
11. The following are revoked—
(a) the Eggs (Marketing
Standards) Regulations 1985[7];
(b) the Eggs (Marketing
Standards) (Amendment) Regulations 1987[8];
(c) regulation 3(2) of
the Food Safety Act 1990 (Consequential Modifications) (No. 2) (Great
Britain) Order 1990[9]; and
(d) the Eggs (Marketing
Standards) (Amendment) Regulations 1991[10].
Michael Jack
Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
23rd May 1995
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health
Cumberlege
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health
24th May 1995
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales
Gwilym Jones
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office
14th June 1995
Hector Monro
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office
25th May 1995
Notes:
[1] 1990 c. 16; "the Ministers" is defined
in section 4(1) of the Act; section 6(4)(a) of the Act was amended by the Deregulation
and Contracting Out Act 1994 (c. 40) section 31 and Schedule 9, paragraph 6.
back
[2] S.I. 1972/1811. back
[3] 1972 c. 68. back
[4] OJ No. L168, 2.7.94, p.34. back
[5] OJ No. L121, 16.5.91, p.11 the amendments to which
are specified under item 2 in Column 1 of the Schedule to these Regulations;
none of the amendments relate to Article 19. back
[6] 1968 c. 29. back
[7] S.I. 1985/1271. back
[8] S.I. 1987/1184. back
[9] S.I. 1990/2487. back
[10] S.I. 1991/1396. back
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