Title, extent and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Charges for Residues Surveillance Regulations 2006, extend to Great Britain and come into force on 1st October 2006.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“animal” means any bovine animal, swine, soliped, sheep, goat, poultry, game or wild game;

“animal product” means milk or eggs;

“brown trout” means any fish of the species Salmo trutta which has spent all of its life in fresh water;

“carcase” means the whole body of a slaughtered animal after bleeding and dressing;

“eggs” means hen eggs in shell, suitable for direct human consumption or for use in the food industry except for broken eggs, incubated eggs or cooked eggs;

“fish” means any farmed fish;

“game” means—

“milk” means cows’ milk;

“poultry” means domestic fowls, turkeys, guinea fowls, ducks or geese;

“rainbow trout” means fish of the species Oncorhynchus mykiss ;

“salmon” means fish of the species Salmo salar ;

“wild game” means—

Liability for and recovery of charges for residues surveillance

3. —(1) In respect of the costs incurred by the Secretary of State in carrying out the inspections and controls required by Directive 96/23 on the animals, fish or animal products listed in the first column of Schedule 1, he shall, except where paragraph (7) applies, for each animal, fish or animal product so listed, charge the amount specified opposite in the second column of that Schedule.

(2) Any charge under paragraph (1) is payable to the Secretary of State, and is recoverable by him on demand as a debt owed to him by the person liable to pay the charge under paragraph (3).

(3) The person liable to pay that charge is—

(a) in relation to any animal other than wild game, the operator of the business slaughtering the animal for sale or supply for human consumption;

(b) in relation to wild game, the operator of the business preparing the carcase of the wild game for sale or supply for human consumption;

(c) in relation to fish, the operator of the business producing the fish;

(d) in relation to milk, the operator of the foodbusiness collecting the milk, or, in the case of milk that is not collected from its producer by a foodbusiness before being sold, supplied or prepared for sale for human consumption, its producer; and

(e) in relation to eggs, the operator of the business packing the eggs.

(4) Where any person referred to in sub-paragraph (a), (b), (d) or (e) of paragraph (3) has paid a charge under that sub-paragraph, he may recover on demand a sum equal to that charge as a debt owed to him by any person on whose behalf he slaughtered the animal, prepared the wild game, collected the milk or packed the eggs (as the case may be) in respect of which he made payment.

(5) The Secretary of State may enter into an agreement with an organisation that he considers is supported by egg packing businesses providing for that organisation to pay for his inspection and control of eggs.

(6) If the Secretary of State enters into an agreement pursuant to paragraph (5), he shall, as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter, publicise—

(a) the fact of having done so,

(b) its duration, and

(c) if the agreement is not of a fixed term, the way in which he will notify its termination,

in a manner suitable for informing persons concerned in the egg trade.

(7) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of any inspection or control in respect of which an organisation is liable for payment by virtue of an agreement under paragraph (5).

(8) Where the Secretary of State has appointed any manufacturer of brown trout or rainbow trout feed as his agent to collect the charge for his inspection and control of brown trout or rainbow trout, the manufacturer may collect the charge by incorporating the amount of the charge in the price of such feed.

(9) As soon as reasonably practicable after making such an appointment, the Secretary of State shall publicise—

(a) the name of the appointed manufacturer,

(b) the duration of the appointment, and

(c) if the appointment is not for a fixed term, the way in which he will notify its termination,

in a manner suitable for informing operators of businesses producing brown trout and rainbow trout.

(10) In this regulation, “Directive 96/23” means Council Directive substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products and repealing Directives 4 ) as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made( 5 ).

Information, offences and enforcement

4. —(1) Any person so required by the Secretary of State shall supply—

(a) such information as the Secretary of State requires for the purpose of calculating charges payable under these Regulations; and

(b) such evidence as the Secretary of State requires to enable him to verify information supplied under sub-paragraph (a).

(2) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply within 30 days with a demand made under paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(3) Any person who knowingly furnishes the Secretary of State with false or misleading information for him to use when calculating charges payable under these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(4) These Regulations shall be enforced by the Secretary of State.

Revocations

5. The instruments specified in Schedule 2 are revoked.

Transitional provision

6. Any agreement made under the revoked instruments, if subsisting on the date these Regulations come into force, shall be treated as an agreement made under these Regulations.

Regulation 3(1)

SCHEDULE 1 Residues surveillance charges

Regulation 5

SCHEDULE 2 Revocations