Title, application and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Specified Products from China (Restriction on First Placing on the Market) (England) Regulations 2008, apply in relation to England only and come into force on 15th April 2008.

Interpretation

2. —(1) In these Regulations—

“ the Agency ” means the Food Standards Agency;

“ authorised officer ”, in relation to a feed authority or a food authority, means any person (whether or not an officer of the authority) who is authorised by it in writing, either generally or specially, to act in matters arising under these Regulations;

[^F1 “the Commission Decision” means Commission Implementing Decision 2011/884/ EU on emergency measures regarding unauthorised genetically modified rice in rice products originating from China and repealing Decision 2008/289/EC , as amended by Commission Implementing Decision 2013/287/ EU ; ^F1]

“ feed ” has the meaning given to it in Article 3.4 of Regulation 178/2002;

^M4 “ feed authority ” means the authority required by section 67(1) of the Agriculture Act 1970 to enforce that Act within its area or as the case may be district;

“ food ” has the meaning given to it in Article 2 of Regulation 178/2002;

^F2 ...

^M5 “ food authority ” has the meaning that it bears by virtue of section 5(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990 except that it does not include the appropriate Treasurer referred to in section 5(1)(c) of the Act (which deals with the Inner and Middle Temple);

“ operator ” has the meaning that it bears in the Commission Decision;

[^F3 “placing on the market” has the meaning given to it in Article 3.8 of Regulation 178/2002; ^F3]

“ specified product ” means any product listed in [^F4 Annex I ^F4] to the Commission Decision that originates from or has been consigned from China; and

“ Regulation 178/2002 ” means Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety.

(2) Where any functions under the Food Safety Act 1990 are assigned—

(a) ^M6 by an order under section 2 or 7 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 , to a port health authority;

(b) ^M7 by an order under section 6 of the Public Health Act 1936 , to a joint board for a united district; or

(c) ^M8 by an order under paragraph 15(6) of Schedule 8 to the Local Government Act 1985 , to a single authority for a metropolitan county,

[^F5 (3) Any expression used in the Commission Decision and in these Regulations has the same meaning in these Regulations as it bears in the Commission Decision. ^F5]

[^F6 Restriction on placing on the market of specified products ^F6]

3. [^F7—(1) The placing on the market of any specified product is prohibited unless —

(a) in relation to the product —

(i) the requirement contained in Article 3.2 of the Commission Decision, in respect of products containing, consisting of or produced from rice, to transmit a common entry document or common veterinary entry document, as appropriate, with relevant parts completed, has been met, and

(ii) the conditions specified in Article 4 of the Commission Decision have been complied with; and

(b) where the consignment of the specified product has been split following official control, an authenticated copy of the health certificate and the analytical report accompanies each part of the split consignment. ^F7]

(2) Any person who knowingly contravenes the prohibition in paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both.

Notification of positive results

^F8 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Enforcement

5. —(1) It shall be the duty of each feed authority to execute and enforce these Regulations within its area or as the case may be district in relation to feed.

(2) It shall be the duty of each food authority to execute and enforce these Regulations within its area in relation to food.

(3) For the purposes of enabling the feed authority to exercise its duty under paragraph (1) and the food authority to exercise its duty under paragraph (2), an authorised officer of the authority concerned shall ensure that the requirements referred to in paragraph (4) are adhered to.

[^F9 (4) The requirements are those specified in —

(a) Article 5 of the Commission Decision (which is concerned with the conditions under which specified products may be placed on the market, the official controls to be carried out and the measures to be taken with regard to non-compliant consignments); and

(b) the first sentence of Article 7 of that Decision (which is concerned with the control of splitting of consignments). ^F9]

(5) Each feed authority and each food authority shall give such assistance and information to the Secretary of State and the Agency as they may reasonably request in connection with the execution and enforcement of these Regulations.

Application of various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990

6. The following provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the modification that any reference in those provisions to that Act or Part thereof shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations —

(a) section 20 (offences due to fault of another person);

(b) ^M9 section 21 (defence of due diligence) , with the modification that subsections (2) to (4) shall apply in relation to an offence under regulation 3(2) as they apply in relation to an offence under section 14 or 15, that in subsections (2)(a) and (3)(b) the references to “food” shall be deemed to be references to feed or food and that in subsection (4)(b) the references to “sale or intended sale” shall deemed to be references to “ [^F10 placing on the market ^F10] ”;

(c) section 32 (powers of entry) , with the modification that in subsection (1) the reference to “an enforcement authority” shall be deemed to be a reference to a feed authority or a food authority, the references to “the authority's area” shall be deemed to be references to the authority's area or as the case may be district and the reference to “a food authority” shall be deemed to be a reference to a feed authority or a food authority;

(d) section 33(1) (obstruction etc. of officers);

(e) section 33(2), with the modification that the reference to “any such requirement as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above” shall be deemed to be a reference to any such requirement as is mentioned in section 33(1)(b) as applied by sub–paragraph (d);

(f) ^M10 section 35(1) (punishment of offences) , in so far as it relates to offences under section 33(1) as applied by sub–paragraph (d);

(g) ^M11 section 35(2) and (3) , in so far as it relates to offences under section 33(2) as applied by sub–paragraph (e);

(h) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate);

(i) ^M12 section 36A (offences by Scottish partnerships) ; and

(j) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith) , with the modification that the references to “food authority” shall be deemed to be references to feed authority or food authority.

[^F11 Expenses arising from official controls

7. Expenses charged by a feed authority or a food authority to an operator pursuant to Article 8 of the Commission Decision shall be payable by the operator on the written demand of the authority. ^F11]

[^F11 Transitional provision

[^F12 8. —(1) In this regulation, paragraph (2) applies to specified products other than those which correspond to CN Codes 1905 90 60, 1905 90 90 or 2103 90 90, and paragraph (3) applies only to specified products which correspond to those CN Codes.

(2) Until 5th August 2013, the prohibition in regulation 3(1) does not apply in relation to a specified product, provided that —

(a) the product arrived in the EU before 4th July 2013, and

(b) the placing on the market of the product would not have constituted an offence under these Regulations as they stood immediately before the coming into force of the Specified Products from China (Restriction on First Placing on the Market) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013.

(3) Until 5th October 2013, the prohibition in regulation 3(1) does not apply. ^F12,F11]]