Citation, commencement and extent

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Controlled Drugs (Drug Precursors) (Intra-Community Trade) Regulations 2008 and shall come into force on 7 ^th March 2008.

(2) The Regulations shall extend to the United Kingdom.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations:

“ the Community Regulation ” means Regulation

“ the 1990 Act ” means the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 .

“ scheduled substance ” and “ operator ” have the same meaning as in the Community Regulation.

Competent authorities

3. —(1) For the purposes of the Community Regulation, the words “the competent authorities” shall be taken, to the extent specified in paragraphs (2) to (4), as a reference to the persons specified in those paragraphs.

(2) In Articles 3, 8(2) and 9(3) of the Community Regulation, the Secretary of State.

(3) In Article 8(1) a person authorised for the purposes of these Regulations by the Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency;

(4) In Articles 5(5) and 9(1) of the Community Regulation, any of the following—

(a) a constable;

(b) an officer of Revenue and Customs under section 2(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (appointment of staff) or other person authorised by the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs;

(c) a person authorised for the purposes of these Regulations by the Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency;

(d) the Secretary of State.

Licences

4. A licence, other than a special licence, issued by the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 3(2) of the Community Regulation shall be issued for a period not exceeding three years.

5. —(1) The Secretary of State may issue a special licence in accordance with Article 3(2) of the Community Regulation and may provide for a special registration in accordance with Article 3(6) of the Community Regulation to the persons specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The persons specified for the purposes of paragraph (1) are—

(a) a pharmacist or a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business;

(b) a veterinary practitioner or a veterinary surgeon;

(c) an officer of Revenue and Customs or other person authorised by the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs;

(d) a chief officer of police;

(e) the Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency;

(f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(g) an official working in an official laboratory; and

(h) the armed forces.

(3) In this regulation—

(a) “ pharmacist ” in relation to Great Britain means a person registered as a pharmacist in Part 1 or 4 of the register maintained under article 19 of the Pharmacy Order 2010 , and in relation to Northern Ireland (subject to any order made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Medicines Act 1968 (application of provisions to Northern Ireland) ) means a person registered in the register of pharmaceutical chemists for Northern Ireland made out and maintained under Articles 6 and 9 of the Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 and “ a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business ” means a person lawfully conducting such a business in accordance with section 69 of the Medicines Act 1968 (requirements for lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business);

(b) “ veterinary practitioner ” means a person registered in the supplementary veterinary register kept under section 8 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 (keeping of supplementary veterinary register) and “ veterinary surgeon ” means a person registered in the register of veterinary surgeons kept under section 2 of that Act (keeping of veterinary surgeons register);

(c) “ officer of Revenue and Customs ” means a person appointed under section 2(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 and the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs;

(d) “ chief officer of police ” means a chief officer of police of a police force in England and Wales, the chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland , the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defence Police , the British Transport Police Force and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary ;

(e) “ an official working in an official laboratory ” means—

(i) a public analyst appointed under section 27 of the Food Safety Act 1990 (power to appoint public analyst) or in the case of Northern Ireland, under article 27 of the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 ;

(ii) a sampling officer within the meaning of Schedule 3 to the Medicines Act 1968;

(iii) a person employed or engaged in connection with a scheme for testing the quality or amount of the drugs, preparations and appliances supplied under the National Health Service Act 1977 or the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and the regulations made under those Acts; and

(iv) a person engaged in the work of any laboratory to which the drug has been sent for forensic examination when acting in the course of his duty as a person so engaged; and

(f) “ armed forces ” means the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the regular army and the regular air force, and any reserve or auxiliary force of any of those services which has been called out on permanent service or embodied.

Penalties

6. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the obligations imposed on operators by Article 5 (documentation), Article 7 (labelling) and Article 8 (notification of the competent authorities) of the Community Regulation shall be treated as if they are requirements imposed on them by regulations made under section 13(1) of the 1990 Act (regulations about scheduled substances) and as if references in those Articles to scheduled substances are references to scheduled substances within the meaning of Part 2 of that Act.

(2) Where a person is convicted of an offence contrary to section 13(5) of the 1990 Act as a result of the application of paragraph (1), section 13(5)(a) of the 1990 Act shall have effect as if for the words “6 months” there are substituted the words “ 3 months ” .

(3) For the purposes of this regulation section 45 of the Criminal Proceedings Etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 shall not apply to section 13(5) of the 1990 Act.

7. —(1) An operator who fails to comply with any of the requirements imposed by Article 3 of the Community Regulation (requirements for placing on the market of scheduled substances) is guilty of an offence and liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine or both.

(2) The reference in paragraph (1) to a person who fails to comply with any of the requirements imposed by Article 3 of the Community Regulation includes a person, who in purported compliance with any such provision—

(a) furnishes information which he knows to be false in a material particular; or

(b) recklessly furnishes information which is false in a material particular.

Powers of entry

8. The powers conferred by subsection (1) of section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971(powers to search and obtain evidence relating to dealings in controlled drugs) shall be exercisable also for the purposes of the execution of Article 3 of the Community Regulation and subsection (3) of that section (excluding paragraph (a)) shall apply also to the offence under Regulation 7, taking references in those subsections to controlled drugs as references to scheduled substances.

Revocations

9. —(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Intra-Community Trade) Regulations 1993 and the Controlled Drugs (Substances Useful for Manufacture) (Intra-Community Trade) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 are hereby revoked.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not affect the validity of—

(a) any licence granted under the Regulations revoked by that paragraph,

(b) any register of operators established under those Regulations, or

(c) any customer declarations issued under those Regulations.

(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of any offence under the Regulations revoked by that paragraph committed before the commencement of these Regulations.