S.I. No. 301/1984:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (SPECIAL PRICE BUTTER) REGULATIONS, 1984.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (SPECIAL PRICE BUTTER) REGULATIONS, 1984.

I, AUSTIN DEASY, Minister for Agriculture, 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 Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2956/84 of 18 October, 1984, (1) hereby make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Special Price Butter) Regulations, 1984, and shall come into operation on the 3rd day of December 1984.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

"authorised officer" means an officer of the Minister authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations;

"Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture;

"the Commission Regulation" means Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2956/84 of 18 October, 1984, ⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ OJ No. L279 of 23.10.84 page 4.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Commission Regulation shall, unless the contrary intention is expressed, have in these Regulations the meaning that it has in the Commission Regulation.

3. These Regulations apply to butter referred to in Article 1 of the Commission Regulation.

4. (1) The maximum retail price for butter to which these Regulations apply is hereby fixed at 52p per 1lb or 57p per 500 grams.

(2) Butter to which these Regulations apply shall be marketed in packs of 1lb weight or 500 grams weight.

5. A person shall not do or attempt to do, in relation to butter to which these Regulations apply, anything which would (or would be likely to) result in such butter not being placed on the retail market for consumption in the State.

6. A person shall not interfere with the packaging of butter to which these Regulations apply except for the purpose of repackaging bulk butter in small packets, pursuant to Article 5 of the Commission Regulation, before the sale by retail of such butter.

7. Packs containing butter to which these Regulations apply and which is packed in accordance with Article 5 of the Commission Regulation shall bear the following inscription:

Special sale: EEC

8. (1) An authorised officer may--

( a ) at all reasonable times enter and inspect any premises in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that butter to which these Regulations apply is stored or sold or any books, documents or records relating to such butter are kept, and

( b ) inspect and take copies of or, extracts from, any such records, books or documents.

(2) A person shall not obstruct or interfere with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this Regulation.

(3) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer and, when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by this Regulation, shall, if so requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

9. A person who contravenes a provision of the Commission Regulation or of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

10. Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any person, being a director, member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, or manager, secretary, or other officer thereof, that person shall also be deemed to have committed the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

11. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

12. The Minister may give to any person concerned a direction for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Commission Regulation, and a person to whom such a direction is given shall comply with it.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 23rd day of November, 1984.

AUSTIN DEASY,

Minister for Agriculture.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order implements in Ireland EEC Commission Regulation No. 2956 of 18 October 1984, dealing with a short-term EEC scheme for the sale of butter at a reduced price for direct consumption. The Order should be read in conjunction with the Commission Regulation.