S.I. No. 87/1996:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (IMPORTATION OF BOVINE ANIMALS AND PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM BOVINE ANIMALS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM) REGULATIONS, 1996.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (IMPORTATION OF BOVINE ANIMALS AND PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM BOVINE ANIMALS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM) REGULATIONS, 1996.

I, IVAN YATES, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, 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 Decision of 27 March 1996 on emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, hereby make the following Regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Importation of Bovine Animals and Products obtained from Bovine Animals from the United Kingdom) Regulations, 1996.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 28th day of March, 1996.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

"authorised officer" has the meaning assigned to it by the European Communities (Trade in Animals and Animal Products) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 289 of 1994 );

"the Commission" means the Commission of the European Communities;

"the Commission Decision" means Commission Decision of 27 March 1996 on emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy;

"import" means the importation into the State;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

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

3. A person shall not import or attempt to import from the United Kingdom--

( a ) live bovine animals;

( b ) semen or embryos from bovine animals;

( c ) meat from bovine animals slaughtered in the United Kingdom;

( d ) products obtained from bovine animals slaughtered in the United Kingdom which are liable to enter the animal feed or human food chain, and materials destined for use in medicinal products, cosmetics or pharmaceutical products; or

( e ) mammalian derived meat and bone meal.

4. (1) A person who contravenes a provision of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(2) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person, being a director, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

5. An authorised officer, member of the Garda Síochána or officer of Customs and Excise may, for the purposes of these Regulations and the Commission Decision, exercise all or any of the powers conferred on him by the European Communities (Trade in Animals and Animal Products) Regulations, 1994.

6. Nothing in any legislation in force for the time being in the State shall be construed as permitting any person to import or attempt to import from the United Kingdom any bovine animal or product referred to in Regulation 3 of these Regulations.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 28th day of March, 1996.

IVAN YATES,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations implement Commission Decision of 27 March 1996 on emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy by prohibiting the importation from the United Kingdom of bovine animals and products originating from such animals.