ANIMAL REMEDIES ACT, 1993

• (2) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be instituted within 2 years from the date of the offence.

23 Penalties.

23.—(1) A person who commits an offence under section 20 (1) (a) shall be liable—

• (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both,

• (b) on conviction on indictment—

• (i) in the case of a first offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding £100,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or to both,

• (ii) in the case of a second or subsequent offence under this section to a fine not exceeding £250,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or to both.

• (2) A person who commits an offence under section 13 (3) or subsection (1) or (2) of section 18 or paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (1) of section 20 shall be liable—

• (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both,

• (b) on conviction on indictment—

• (i) in the case of a first offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding £25,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both,

• (ii) in the case of a second or subsequent offence under this section to a fine not exceeding £50,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both.

24 Disqualification from keeping animals, animal remedies, etc.

24.—(1) Any person who is convicted on indictment of an offence under this Act may, in addition to the penalty imposed thereunder—

• (a) be disqualified from keeping, dealing in or having charge or control, directly or indirectly, of either or both—

• (i) any animal or class or classes of animal, and

• (ii) any animal remedy or class or classes of animal remedy or any ingredient thereof,

• (b) be disqualified from working in or having charge or control of any one or more of the following, that is to say, the manufacture, importation, preparation, handling, storage, transport, exportation, distribution, sale or supply of either or both food intended for human consumption and food intended for animal consumption or of any class or classes of either or both such foods,

for such period, including where appropriate for the life of the person, as the court thinks fit.

• (2) In this section “control” includes, in relation to a body corporate, the power of the person concerned to secure, by means of holding shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to that or any other body corporate, or by virtue of powers conferred by articles of association or other document regulating that or any other body corporate, that the affairs of the first-mentioned body corporate are conducted in accordance with the wishes of that person.

25 Forfeiture of animal, animal remedy, etc.

25.—(1) Where—

• (a) an animal remedy, or

• (b) an ingredient for an animal remedy, or

• (c) an animal to which an animal remedy has been administered, or

• (d) any thing used in connection with a prohibited animal remedy or any thing directly used in connection with any other animal remedy, or

• (e) any thing used in connection with an animal to which a prohibited animal remedy has been administered or any thing directly used in connection with an animal to which any other animal remedy has been administered,

has come into the possession of an authorised officer in respect of which an offence is with reasonable cause suspected by the officer of having been committed under this Act, or where an offence has been committed or is alleged to have been committed under this Act in respect of any of the matters referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e), and on the application before a court of—

• (i) the Minister, or

• (ii) where criminal proceedings have been instituted, the person who instituted those proceedings,

the appropriate court may, at its discretion and where it is satisfied that an offence has been committed (whether or not any person has been convicted of the offence) order the forfeiture of any such animal, animal remedy, ingredient for an animal remedy, or other thing, as the case may be.

• (2) Any thing ordered by the appropriate court to be forfeited under this section shall be disposed of as the Minister thinks fit or as may be provided for by regulations made under section 8, and any moneys arising from such disposal shall, without prejudice to it being taken into account (where appropriate) for the purposes of section 27, be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

• (3)
• (a) In this section—

“appropriate court” means—

• (i) in case the estimated value of the animal, animal remedy, ingredient for an animal remedy or other thing to be forfeited does not exceed £5,000, the District Court,

• (ii) in case the estimated value aforesaid does not exceed £30,000, the Circuit Court,

• (iii) in any case, the High Court;

“estimated value”, in relation to the thing sought to be forfeited, means the estimated amount of money which, in the opinion of the court, a willing purchaser would pay to a willing seller when such a thing could be sold legally and after deduction for—

• (i) the estimated costs incidental to such a sale, and

• (ii) the estimated amount of any tax or duty owing to the State in respect of that thing,

and when it cannot be sold legally then such estimated value, if any, as the court considers appropriate.

• (b) (i) If, in relation to an application under this section to the District Court, that court becomes of opinion during the hearing of the application that—

• (I) the estimated value aforesaid will exceed £5,000, or

• (II) that for any reason it should decline jurisdiction,

it may, if it so thinks fit, transfer the application to the Circuit Court or the High Court, whichever it considers appropriate having regard to the estimated value aforesaid or to such other matters that it considers appropriate.

• (ii) If, in relation to an application under this section to the Circuit Court, that court becomes of opinion during the hearing of the application that—

• (I) the estimated value aforesaid will exceed £30,000, or

• (II) that for any reason it should decline jurisdiction,

it may, if it so thinks fit, by order transfer the application to the High Court.

• (c) An application under this section shall be brought in a summary manner.

• (4)
• (a) An order shall not be made by a court under this section unless the court is satisfied that in the circumstances all practicable steps have been taken to notify any person of the proceedings relating to the application for the order and who, in the opinion of the court, should be given the opportunity of being heard by it on that application.

• (b) The court concerned may make such order as to the costs of the parties to or heard by the court in proceedings relating to an application for an order under this section as it considers appropriate.

26 Disposal of things seized.

26.—(1) Where in the course of exercising any powers under this Act a person, being an authorised officer, a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of Customs and Excise, finds or comes into possession of any thing which such a person believes to be evidence of any offence or suspected offence under this Act, it may be seized and retained for use in evidence in any criminal proceedings, for such period from the date of seizure as is reasonable or, if proceedings are commenced in which the thing so seized is required for use in evidence, until the conclusion of the proceedings, and thereafter the Police (Property) Act, 1897, and where appropriate, section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1951, shall apply to the thing so seized in the same manner as that Act and the said section 25 apply to property which has come into the possession of the Garda Síochána in the circumstances mentioned in that Act.

• (2) The provisions of subsection (1) shall be without prejudice—

• (a) to the provisions of section 25 of this Act,

• (b) to the application to the thing so seized of regulations made, or continued in force or deemed to have been made, under this Act.

27 Recoupment of costs of certain disposals.

27.—Where any thing which is seized from or forfeited by a person under this Act is duly disposed of by or on behalf of the State, the costs of such disposal, less any moneys arising from such disposal, shall (except where such costs have been waived in writing) be recoverable from such person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

28 Laying of orders and regulations before Houses of the Oireachtas.

28.—Every order (other than an order made under section 32 (1) (b) (ii) or 33 (2)) or regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation has been laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

29 Fees and levies, etc.

29.—(1) There shall be paid—

• (a) on an application for the grant of any licence, or for an authorisation, pursuant to regulations made under section 8, such fee (if any), and

• (b) in respect of any fee or levy to which regulations made under section 8 (2) (b) (vii) relate, such fee or levy,

as may be fixed by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

• (2) Different fees may be fixed in respect of different classes of licences or authorisations and different levies may be fixed in respect of different classes of matters (being matters provided for by regulations made under section 8 (2) (b) (vii)).

• (3)
• (a) All fees and levies payable under this Act shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct and shall, subject to paragraph (b), be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the said Minister.

• (b) Where—

• (i) fees payable in respect of the granting of licences, the issuing of authorisations, the giving of directions or the provision of services by such person or persons, or such other class or classes of persons, as may be specified in regulations made under section 8 (1) (b) (iii) (II), or

• (ii) levies payable to such person or persons, or such other class or classes of persons, as may be so specified,

have been collected, those fees or levies shall be paid or disposed of in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance.

• (4) Where, but for this subsection, the provisions of the Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, would apply in respect of any money payable under this Act, that Act shall not so apply.

30 Expenses.

30.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

31 Continuance of instruments, officers and documents.

31.—(1) All instruments (including regulations made under section 5 (1) (d) or 7 of the Act of 1956) and documents made or issued under the Act of 1956 and in force immediately before the repeal of the provision of the Act of 1956 concerned shall continue in force upon such repeal as if made or issued under this Act.

• (2) A person who, immediately before the commencement of section 10 (1), was an authorised officer for the purposes of the Act of 1956 shall be deemed upon such commencement to have been appointed under this section for all the purposes of this Act, other than sections 11 (2) and 12.

• (3) In this section “the Act of 1956” means the Animal Remedies Act, 1956.

32 Repeals and revocations.

32.—(1) (a) The Animal Remedies Act, 1956, and section 21 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966, are hereby repealed.

• (b) (i) The Therapeutic Substances Act, 1932, is hereby repealed.

• (ii) Subparagraph (i) shall come into operation on such day as may be fixed therefor by order of the Minister for Health after consultation with the Minister.

• (iii) Upon the coming into operation of the order under subparagraph (ii), section 8 (1) (b) (i) shall cease to have effect.

• (2) The regulations set out in the second column of the Schedule to this Act opposite the reference number in the first column thereof are hereby revoked to the extent indicated in the third column opposite that reference number.

33 Short title and commencement.

33.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Animal Remedies Act, 1993.

• (2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister under this section, may be fixed therefor either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.

SCHEDULE Section 32 (2).

Footnotes