S.I. No. 227/2021 - European Union (Animal Breeding) Regulations 2021

• (3) In proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, the onus of proving that a payment pursuant to a notice under this Regulation has been made lies on the person on whom the fixed payment notice was served.

• (4) In proceedings for an offence referred to in paragraph (1) it is a defence for the accused to show that he or she has made a payment in accordance with this Regulation pursuant to a fixed payment notice issued in respect of that offence.

Part 5 Procedural

Data Sharing

37.

• (a) the Minister,

• (b) a body or individual to whom a function under these Regulations or the EU Regulations has been delegated, or

• (c) the operator of a laboratory for the analysis of samples,

for the purposes of these Regulations or an act of the institutions of the European Union, may be exchanged by them with each other for the performance by them of their functions under these Regulations.

• (2) Paragraph (1) is without prejudice to any other power of the Minister to disclose information by or under an act of the institutions of the European Union.

Service

38.

• (a) by giving it to the person, his or her employee, servant or agent,

• (b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides, normally carries out business, or, if an address for service has been furnished, at that address,

• (c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, if an address for service has been furnished, at that address,

• (d) if the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry and the compliance notice relates to a premises, by delivering it to the premises or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near the premises,

• (e) by sending it by means of electronic mail to a device or facility for the reception of electronic mail where such an electronic mail address has been furnished by the person, but only if the sender’s facility for the reception of electronic mail generates a message confirming a receipt of the electronic mail confirming successful transmission of the notification, notice or document.

• (2) If a compliance notice is to be served on or given to a person who is the owner or occupier of a premises and the name of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, it may be addressed to the person by using the words “the owner” or “the occupier”.

• (3) A person shall not, at any time within 6 months after a compliance notice is affixed under paragraph (1)(d), remove, damage or deface the notification or compliance notice without lawful authority.

• (4) For the purposes of this Regulation, a company within the meaning of the Companies Act 2014 is considered to be ordinarily resident at its registered office and every other body corporate or unincorporated body is considered to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

Part 6 Penalties and Evidence

Penalties and prosecutions

39.

• (a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine, or

• (b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €500,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or to both.

• (2) A person who commits an offence under Regulation 12(1) or Regulation 25 is liable on summary conviction, to a class E fine.

• (3) An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted summarily by the Minister.

• (4) If an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proven to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of or to have been attributable to the wilful neglect on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or a person who was purported to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, commits an offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she was guilty of the offence.

• (5) If the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (4) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the functions of management as if the member were a director or manager of the body corporate.

• (6) In proceedings alleging a contravention of these Regulations, it is a defence for the defendant to show he or she acted in accordance with a derogation or transitional measure laid down by an act of an institution of the European Union relevant to the subject of the offence it is alleged that he or she committed.

Evidence on certificate etc

40.

• (a) that the person received a sample,

• (b) that, for the period specified in the certificate, the person had the sample in his or her possession,

• (c) that the person gave the sample to another person named in the certificate, or

• (d) the person carried out a procedure for the purpose of detecting in the sample, a substance or contamination or that the sample contained a substance as is, or was contaminated in a manner, specified in the certificate,

is (without proof of the signature of the person or that he or she is employed at the laboratory), unless the contrary is proved, evidence of the matters stated in the certificate.

• (2) A certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the Minister and to certify that on a specific day or days or during the whole of a specified period–

• (a) a person was or was not the holder of an approval granted under Regulation 26,

• (b) a person or establishment was or was not authorised or recognised under Regulation 26, or

• (c) that a particular authorisation, recognition or approval, referred to in this paragraph, was subject to a particular condition or conditions,

is, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate or that he or she is an officer of the Minister, evidence, unless the contrary is shown, of the matters stated in the certificate.

• (3) In proceedings for an offence under these Regulations the court may, if it considers that the interests of justice so require, direct that oral evidence of any matter stated in a certificate under paragraph (1) or (2) be given, and the court may for the purpose of receiving oral evidence adjourn the matter.

Part 7 Revocations and Transitional Measures

Revocations, savers etc

41.

• (a) Regulations 5 and 8 and, in respect of any matter to which these Regulations apply, Regulations 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15 and 21 of the European Communities (Bovine Breeding) Regulations 2009 ( S.I. No. 19 of 2009 );

• (b) the European Communities (Bovine Breeding) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 ( S.I. No. 77 of 2010 );

• (c) the European Communities (Breeding Pig Herd–Book and Register) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 151 of 1994 );

• (d) the European Communities (Registration of Pedigree Animals) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 150 of 1994 );

• (e) the European Communities (Pure-Bred Sheep and Goat Flock–Book) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 16 of 1994 );

• (f) Regulations 3, 4 and 5 of the European Union (Animal Health) (Adaptation and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 ( S.I. No. 337 of 2019 ).

• (2) An application for an authorisation, recognition or approval (within the meaning of the Regulations revoked by paragraph (1)) that remains to be determined on commencement of these Regulations is, after the commencement of these Regulations, considered to be an application for an authorisation, recognition or approval under the equivalent provision of these Regulations and may be determined as if made under these Regulations.

• (3) An authorisation, recognition or approval granted under the Regulations revoked by paragraph (1) and in force immediately before the making of these Regulations continues in force after such making as if granted under these Regulations.

• (4) An authorised officer appointed under the Regulations revoked by paragraph (1) and holding office immediately before the commencement of these Regulations continues in office after such commencement as if appointed under these Regulations.

• (5) Any reference made in an instrument to Regulations revoked by paragraph (1) shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

29 April, 2021.

CHARLIE MCCONALOGUE,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations transpose into national law Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1012, which lays down rules for the zootechniocal and genealogical conditions for the breeding, trade in and entry into the Union of breeding animals of the bovine, equine, porcine, ovine and caprine species and their germinal products.

Footnotes