The Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013

Made: 27 August 2013

Laid before the National Assembly for Wales: 29 August 2013

Coming into force: 26 September 2013

As required by Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety[^f00013], there has been open and transparent public consultation during the preparation and evaluation of these Regulations.

PART 1 — Introduction

Title, commencement, application and extent

1

• (1) The title of these Regulations is the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 26 September 2013 and they apply to Wales.

Interpretation

2

• (1) In these Regulations—

• ...

• “Regulation 1224/2009” (“Rheoliad >1224/2009”) means Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy;

• “Regulation 404/2011” (“Rheoliad >404/2011”) means Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy;

• “Regulation 1379/2013” (“Rheoliad >1379/2013”) means Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products.

• “the specified Regulations” (“y Rheoliadau Penodedig”) means Regulation 1224/2009, Regulation 404/2011 and Regulation 1379/2013.

• (2) In these Regulations—

• (a) references to any of the specified Regulations are references to the specified Regulations in question as amended from time to time; and

• (b) terms used that are also used in any of the specified Regulations have the same meaning as in the specified Regulations in question.

PART 2 — Consumer information and traceability requirements in Wales

Interpretation of Part 3

3

In this Part, “the Act” (“y Ddeddf”) means the Food Safety Act 1990.

Consumer information and traceability requirements

4

• (1) In this Part—

• (a) “consumer information requirement” (“gofyniad gwybodaeth i ddefnyddwyr”) means a requirement referred to in paragraph (2), subject to paragraphs (6) and (7); and

• (b) “traceability requirement” (“gofyniad gallu i olrhain”) means a requirement referred to in paragraph (3), subject to paragraph (7).

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the requirements are—

• (a) a requirement specified in Article 35 of Regulation 1379/2013 (provision of consumer information) as read with Article 38 of that Regulation, and a requirement as specified in Article 39(3) or (4) of Regulation 1379/2013 as read with paragraph (1) of that Article;

• (b) a requirement specified in Article 58(6) of Regulation 1224/2009 as read with Articles 67(13) and 68 of Regulation 404/2011.

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the requirements are Article 58(2), (3) and (5) of Regulation 1224/2009 as read with Article 58(7) of that Regulation , Article 67(1) to (3) , (5) to (7) and (9) to (13) of Regulation 404/2011 and Articles 35(1)(c) and 38 of Regulation 1379/2013.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) The requirement referred to in paragraph (2)(a) does not apply in circumstances described in Article 35(4) of Regulation 1379/2013 as read with Article 58(8) of Regulation 1224/2009.

• (7) The requirements referred to in paragraphs (2)(b) and (3) do not apply in circumstances described in Article 58(8) of Regulation 1224/2009, as read with Article 67(14) of Regulation 404/2011, where the sale does not exceed £45 per day.

Improvement notice

5

• (1) Section 10 of the Act (improvement notices) applies for the purposes of these Regulations with the following modifications.

• (2) For subsection (1), substitute—

(1) If an authorised officer of an enforcement authority has reasonable grounds for believing that an operator has not complied with, or is not likely to comply with, a consumer information requirement or a traceability requirement, the officer may, by notice served on that operator (in this Act referred to as an “improvement notice”)— (a) state the officer’s grounds for believing that the operator is failing to comply with those requirements; (b) specify the matters which constitute the operator’s failure so to comply; (c) specify the measures which, in the officer’s opinion, the operator must take in order to secure compliance; and (d) require the operator to take those measures, or measures which are at least equivalent to them, within such period as may be specified in the notice.

• (3) For subsection (3), substitute—

(3) In this section— (a) “consumer information requirement” and “traceability requirement” have the meanings given by regulation 4(1) of the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013; (b) “operator” has the same meaning as in the specified Regulations as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013 as read with regulation 2(2)(a) of those Regulations.

Appeal to the magistrates’ court

6

• (1) Section 37 of the Act[^f00014] (appeals to magistrates’ court or sheriff) applies for the purposes of these Regulations with the following modifications.

• (2) For subsection (1), substitute—

(1) Any person who is aggrieved by a decision of an authorised officer of an enforcement authority to serve an improvement notice under section 10, as applied by regulation 5 of the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013, may appeal to the magistrates’ court.

• (3) Omit subsections (2) to (5).

• (4) In subsection (6), for “(3) or (4)”, substitute “(1)”.

Appeals against improvement notices

7

• (1) Section 39 of the Act (appeals against improvement notices) applies for the purposes of these Regulations with the following modifications.

• (2) For subsection (1), substitute—

(1) On an appeal against an improvement notice served under section 10, as applied by regulation 5 of the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013, the court may either cancel or affirm the notice and, if it affirms it, may do so either in its original form or with such modifications as the court may in the circumstances think fit.

• (3) In subsection (3), omit “for want of prosecution”.

Requirement to keep records

8

• (1) For the purposes of Article 58(4) of Regulation 1224/2009, an operator must keep a record of the information referred to in that Article as read with Article 67(4) of Regulation 404/2011.

• (2) The record must be kept for three years from the date the transaction is completed.

• (3) It is an offence to fail to comply with this regulation.

Requirement to produce records

9

An operator who fails to comply with the second sentence of Article 58(4) of Regulation 1224/2009 is guilty of an offence.

Penalties

10

A person guilty of an offence under regulation 8 or 9 is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Application and modification of the Act

11

The Schedule (application and modification of the Act) has effect.

Enforcement

12

• (1) Each food authority must enforce and execute these Regulations in its area.

• (2) Each food authority is the competent authority in its area for the purposes of Article 58(4) of Regulation 1224/2009 and Article 67(5) of Regulation 404/2011.

Revocation

13

The Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2010[^f00015] are revoked.

SCHEDULE — Application and modification of the Act

PART 1 — General

1

The following provisions of the Act apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the following modifications—

PART 2 — Powers of entry

2

For the purpose of enabling an authorised officer of an enforcement authority to ascertain whether there is, or has been, any contravention of a consumer information requirement or a traceability requirement, section 32 of the Act[^f00019] (powers of entry) is modified in its application to these Regulations as follows—

• (a) in subsection (1)(a), after “made under it” insert “, or of a consumer information requirement or a traceability requirement”;

• (b) after subsection (9), insert—

(10) In this section, “consumer information requirement” and “traceability requirement” have the meanings given by regulation 4(1) of the Fish Labelling (Wales) Regulations 2013.

Signed

Mark Drakeford — Minister for Health and Social Services, one of the Welsh Ministers — 2013-08-27

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations enforce in Wales the consumer information requirements of Chapter 2 of Title I of Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 on the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products (OJ No L 17, 21.1.2000, p 22) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2065/2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 as regards informing consumers about fishery and aquaculture products (OJ No L 278, 23.10.2001, p 6). They also enforce in Wales the traceability requirements of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy (OJ No L 343, 22.12.2009, p 1) and Article 67 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy (OJ No L 112, 30.4.2011, p 1).

Regulation 4 sets out the consumer information requirements and the traceability requirements.

Regulation 5 applies section 10 of the Food Safety Act 1990 (c.16) with modifications so that an authorised officer of an enforcement authority can serve an improvement notice on an operator who fails to comply with the consumer information requirements or traceability requirements. Regulation 6 applies section 37 of that Act with modifications so that an operator can appeal against service of an improvement notice to the magistrates’ court. Regulation 7 applies section 39 of the Act to enable the court to either cancel or affirm an improvement notice.

Regulation 8 requires operators to keep records of information specified in Article 58(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (as read with Article 67(4) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011) and creates an offence for failure to comply with that requirement. Regulation 9 creates an offence for failure to produce those records on demand in breach of that Article.

Regulation 11 and the Schedule apply certain other provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 to these Regulations with consequential modifications.

Regulation 12 provides that each food authority in Wales must execute and enforce these Regulations in its area.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Food Standards Agency at Food Standards Agency Wales, 11th Floor, Southgate House, Wood Street, Cardiff, CF10 1EW.

Footnotes