CERTIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS RULES

CERTIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 437.89

CERTIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL

PRODUCTS RULES

25th November, 2005

LEGAL NOTICE 384 of 2005.

(1) The title of these rules is the Certification of Animals

and Animal Products Rules.

(2) The scope of these rules is to implement the provisions laid

down under the European Union Council Directive 96/93/EEC.

(3) This Directive lays down the rules to be observed in issuing

the certificates required by veterinary laws.

(1)

For the purposes of these rules -

" t h e c o m p e t e n t a u t h o r i t y " i s t h e Ve t e r i n a r y S e r v i c e s a s

established under article 2 of the Veterinary Services Act;

"certifying officer" means the official veterinarian or, in the

cases provided for in veterinary laws, any other person authorized

by the competent authority to sign the certificates required by those

laws;

"veterinary laws" means the laws listed in Annex A to Directive

89/662/EEC and Annexes A and B to Directive 90/425/EEC.

(2) In addition to the definitions in sub-rule (1), the definitions

contained in Article 2 of Directives 89/662/EEC and 90/425/EEC

shall mutatis mutandis apply.

(1) The competent authority shall ensure that certifying

officers have a satisfactory knowledge of the veterinary laws as

regards the animals or products to be certified and, in general, are

informed as to the rules to be followed for drawing up and issuing

the certificates and, if necessary, as to the nature and extent of the

enquiries, tests or examinations which should be carried out before

certification.

(2) Certifying officers shall not certify data of which they have

no personal knowledge or which cannot be ascertained by them.

(3) Certifying officers shall not sign blank or incomplete

certificates, or certificates relating to animals or products which

they have not inspected or which have passed out of their control.

Where a certificate is signed on the basis of another certificate or

attestation, the certifying officer shall be in possession of that

document before signing.

(4) Nothing in this rule shall prevent an official veterinarian

from certifying data which have been -

(a) ascertained on the basis of sub-rules (1), (2) and (3) by

another person so authorized by the competent

authority and acting under the control of the official

CERTIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

veterinarian, provided that such veterinarian can verify

the accuracy of the data;

(b) obtained, within the context of monitoring

programmes, by reference to officially recognized

quality assurance schemes or by means of an

epidemiological surveillance system where this is

authorized under veterinary laws.

(5) Detailed rules for implementing this rule may be adopted in

accordance with the procedure laid down in rule 7.

(1) The competent authority shall take all necessary steps

to ensure the integrity of certification. In particular, they shall

ensure that certifying officers designated by them -

(a) have a status which ensures their impartiality and have

no direct commercial interest in the animals or

products being certified or in the holdings or

establishments in which they originate;

(b) are fully aware of the significance of the contents of

each certificate which they sign.

(2) Certificates shall be drawn up at least in a language

understood by the certifying officer and at least in one of the

official languages of the country of destination as provided for in

Community laws.

(3) Each competent authority shall be in a position to link

certificates with the relevant certifying officer and ensure that a

copy of all certificates issued is available for a period to be

determined by it.

(1) Member States shall introduce such checks and have

such control measures taken as are necessary to prevent the issuing

of false or misleading certification and the fraudulent production or

use of certificates purported to be issued for the purposes of

veterinary laws.

(2) Without prejudice to any legal proceedings or penalties, the

competent authorities shall carry out investigations or checks and

take appropriate measures to penalize any instances of false or

misleading certification which are brought to their attention. Such

measures may include the temporary suspension of the certifying

officers from their duties until the investigation is over

Provided that, in particular, if it is found in the course of the

checks that

(a) a certifying officer has knowingly issued a fraudulent

certificate, the competent authority shall take all

necessary steps to ensure, as far as is possible, that the

person concerned cannot repeat the offence;

(b) an individual or an undertaking has made fraudulent

use of, or has altered an official certificate, the

competent authority shall take all necessary measures

to ensure, as far as is possible, that the individual or

undertaking cannot repeat the offence. Such measures

CERTIFICATION OF ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS

may include a refusal subsequently to issue an official

certificate to the person or undertaking concerned.

In the context of the inspections provided for by

Community veterinary laws and the audits to be carried out under

the equivalence agreements between the Community and third

countries, the European Union Commission shall ensure that the

rules and principles applied by third-country certifying officers

offer guarantees at least equivalent to those laid down in European

Union Council Directive 96/93/EEC

Provided that should it emerge from these inspections and,

or, audits or from the checks provided for in European Union

Council Directives 90/675/EEC and 91/496/EEC that third-country

certifying officers have not complied with these principles,

additional guarantees or specific requirements may be decided on

in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 18 of

European Union Council Directive 89/662/EEC.

Where reference is made to the procedure provided for in

Article 18 of European Union Council Directive 89/662/EEC, the

Standing Veterinary Committee set up by European Union Council

Decision 68/361/EEC shall act in accordance with the rules laid

down in Article 18 of European Union Council Directive 89/662/

EEC.