S.I. No. 362/1977:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CHRISTMAS BUTTER) REGULATIONS, 1977.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CHRISTMAS BUTTER) REGULATIONS, 1977.

I, JAMES GIBBONS, Minister for Agriculture, 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 full effect to Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2370/77 of 28th October, 1977,¹ hereby make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Christmas Butter) Regulations, 1977, and shall come into operation on the 24th day of November, 1977.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

"authorised officer" means an officer of the Minister authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations;

"Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture;

"The Commission Regulation" means Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2370/77 of 28th October, 1977.¹

¹ O.J No. L 277 of 29/10/77, p. 16.

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

3. These Regulations apply to butter referred to in Article 1.1 of the Commission Regulation.

4. (1) The maximum retail price for butter to which these Regulations apply is hereby fixed at 29p per lb. or 32p per 500 grammes.

(2) Butter to which these Regulations apply may be sold in units of 1 lb. or 500 grammes only.

5. Butter to which these Regulations apply shall not be offered for sale or sold before the 2nd day of December, 1977.

6. A person who contravenes a provision of the Commission Regulation or of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

7. (1) An authorised officer may--

( a ) at all reasonable times enter and inspect any premises in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that butter to which these Regulations apply is stored or any books, documents or records relating to such butter are kept, and

( b ) inspect and copy or take extracts from any such records, books or documents.

(2) A person shall not obstruct or interfere with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this Regulation.

(3) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer and, when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by this Regulation, shall, if so requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

8. As soon as practicable after arrangements have been made for the removal from storage, pursuant to Article 3.2 of the Commission Regulation, of butter to which these Regulations apply, the person who concluded the storage contract shall remove the butter from storage and sell it.

9. A person shall not do or attempt to do, in relation to butter to which these Regulations apply, anything which would (or would be likely to) result in such butter not being placed on the retail market for consumption in the State.

10. A person shall not interfere with the packaging of butter to which these Regulations apply except for the purpose of repackaging bulk butter in small packets, pursuant to Article 5.3 of the Commission Regulation, before the sale by retail of such butter.

11. The Minister may give to any person concerned a direction for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Commission Regulation, and a person to whom such a direction is given shall comply with it.

12. Any person concerned in the implementation of the Commission Regulation shall use all reasonable efforts to ensure that the provisions of the Commission Regulation are duly carried out.

13. Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any person, being a director, member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, or manager, secretary, or other officer thereof, that person shall also be deemed to have committed the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

14. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 23rd day of November, 1977.

JAMES GIBBONS,

Minister for Agriculture.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order implements in Ireland EEC Commission Regulation No. 2370 of 28th October, 1977, dealing with a temporary EEC scheme for the sale of butter at a reduced price for direct consumption.