S.I. No. 245/1998:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (NAMES AND LABELLING OF TEXTILE PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS, 1998

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (NAMES AND LABELLING OF TEXTILE PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS, 1998

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 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 effect to Directive No. 96/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996⁽¹⁾ (as amended by Commission Directive No. 97/37/EC of 19 June 1997⁽²⁾, hereby make the following regulations:

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L 32, 3.2.97, p.38

⁽²⁾O.J. No. L 169, 27.6.97, p.74

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations, 1998.

2. (1) In these Regulations -

"authorised officer" means a person appointed as an authorised officer under Regulation 6;

"the Directive" means Directive No. 96/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 (as amended by Commission Directive No. 97/37/EC of 19 June 1997);

"the Director" means the Director of Consumer Affairs;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

"premises" includes railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel or aircraft;

"sell" includes barter, offer or expose for sale or invite an offer to treat and "sale" shall be construed accordingly;

"textile products" has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2 (1) of the Directive.

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

(3) In these Regulations, unless otherwise indicated -

(a) a reference to a Regulation is to a Regulation of these Regulations,

(b) a reference to a paragraph is to a paragraph of the Regulation in which the reference occurs.

3. (1) A person shall not market or sell textile products, either before or during their industrial processing or at any of the distribution stages, unless such products comply with the provisions of the Directive.

(2) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(3) Where a person, after conviction for an offence under paragraph (2), continues to contravene paragraph (1), he or she shall be guilty of an offence on every day on which the contravention continues and for each such offence he or she shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500.

4. (1) The Minister, after consultation with the National Standards Authority of Ireland, and in accordance with the conditions contained in Article 6 (4) of the Directive, may authorise tolerances in respect of particular products which are higher than those provided in the said Article 6 (4).

(2) Any tolerance authorised by the Minister under Regulation 2 (3) (inserted by the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) (Amendment) Regulations, 1985 ( S.I. No. 388 of 1985 )) of the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 43 of 1973 ), where the authorisation is in force immediately before the making of these Regulations, shall continue to be so authorised as if authorised under this Regulation.

5. Subject to the conditions contained in Article 8 (2) of the Directive, the labelling and marking required by that Article shall, when textile products are offered for sale or sold to the end consumer, be given in the Irish or English language.

6. (1) The Minister or the Director may appoint such and so many persons as he or she thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations and the Directive.

(2) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his or her appointment as an authorised officer and when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by these Regulations shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

(3) For the purposes of ensuring compliance with these Regulations and the Directive an authorised officer may -

(a) at all reasonable times, enter and inspect any premises in which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that any textile products are kept for marketing or sale, either before or during their industrial processing or at any of the distribution stages,

(b) require the owner or any person employed at the premises or any person in charge thereof to give to him or her such information in the person's power or control that the officer may reasonably require and to produce to him or her any records (in whatever form kept) or books or documents (including labels and fiches) found by or produced to the officer under this Regulation,

(c) at such premises, inspect and take copies of, or extracts from any books, records or other documents (including in the case of information in non-legible form a copy of or extract from such information in permanent legible form),

(d) inspect and copy or extract information from any data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act, 1988 ) found or produced to the officer under this Regulation,

(e) require any person by or on whose behalf data equipment is or has been used on the premises in relation to the business of selling or marketing textile products or any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the data equipment or any associated apparatus or material, to afford the officer all reasonable assistance in relation to its use thereto,

(f) carry out or have carried out such examinations, tests, inspections and checks of any textile products found there as he or she reasonably considers necessary, and if he or she so thinks fit, take reasonable samples of such products, or remove or have removed from there any textile products (as is reasonable) and retain the products to facilitate examination or testing,

(g) secure for later inspection the premises or any textile products found therein.

(4) A person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer in the exercise of his or her powers under this Regulation or, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement of an authorised officer under this Regulation or who, in purported compliance with such a requirement, gives information to an authorised officer that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(5) An authorised officer shall not, other than with the consent of the occupier, enter a private dwelling unless he or she has obtained a warrant from the District Court under Regulation 7 authorising such entry.

(6) An authorised officer, where he or she considers it necessary, may require a member of the Garda Síochána to assist him or her when performing any powers conferred on an authorised officer by this Regulation which involves the breaking open of any premises or any other action in which the use of force may be necessary and is lawful.

(7) A person appointed as an authorised officer under the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 43 of 1973 ), where the appointment is in force immediately before the making of these Regulations, shall continue to be so appointed as if appointed under this Regulation.

7. If a judge of the District Court is satisfied on the sworn information of an authorised officer that there are reasonable grounds for believing that there are textile products or information relating thereto held on any premises which an authorised officer requires to inspect, the judge may issue a warrant authorising an authorised officer, accompanied if appropriate by other authorised officers or by a member or members of the Garda Síochána, at any time or times within one month from the date of issue of the warrant, on production of the warrant if so requested, to enter that premises, if need be by reasonable force, and exercise all or any of the powers conferred on an authorised officer by Regulation 6.

8. If any person fraudulently -

(a) tampers with any textile products so as to procure that any sample of it taken under Regulation 6 does not correctly represent the product, or

(b) tampers or interferes with any sample taken under Regulation 6,

he or she shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

9. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister or the Director.

10. The following Regulations are hereby revoked:

(a) the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 43 of 1973 ),

(b) the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) (Amendment) Regulations, 1985 ( S.I. No. 388 of 1985 ), and

(c) the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) (Amendment) Regulations, 1988 ( S.I. No. 174 of 1988 ).

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 20th day of July, 1998.

MARY HARNEY

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These composite Regulations revoke and replace the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 43 of 1973 ) as amended by S.I. No. 388 of 1985 and S.I. No. 174 of 1988 . The Regulations also give effect to Commission Directive No. 97/37/EC of the 19th June, 1997 (OJ No. L 69/74, 27.6.1997) which amends Directive No. 96/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December, 1996 (OJ No. L 32/38, 3.2.1997).

Directive 96/74/EC consolidated and repealed Council Directive 71/307/EEC of 26 July, 1971 (OJ No. L 185/16, 16.8.1971) and its successive amendments: Council Directives 75/36/EEC (OJ No. L 14/15, 20.1.1975), and 83/623/EEC (OJ No. L 353/8, 15.12.1983) and Commission Directive 87/140/EEC (OJ No. L 56/24, 26.2.1987) all relating to textile names.