Office of Public Sector Information
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce Regulations 2009 and come into force on 1st July 2009.
(2) Regulations 1(1) and (2), 2(1) and (3), 3(1) and (2) extend to the United Kingdom.
(3) Otherwise, these Regulations apply in relation to England only.
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“Commission Regulation 1580/2007” means Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector(4) as amended from time to time.
(2) In these Regulations—
“authorised officer” means an officer appointed by the Secretary of State in accordance with regulation 3(5) of these Regulations;
“Community marketing rules” means the general marketing standard and the specific marketing standards covering fresh fruit and vegetables listed in Part IX of Annex I to Council Regulation 1234/2007, and includes the rules relating to those standards contained in Articles 113 and 113a of Council Regulation 1234/2007 and Title II of Commission Regulation 1580/2007;
“container” includes any basket, pail, tray, package or receptacle of any kind, whether open or closed;
“controlled” in relation to horticultural produce, means that the power conferred by regulation 12(1) (stop notice) has been exercised in relation to it and that the stop notice is for the time being in force;
“Council Regulation 1234/2007” means Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)(5) as amended from time to time;
“general marketing standard” means the requirements of Article 113a(1) of Regulation 1234/2007 as detailed in Article 2a(1) and Part A of Annex I to Commission Regulation 1580/2007;
“horticultural produce” means fruit and vegetables listed in Part IX of Annex I to Council Regulation 1234/2007 to which Community marketing rules apply;
“label” includes any device for conveying information by written characters or other symbols, and any characters or symbols stamped or otherwise placed directly on to any horticultural produce or container, and references to the affixing of a label are construed accordingly;
“labelling defect label” has the meaning given in regulation 11;
“out-graded label” has the meaning given in regulation 10;
“premises” includes any place, vehicle or trailer, stall, vessel, container, moveable structure, aircraft, or hovercraft;
“re-graded label” has the meaning given in regulation 9;
“specific marketing standards” means the marketing standards provided for under Article 113(1)(b) of Council Regulation 1234/2007 as detailed in Article 2a(2) and Part B of Annex I to Commission Regulation 1580/2007(6), and “specific marketing standard” means one of those specific marketing standards;
“stop notice label” has the meaning given in regulation 13.
(3) Unless otherwise provided in this regulation, terms used in these Regulations have the same meaning as they have in Council Regulation 1234/2007 and Commission Regulation 1580/2007.
3.—(1) The Secretary of State is designated as the coordinating authority for the United Kingdom under Article 8(1)(a) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007.
(2) In the capacity of coordinating authority for the United Kingdom, and for the purposes of fulfilling the obligations on coordinating authorities contained in the Community marketing rules, the Secretary of State may, without prejudice to disclosure pursuant to an order of a court or pursuant to a rule of law,—
(a) provide information to—
(i) the coordinating authorities of other member States designated under Article 8(1)(a) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007;
(ii) the inspection bodies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales designated under Article 8(1)(b) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007;
(iii) the inspection bodies of other member States designated under Article 8(1)(b) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007;
(iv) the official authorities and inspection bodies of third countries;
(v) the European Commission;
(b) require the inspection bodies designated under Article 8(1)(b) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007 in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales—
(i) to provide any information which the Secretary of State has reasonable cause to believe those bodies are able to give including, but not limited to, information relating to the trader database required pursuant to Article 9 of Commission Regulation 1580/2007, information relating to the inspection and risk analysis systems referred to in Chapter II of Title II of that Regulation and information relating to the results of inspections made by the relevant inspection body;
(ii) to provide any requested information which is in computerised form in a legible form.
(3) The Secretary of State is designated as the inspection body for England under Article 8(1)(b) of Commission Regulation 1580/2007.
(4) In the capacity of inspection body for England and for the purposes of fulfilling the obligations on inspection bodies contained in the Community marketing rules and for the enforcement of these Regulations, the Secretary of State may provide information to those mentioned in paragraph (2)(a)(i) to (v).
(5) In the capacity of inspection body for England, the Secretary of State may appoint officers for the purposes of the enforcement of these Regulations, in these Regulations referred to as authorised officers.
4.—(1) A person is guilty of an offence if they display, offer for sale, deliver or market in any other manner, horticultural produce in contravention of or which is not compliant with—
(a) the general marketing standard, if applicable; or
(b) any specific marketing standard applying to that horticultural produce.
(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply in the circumstances mentioned in regulation 5.
(3) A person is guilty of an offence if they fail to comply with any provision of Commission Regulation 1580/2007 mentioned in column 1 of the Schedule, as read with any provision mentioned in any corresponding entry in column 2 of that Schedule.
(4) Where—
(a) an authorised officer has inspected horticultural produce and found it not to be compliant with Community marketing rules, and
(b) the person in charge of that horticultural produce has given an undertaking, or has been responsible for the giving of an undertaking in relation to that horticultural produce,
it is an offence for that person to act in breach of the undertaking or to cause or permit their agent or employee to act in breach of the undertaking.
(5) A person is guilty of an offence if, in purporting to provide the information particulars required by Community marketing rules for horticultural produce, they give an inaccurate or false description of that horticultural produce on a label affixed to, or in a notice or document accompanying, that horticultural produce.
(6) A person, other than an authorised officer, is guilty of an offence if they affix, or cause or permit to be affixed, a re-graded label, an out-graded label or a labelling defect label to the container of horticultural produce, or to the horticultural produce itself, or to any notice or document which is required by Community marketing rules to accompany that horticultural produce.
(7) A person, other than an authorised officer, is guilty of an offence if they remove, conceal, deface or alter, or cause or permit to be removed, concealed, defaced or altered—
(a) any notice or document which is required by Community marketing rules to accompany horticultural produce or any label required by Community marketing rules to be affixed to that horticultural produce or to its container;
(b) a re-graded label, an out-graded label or a labelling defect label which has been applied by an authorised officer in the execution of these Regulations to the horticultural produce or to its container;
(c) any demarcation tape or other material used by an authorised officer in accordance with regulation 8(1)(f) to identify horticultural produce or a specific lot of horticultural produce which is found not to be compliant with Community marketing rules.
(8) A person is guilty of an offence if they export or import any consignment of horticultural produce to or from any place outside the European Community without a document, label or notice required by Community marketing rules to accompany that horticultural produce.
5. Horticultural produce to which a specific marketing standard applies is not required to comply(7) with that specific marketing standard if that horticultural produce complies with the general marketing standard and if it is—
(a) presented for retail sale to consumers for their personal use;
(b) labelled “product intended for processing” or with any other equivalent wording; and
(c) not intended for industrial processing.
6. The powers under Part 3 and Part 4 of these Regulations may not be exercised on premises, or part of any premises, used only as a dwelling-house.
OJ No L 350, 31.12.2007, p 1, last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 313/2009 (OJ No L 98, 17.4.2009, p 24). Back [4]
OJ No L 299, 16.11.2007, p 1, last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 183/2009 (OJ No L 63, 7.3.2009, p 9). Back [5]
Part B of Annex I to Commission Regulation 1580/2007 contains specific marketing standards for the following products: apples, citrus fruit, kiwifruit, lettuces, curled leaved and broad-leaved endives, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes. Back [6]
Regulation 5 exercises the derogation in Article 3(3) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007, as replaced with new text by virtue of Article 1(c) of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector as regards marketing standards (OJ No L 336, 13.12.2008, p 1 as corrected by Corrigendum (OJ No L 36, 5.2.2009, p 84)). Back [7]
The Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce Regulations 2009