{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-official-controls-amendment-regulations-2024/regulation-6",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-official-controls-amendment-regulations-2024/regulation-6.json",
  "legislation": "ukdsi/2024/9780348265842",
  "legislation_title": "The Official Controls (Amendment) Regulations 2024",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-official-controls-amendment-regulations-2024",
  "path": "regulation/6",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "6",
  "heading": "Amendments to Article 37",
  "text": "In Article 37 (designation of official laboratories) for paragraph 1 substitute—\n“1. Competent authorities may designate—\n(a) official laboratories, which may be in any part of the United Kingdom; and\n(b) official plant health officers, where the requirements of paragraphs 1A and 1B are met,\nto carry out the analyses, tests and diagnoses on samples taken during official controls and other official activities in Great Britain.\n1A. The designation of an official plant health officer must be in writing and include a detailed description of—\n(a) the tasks that the official plant health officer is to carry out as a designated official plant health officer;\n(b) the conditions under which they carry out the tasks referred to in point (a);\n(c) the arrangements necessary to ensure efficient and effective coordination and collaboration between the official plant health officer and the competent authority.\n1B. A competent authority may only designate an official plant health officer for the purposes of paragraph 1 where the official plant health officer—\n(a) is suitably qualified, trained and experienced to be able to carry out the activities mentioned in paragraph 1 at an appropriate place, including those listed in Article 44(3);\n(b) is capable of reliably carrying out the activities mentioned in paragraph 1 without laboratory infrastructure;\n(c) ensures that they will perform the activities mentioned in paragraph 1 impartially and in a manner which is free from any conflict of interest as regards those activities;\n(d) satisfies the competent authority that the results of the analyses, tests and diagnoses carried out on the samples can be delivered in a more timely manner than they would if performed in an official laboratory.\n1C. The competent authority must, on a regular basis, organise audits of the official plant health officers that the authority has designated under paragraph 1.\n1D. The competent authority must withdraw the designation of an official plant health officer under paragraph 1, where that officer fails to take appropriate and timely remedial action following the results of an audit provided for in paragraph 1C which disclose any of the following—\n(a) the official plant health officer does not comply with conditions specified under paragraph 1A(b);\n(b) the official plant health officer no longer complies with the conditions in paragraph 1B. ”.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2024/9780348265842/regulation/6",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-30T14:40:12.197851+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}