Explanatory note

Scotland

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations give effect to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 152/2009 laying down the methods of sampling and analysis for the official control of feed (“the Commission Regulation”).

The Commission Regulation repeals and re-enacts with certain amendments a large number of European directives concerning methods of sampling and analysis of feeding stuffs. These Regulations revoke the Feeding Stuffs (Sampling and Analysis) Regulations 1999 (regulation 24), which implemented those directives, and re-enact those administrative provisions which need to be kept in force. The Regulations put in place administrative and other measures for the execution of the Commission Regulation, in particular by—

(a)

providing for metric equivalents of imperial quantities mentioned in the Agriculture Act 1970 (regulation 3);

(b)

prescribing the methods of sending samples for analysis (regulation 4);

(c)

prescribing the required qualifications for agricultural analysts (regulation 5);

(d)

providing for the methods to be used where an analysis is carried out other than in the context of official controls (regulation 6); and

(e)

prescribing the form to be used for a certificate of analysis (regulation 7 and Schedule 1).

These Regulations, in Part 3, make changes to primary and secondary legislation in order to avoid any instances of overlap or inconsistency between the Commission Regulation and domestic legislation (regulations 8 to 23).

These Regulations also, in Part 4, amend the Feeding Stuffs (Scotland) Regulations 2005 in order to implement Commission Directive 2009/141/EC amending Annex 1 to Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards maximum levels for arsenic, theobromine, Datura sp., Ricinus communis L., Crton tiglium L. and Abrus precatorius L., (“the Commission Directive”). The provisions amended concern undesirable substances in animal feeds, notably in relation to maximum permitted levels for the substances mentioned in the title of the Commission Directive (regulation 25 and Schedule 2).

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency (Scotland), 6th Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen AB11 6NJ, and online at www.legislation.gov.uk.