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Paragraph 3 Functions of licensing authority on application for irradiation licence

Changes not yet applied. Later legislation changes this provision in ways not yet written into the text below:

(1)

In deciding whether to grant or to refuse to grant an irradiation licence the licensing authority shall consider whether it is satisfied—

(a)

that it is not unlawful, otherwise than for want of an irradiation licence, for the applicant to subject food of any description specified by virtue of paragraph 1(e) above to treatment by ionising radiation at the premises specified by virtue of paragraph 1(c) above,

(b)

that each description of food specified by virtue of paragraph 1(e) above is, or falls within, one of the seven permitted descriptions of food,

(c)

that each purpose specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(i) above is a legitimate purpose and that the applicant proposes to use microbiological criteria in deciding whether or not to subject any food to treatment by ionising radiation where the purpose so specified in relation to that food falls within or partly within sub-paragraph (2)(b)(i) below,

(d)

that either the descriptions of food specified by virtue of paragraph 1(e) above do not give rise to any significant risk or the factors specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(ii) above eliminate any significant risk that, during the currency of the licence applied for, the applicant will subject to treatment by ionising radiation food which either—

(i)

is, for microbiological reasons, incapable of complying with food safety requirements, or

(ii)

is capable of complying with food safety requirements, but only because any lawful method of causing it to avoid failure for microbiological reasons to comply with food safety requirements would necessarily comprise or include its subjection to treatment by ionising radiation,

(e)

that any qualifications specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(ii) above are no less than the requisite qualifications referred to in the definition of “food examiner” in subsection (9) of section 30 (analysis of samples) of the Act,

(f)

that the overall average dose specified in relation to each description of food by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(iii) above is consistent with each purpose specified in respect of that description of food by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(i) above,

(g)

that the factors specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f)(iv) above eliminate any significant risk that, during the currency of licence applied for, the overall average dose as measured in accordance with those factors will on any occasion deviate to a significant extent from the true overall average dose or that there will be a failure to record any maximum or minimum dose,

(h)

that the factors specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f) above eliminate any significant risk that food subjected to treatment by ionising radiation will, following that treatment and use of any packaging specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f )(v) above and application of any temperature control specified by virtue of paragraph 1(f )(vi) above, fail to comply with food safety requirements, and

(i)

that the applicant will, by applying the practices proposed (and involving in applying those practices persons with qualifications no less than those specified) in the statement made by virtue of paragraph 1(g) above, eliminate any significant risk that there will be any breach of any condition of the irradiation licence,

and on completion of that consideration the licensing authority shall notify the applicant that it has completed that consideration and of the amount of the application consideration charge, the applicant shall, no later than twenty-eight days after that notification, pay the application consideration charge to the licensing authority and, on receipt of that payment, the licensing authority shall, if it is satisfied of the matters specified in paragraphs (a) to (i) above, grant an irradiation licence to the applicant, but if it is not so satisfied the provisions of paragraph 4 below shall apply.

(2)

For the purpose of this paragraph and the preceding paragraphs of this Part—

(a)

“unlawful” means unlawful for want of registration, licence or similar authority, but that shall not affect the meaning of “lawful”;

(b)

“legitimate purpose” means any of the following purposes—

(i)

elimination or reduction of pathogenic organisms in food;

(ii)

reduction, by the retardation or arresting of decay processes and destruction of spoilage organisms, of spoilage of food;

(iii)

reduction of waste of food resulting from premature ripening, germination or sprouting;

(iv)

disinfectation of food from infestation by organisms harmful to plants or plant products;

(c)

a true overall average dose, (specified in this paragraph as “D”) is defined by the following integral over the total volume of food in respect of which that overall average dose is calculated:

D=1M∫ρ(x,y,z)d(x,y,z)dV

where—

  1. (i)

    M=the total mass of that food,

  2. (ii)

    ρ=the local density at the point (x, y, z),

  3. (iii)

    d=the local absorbed dose at the point (x, y, z),

  4. (iv)

    dV=the volume element represented by each of the volume fractions which between them comprise the entire volume of that food, and

  5. (v)

    each such volume element is infinitesimal; and

(d)

“practices” includes layout of premises, method of subjecting food to treatment by ionising radiation, type of ionising radiation used and design and construction of the facility for subjecting food to that treatment as well as practices of business control and organisation.

(3)

Nothing in this paragraph or the preceding paragraph shall be taken to prohibit the applicant for an irradiation licence from withdrawing his application and substituting a fresh application before the licensing authority has completed the consideration of the application and in such circumstances the function of the licensing authority under paragraph 2 above shall be exercised by reference to the fresh application rather than the original application.