Consultation in England on proposed feed law enforcement practice guidance in Great Britain

Following consultation with the Department of Agriculture and Rural development in Northern Ireland (DARD-NI) and the Animal Medicines Inspectorate (AMI), both enforcement bodies decided they will produce separate guidance for their inspectorates.

The practice guidance is a non-statutory document which complements the statutory Feed Law Enforcement Code of Practice in Great Britain (CoP) and provides general advice on the approach to enforcement or on the law where its intention might be unclear.

The purpose of this consultation is to obtain your views on the proposed draft practice guidance document. In particular we would be grateful if you would address the following questions:

• what are your views on the content and layout of the practice guidance?
• are you happy with the level and amount of guidance provided?
• is the guidance easy to read and user-friendly?
• is there a need for additional guidance under certain chapters or is there any other information you would like to see included?
• will the guidance have an additional impact in areas other than those recognised in the Feed Hygiene Impact Assessment?
• does the guidance go beyond the legal requirements?

The Feed Law Enforcement Code of Practice in Great Britain, which was issued under The Official Feed and Food Controls Regulations 2006, was published on 29 December 2006 and can be found at the link below.

Both the Code of Practice and this guidance document are directed at local authorities and those port health authorities with responsibility for official controls on feed law (feed authorities).The practice guidance supplements the Code of Practice and fulfils a commitment by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to publish further guidance on feed law enforcement. The FSA hopes that this guidance document will further assist feed authorities with the discharge of their statutory duty to enforce relevant feed law. In addition the guidance should also make clear to businesses the criteria enforcement officers will use when they visit or inspect premises.

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the HM Government Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the consultation feedback questionnaire.

Consultation feedback questionnaire (Word)

Consultation feedback questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. Responses will be open to public access upon request. The FSA will also publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name and contact address details. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Data protection form (Word)

Data protection form (pdf)

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator by email: consultationcoordinator@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk