Scottish Government

Dear Sir/Madam,

CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT OFFICIAL CONTROLS (ANIMALS, FEED AND FOOD) (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2007

On behalf of Scottish Ministers, we are writing to invite comments on the enclosed consultation paper. The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on the provisions we are proposing in the enclosed draft Scottish Statutory Instrument ( SSI) for the implementation in Scotland of the provisions of Regulation ( EC) 882/2004 in respect of the animal health and welfare elements of the Regulation, as well as certain feed and food elements that are the responsibility of SEERAD.

The consultation package includes:

• A consultation paper setting out the proposed approach. It asks your views on a number of questions regarding the legal provisions of the draft Scottish Statutory Instrument
• The draft Official Controls (Animals, Crops, Feed and Food) (Scotland) Regulations ( Annex A)
• A partial Regulatory Impact Assessment ( Annex B)
• Draft guidance notes for enforcement authorities on the animal health and welfare aspects of Regulation 882/2004 ( Annex C)
• List of consultees ( Annex D)

Comments on the questions that are contained in the consultation paper, as well as other points that you would like to make are requested by 9 February 2007. I would be grateful if you would clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation document you are responding to, as this will aid the analysis of the responses.

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondee Information Form (only required if you are providing a response to the consultation document) as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We would therefore have to consider any request made under the Act for information relating to this consultation exercise.

Responses should be sent to:

Official Controls Consultation

By e-mail to: officialcontrols@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
By fax to: 0131 244 3110

If you have any queries about this consultation please e-mail or fax us as above, or call 0131 244 6460. Please let us know if you think anyone else should be consulted or feel free to pass this consultation on to other interested parties.

If you would like further copies of this consultation, or this document in an alternative format, such as large print, Braille, audiotape or disc, or in a community language please use the contact details above. I expect most respondents will find it easier to send in a written response, but if you would find it easier to respond in some other way (such as by telephone, audiotape or at a meeting) please contact as above to make the necessary arrangements.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out the location of your nearest Public Internet Access Point.

The Scottish Executive now has an e-mail alert system for consultations (SEconsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly e-mail containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up-to-date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. I would encourage you to register.

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. In general, however, consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work, to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work. While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• Indicate the need for policy development or review;
• Inform the development of a particular policy;
• Help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals; and
• Be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

Where respondees have given permission for their response to be made public (via the Respondee Information Form) these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 9 March 2007. All responses, where agreement to publish has been given, will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website. The library is located at Saughton House, (K Spur) Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD and you can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the response address above

Yours faithfully

Ian Thomson
Food Marketing Branch

CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT OFFICIAL CONTROLS (ANIMALS, FEED AND FOOD) (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2007

RESPONDEE INFORMATION FORM