Removal of Dairy Hygiene Inspection Charge Guidance Notes

Monday 1 October 2001

The Dairy Products (Hygiene) (Charges) (Amendment) (England) Regulations

The Dairy Products (Hygiene) (Charges) (Amendment) (England) Regulations were laid before Parliament on Monday 8 May and came into force on 10 May 2000.

The Regulations were drafted following the new strategy for UK Agriculture unveiled at a summit meeting at No 10 Downing Street chaired by the Prime Minister on 30 March which announced the Government's intention to remove the charge for dairy hygiene inspections.

From 1987 the cost of dairy hygiene inspections at registered cows' milk production holdings in England and Wales were recovered from producers through charges. The charge was set by The Dairy Products (Hygiene) (Charges) Regulations 1995 at £94 per inspection. Around 10,000 inspections take place in England every year. Removing the charge levels the playing field for producers across the UK, and is worth almost £1 million annually to the dairy industry. Additionally, because the charge has been so unpopular, removal should lead to improved co-operation over dairy hygiene inspections.

The Dairy Products (Hygiene) (Charges) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2000 which removed the charge in Wales came into force on 20 May 2000. In Scotland and Northern Ireland inspection arrangements are different, and producers are not charged.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), on these Regulations has been prepared . This sets out the background to the Regulations, including compliance costs and results of the consultation.

Charges for microbiological sample testing of raw cows' drinking milk are not affected by these changes. The background here is that the primary focus for action was always intended to be on the inspection charge. This was because when Ministers decided the outcome of the review of raw cows' drinking milk policy in 1999, they announced that the microbiological sample testing charge for this milk should be recovered at full economic cost. To have included the separate microbiological sample testing charge in the public consultation proposals would therefore have complicated matters and delayed removal of the inspection charge.