HC Deb 18 October 1968 vol 770 cc818-9

Lords Amendment No. 123: In page 99, line 24, at end insert new Clause "K". K.—(1) A person who, not being a person authorised in that behalf by an enforcement authority, has purchased a medicinal product may submit a sample of it for analysis to the public analyst for the area in which the product was purchased or, if for the time being there is no public analyst for that area, then to the public analyst for some other area. (2) Paragraphs 2 to 11B of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect in relation to a person proposing to submit a sample in pursuance of the preceding subsection, as if in those paragraphs any reference to the sampling officer were a reference to that person. (3) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a public analyst to whom a sample is submitted under subsection (1) of this section shall as soon as practicable analyse the sample or cause it to be analysed by some other person under his direction. (4) The public analyst to whom a sample is submitted under subsection (1) of this section determines that for any reason an effective analysis of the sample cannot be performed by him or under his direction, he shall send it to the public analyst for some other area, and (subject to the next following subsection) that other public analyst shall as soon as practicable analyse the sample or cause it to be analysed by some other person under his direction. (5) A public analyst to whom a sample is submitted or sent under this section may demand payment in advance of the prescribed fee, and, if he demands such payment, he shall not be required to analyse the sample or cause it to be analysed until the fee has been paid. (6) A public analyst who has analysed a sample or caused a sample to be analysed under this section shall issue a certificate specifying the result of the analysis to the person by whom the sample was originally submitted. (7) Any certificate issued under subsection (6) of this section shall be in a form prescribed by the Ministers and shall be signed by the public analyst who issues the certificate. (8) Paragraphs 19 to 21 of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect in relation to a certificate issued under subsection (6) of this section as they have effect in relation to a certificate issued under paragraph 17 of that Schedule. (9) Any regulations prescribing a fee for the purposes of this section shall be made by the Ministers. (10) In this section 'public analyst' has the meaning assigned to it by paragraph (2) of Schedule 3 to this Act.

1.45 p.m.

Mr. K. Robinson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

The purpose of the new Clause is to fulfil an undertaking that I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Garston (Mr. Fortescue) in Standing Committee. Section 92 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955 provides for analysis by public analysts on payment of a fee of samples of food and drugs submitted by ordinary members of the public. The Food and Drugs Acts are to be repealed by Schedules 6 and 8 in their application to drugs but we believe that this provision should not be lost in the repeal The New Clause accordingly re-enacts the provision as part of the medicines legislation.

Question put and agreed to.