Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000)13. Restriction on importation of meat |
| 1) |
| a) | No person may import any meat into the Republic except on the authority of a permit issued by the national executive officer. |
| b) | Paragraph (a) does not apply to meat imported for a prescribed purpose or to meet a prescribed weight. |
| 2) | An application for an import permit must be made in the prescribed manner and be accompanied by the prescribed fee. |
| 3) | An import permit may be issued subject to such conditions as the national executive officer may determine and set out in the permit in question. |
| 4) | The national executive officer may, in the public interest, suspend or withdraw any permit, or impose new or additional conditions in a permit, issued in terms of subsection (1)(a). |
| 5) | An import permit- |
| a) | may only be issued in respect of meat imported from a place approved by the national executive officer by notice in the Gazette; |
| b) | must be obtained by an importer before a consignment of meat lands in the Republic; and |
| c) | is valid for one consignment only, unless it expressly provides otherwise. |
| 6) | Meat in respect of which an import permit has been issued- |
| a) | may only be introduced into the Republic through the place of entry specified in the permit; |
| b) | must be introduced within the period specified in the permit; |
| c) | may only be off-loaded at the place of entry if all the conditions specified in the permit have been complied with; |
| d) | must be stored in the prescribed manner at a facility approved by the national executive officer until the prescribed veterinary procedures or other acts specified in the permit have been performed; and |
| e) | must be available for inspection, sampling and testing by the national executive officer. |
| 7) | If the national executive officer has knowledge of meat being brought into the Republic contrary to the provisions of this Act or an import permit, he or she may direct that the meat or any portion thereof may not be off-loaded without his or her written consent or that it may only be off-loaded subject to such conditions as may be necessary. |
| 8) | No person may remove any meat stored in a facility contemplated in subsection (6)(d) from that facility unless the national executive officer has authorised the removal thereof. |
| 9) | An importation certificate issued in terms of section 14(1)(a) of the Abattoir Hygiene Act, 1992 (Act No. 121 of 1992), and which was in force immediately prior to the commencement of this section is deemed to be an import permit issued in terms of subsection (1)(a). |