Coffee (Inspection for Export) Regulations

COFFEE (INSPECTION FOR EXPORT) REGULATIONS ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS PART I Inspection, packing, ece. REGULATION 1. Inspection processes. 2. Packing. 3. Sealing. 4. Entry into the store register. 5. Stacking. 6. Offences and penalties. PARTII Check-tests of coffee at Ports 7. Check-testing of coffee for shipment. REGULATION 8. Rejection of cotfee for shipment. 9. Scoop surplus. 10. Destruction of defective, etc., coffee. PART III Provisions for pest control in coffee 11. Treatment by fumigation. 12. Interference by unauthorised person. PART IV General 13. Interpretation. 14. Citation. COFFEE (INSPECTION FOR EXPORT) REGULATIONS [L.N. 15 of 1979.] under section 7 [6th March, 1979] [Commencement. ] PART I Inspection, packing, ete. 1. Inspection processes (1) Any Inspector carrying out an inspection shall (a) spread a parcel of 100 bags of coffee evenly on a clean tarpaulin spread on the ground or on a clean firm and cemented surface; (b) take at random or in an indiscriminate manner, a representative sample, and out of this he shall draw a final sample weighing 710.23 kilogrammes; (c) spread this final sample on a clean smooth surface, preferably on a table which has no cracks or crevices but not on a concrete floor or on an empty bag. (2) The Inspector shall exercise care and diligence to pick out all extraneous matters or substances and impurities and shall divide the extraneous matters or substances and impurities so picked into three categories as follows (a) stones; (b) insect-damaged, mouldy and black beans; and (c) other extraneous substances. (3) The Inspector shall weigh each category by the use of brass-fractional weights or lead seals and shall record the result as percentages of samples examined. (4) Where upon examination a parcel of coffee qualifies as being of exportable qua lity, it shall be sifted with a sieve of suitable mesh. 2. Packing (1) Where coffee has been inspected, and riddled as provided in regulation I of these Regulations, the Inspector shall soon thereafter bag the produce in sound dry B-twill bags. (2) The bags shall be sewn up at once by means of lock stitches placed not more than 2.5 cm apart and the twine shall be strong and continuous with the end so disposed that no knots are accessible and that the ends can be securely sealed. 3. Sealing So soon as practicable after the inspection of the coffee, the Inspector who graded the coffee shall cause each bag of coffee to be sealed with the official seal issued to him for that purpose. 4. Entry into the store register The storekeeper or his agent shall take charge of the produce and shall enter into his register kept for that purpose the number of bags of coffee graded parcel by parcel on the same day, and shall sign against each entry in the register and the Inspector shall counter sign each such entry in the register immediately after such entries have been made. 5. Stacking The storekeeper shall ensure that the bags of coffee which have been sealed and marked are forthwith stored on wooden platforms or such dunnage as a Produce Officer, an Assistant Produce Officer, a Produce Superintendent or an Inspector may consider suitable and adequate so however that no part of any bag shall come into contact with the floor or a wall of the store. 6. Offences and penalties (1) Any person who (a) has in his custody, possession or control whether for his own use or benefit or for the use or benefit of any other person coffee intended for export which is not thoroughly dry or which contains impurities exceeding 10 per cent of the total weight; or (b) is an agent, servant or employee of any person having in his custody, posses sion or control such coffee; or (c) combines or mixes two or more varieties of coffee with a view to obtaining the price of a higher variety of coffee, shall be guilty of an offence. (2) Any person who commits an offence under paragraph (1) (a) or (b) of this regu lation shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine of NI 00 or to imprisonment for six months or to both such fine and imprisonment. (3) Any person who commits an offence under paragraph (1) (c) above shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine of N400 or to imprisonment for six months or to both such fine and imprisonment. PART II Check-tests of coffee at Ports 7. Check-testing of coffee for shipment (1) Where coffee produce inspected, graded, sealed and marked for export by the Produce Inspection Service of any State is delivered at any port for shipment, officers of the Federal Produce Inspection Service shall conduct check-tests on the coffee produce. (2) For the purposes of these Regulations, all the bags of coffee shall be divided into lots not exceeding 100 bags each, and stacked five bags high so however that both the ends and the sides can easily be examined and scooped. (3) The Head of the Federal Produce Inspection Service may in writing prescribe that each bag in a lot shall be sampled at one or more points and prior to each sampling, the Inspector shall be satisfied that the bags and seals are intact after which he shall proceed to sample in the manner prescribed. (4) The Inspector shall draw from any such representative sample a further sample of 710.23 kilogrammes and shall pick out all extraneous matters and subdivide the same into (a) stone; (b) insect-damaged, mouldy and black beans; and (c) other extraneous matters. (5) The Inspector shall weigh each category of impurities by the use of brass frac tional weights or lead seals, and shall record the results in his official notebook. (6) Where the result of the check-test shows the parcel or lot can be graded as pro vided in regulation 1 above, the parcel or lot shall be so graded and shall forthwith be passed for shipment for export. (7) The Inspector who check-tested and passed such coffee for shipment for export shall ensure that all the bags of such coffee in a parcel or lot are stamped with the letter stamp officially issued to him for that purpose. 8. Rejection of coffee for shipment Without prejudice to regulation 7 (3) of these Regulations, where upon final check test, a lot or parcel of coffee in bags which has already been inspected, graded, sealed and marked for export by the Produce Inspection Service of a State, is found not to be of ex portable quality or if evidence of tampering is found, the coffee shall not be passed for export but shall be rejected for shipment for export and a written report of any such rejection shall be made by the Federal Produce Officer to the Head of the Produce In spection Service of the State from where the coffee was delivered to the port of shipment. 9. Scoop surplus Surplus coffee after check-tests by the Federal Produce Inspectors shall be weighed and a note of the weight of the surplus and the date of the check-test written in ink in the special register provided in the store concerned for this purpose and signed by the store keeper of the store, and the surplus coffee shall be re-bagged and taken into stock. 10. Destruction of defective, etc., coffee (1) So soon after the checklist, and whether or not the coffee has been passed for shipment for export, the storekeeper shall ensure that all defective coffee beans and all other extraneous matters removed in the course of inspection and subsequent check-test are taken away from the registered produce store and destroyed at a safe distance from the store. (2) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of N50 or to imprisonment for three months or to both such fine and imprisonment. PART III Provisions for pest control in coffee 11. Treatment by fumigation (1) Whenever in the opinion of an Inspector it is desirable that a parcel of coffee be subjected to treatment in order to render it pest-free, he shall proceed to treat the parcel by the process of fumigation. (2) During the process of fumigation, notice shall be duly put up to warn unautho rised persons to keep off the area. 12. Interference by unauthorised person (1) If in defiance of an express warning given under regulation 11 (2) of these Regu lations any unauthorised person (a) so closely approaches the vicinity of the fumigation as to endanger his life or that of any other person; or (b) interferes in any way with such operation, he shall be ordered by a responsible officer or any officer authorised in that behalf to withdraw from such area forthwith. (2) Where such an unauthorised person has been ordered to withdraw from the vicinity of the fumigation and he refuses to comply with the order he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of N50 or to an imprisonment for three months or to both such fine and imprisonment. (3) Where a person charged with an offence under this regulation contends that he was an authorised person at the time of the offence, the onus shall be on him to prove that he had such an authority. PART IV General 13. Interpretation In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires "broken bean" means coffee which is not a whole bean; "extraneous matter" means any other substance or matter which is not coffee of the type to be tested; "insect-damaged" means coffee which has been attacked by insects; "suitable mesh" means sieves 1/10 for Robusta coffee, Arabica coffee and 1/16 for Liberica coffee; "thoroughly dry coffee" means coffee which when held in hand and squeezed moves freely over one another with crisp sound. 14. Citation These Regulations may be cited as Coffee (Inspection for Export) Regulations.