S.L. 449.44 Art. 3Implementation. Scope and applicability. Cap. 458. Recognition of mineral waters.

These regulations implement the provisions of Council Directive 80/777/EEC on the exploitation and marketing of natural mineral waters, as amended by Council Directive 80/1276/EEC, Council Directive 85/7/EEC, Directive 96/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and Commission Directive 2003/40/EC. 4.1. These regulations concern waters extracted from the ground of a Member State of the European Community and recognized by the responsible authority of that Member State as natural mineral waters satisfying the provisions of Section I of the First Schedule. 4.2 These regulations also concern waters extracted from the ground of a third country, imported into the European Community and recognized as natural mineral waters by the responsible authority of a Member State. 4.3 These regulations shall not apply to:

(a) to waters which are medicinal products, as defined in the Medicines Act,

(b) to natural mineral waters used at source for curative purposes in thermal or hydromineral establishments; and

(c) to natural mineral waters intended for export to third countries. 5.1. The waters referred to in regulation 4.2 may be so recognized only if the responsible authority in the country of extraction has certified that they satisfy Section I of the First Schedule, and that regular checks are made on the application of the provisions of paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule. 5.2 The validity of the certification referred to in regulation 5.1 shall be for a period of five years. It shall not be necessary to repeat the recognition procedure referred to in regulation 4.2 if the certification is renewed before the end of the said period.

5.3 The grounds for granting the recognition referred to in regulations 4.1 and 4.2 shall be stated in due form by the responsible authority and shall be officially published in the Gazette.

5.4 The responsible authority shall inform the European Commission of the cases where the recognition referred to in regulations 4.1 and 4.2 had been granted or withdrawn.