S.L. 437.89 ст. 3Rules regarding certifying officers.

(1) The competent authority shall ensure that certifying officers have a satisfactory knowledge of the veterinary laws as regards the animals or products to be certified and, in general, are informed as to the rules to be followed for drawing up and issuing the certificates and, if necessary, as to the nature and extent of the enquiries, tests or examinations which should be carried out before certification.

(2) Certifying officers shall not certify data of which they have no personal knowledge or which cannot be ascertained by them.

(3) Certifying officers shall not sign blank or incomplete certificates, or certificates relating to animals or products which they have not inspected or which have passed out of their control. Where a certificate is signed on the basis of another certificate or attestation, the certifying officer shall be in possession of that document before signing.

(4) Nothing in this rule shall prevent an official veterinarian from certifying data which have been -

(a) ascertained on the basis of sub-rules (1), (2) and (3) by another person so authorized by the competent authority and acting under the control of the official veterinarian, provided that such veterinarian can verify the accuracy of the data;

(b) obtained, within the context of monitoring programmes, by reference to officially recognized quality assurance schemes or by means of an epidemiological surveillance system where this is authorized under veterinary laws.

(5) Detailed rules for implementing this rule may be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in rule 7.