Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 43
1
2 Q. So Mr. Bennett was wrong about saying that the plant could
3 receive a derogation for ---
4 A. It could receive ----.
5
6 Q. -- and still be able to export?
7 A. Yes, it could not receive a derogation, definitely not,
8 but it could receive, how would you say, now I have lost
9 the word in English ----
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Think about it and try to explain again what
12 you -----
13 A. They could put in the licensing documents. They could
14 put a condition that this plant can be licensed for EC, but
15 it needs to have a chill detained room, and we expect to it
16 be built within such a such a time limit.
17
18 Q. I understand that.
19 A. That is not a derogation. That is part of licensing.
20
21 Q. What do you mean by "derogation"?
22 A. There is a temporary Derogation Directive given by the
23 EC. It was given in 1991.
24
25 Q. Have we got any of these provisions?
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: Your Lordship did ask some time ago -- this is a
28 matter of law; it is not a matter of witnesses' evidence --
29 that the evidence of fact given by Mr. Bennett was that he
30 thought that they had some kind of dispensation,
31 derogation, moratorium, call it what you like. Whether it
32 is correct, as a matter of law, they were allowed to do
33 that, or the wicked people from MAFF should not have
34 approved it or what, I do not know, but that is a matter of
35 law for your Lordship and this witness cannot help.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: Of course, Mr. Bennett does not know because that
38 is hearsay anyway. (To the witness): OK, in your opinion
39 then, do you think that the lack of a detained room, a
40 chilling and detained room and condemned room, should have
41 been allowed to have continued or enabled, should that have
42 been a reason for not having an EC licence?
43 A. No, I do not think it should have been a reason for not
44 giving an EC licence, but obviously they should have, as
45 far as I understand. I again have to refer to all the
46 documents from the past operations that I have to go
47 through before I started working and in those documents it
48 was clear that the refrigeration of the condemned room had
49 been demanded for a long time, but it had not happened.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The only reason I ask whether we have the
52 Regulations is that I have been told from time to time that
53 there is such a provision in such a schedule of the
54 Regulations and so on. If you are going to rely on that,
55 then at some stage I would like you to direct me to the
56 particular Regulation and where the provision is.
57
58 What you have to do is separate in your own mind evidence
59 such as: "There is not a chilled room and I think, in my
60 view, this is unsatisfactory for this reason and that
