Under the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 2 in Parliamentary Act no. 23 from 13.03.1986 governing the Food and Veterinary Agency, Faroe Islands, it is stipulated:

Objective
Article 1.
The objective of the Food and Veterinary Agency is to carry out statutory control and laboratory checks within the food and veterinary fields and to undertake research and development in connection with its statutory tasks.
paragraph 2. the Food and Veterinary Agency is the Faroese reference laboratory, concerning the fields mentioned in article 1.

Organisation
Article 2.
The Food and Veterinary Agency is established under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (see www.vmr.fo).
Paragraph 2. The Food and Veterinary Agency can undertake tasks for other ministeries and public institutes.
Paragraph 3. The Food and Veterinary Agency is organised into:
1) The supervision departments
2) Laboratories
3) Research and development.
Paragraph 4. In Danish the Food and Veterinary Agency is called "Fødevare- og veterinærstyrelsen". In Faroese it is called "Heilsufrøðiliga Starvsstovan".

Supervision work
Article 3.
The Agency's professional competence, in the fields of food, veterinary and environment, must be on a consistantly high administrative and professional level, so the Food and Veterinary Agency can, with the latest knowledge, advise the Ministry of Trade and Industry and others in the fields named in article 1 and disseminate knowledge about the relevant fields under the responsibility of the Food and Veterinary Agency.

Laboratory work
Article 4.
The professional competence in the laboratory and analyses must be at a high quality level. Analyses must be approved internationally and commercially (see note no.: 1). The laboratories must, based on the latest knowledge in the laboratory field, advise the Ministry of Trade and Industry and others in the fields named in article 1.

Research and development work
Article 5.
The Food and Veterinary Agency carry out relevant research and development for the development of those fields that are named in article 1.
Other
Article 6.
The Food and Veterinary Agency can, within the fields named in article 1, take on tasks upon request.

Management
Article 7.
The minister appoints and dismisses the director of the Food and Veterinary Agency.
The director is responsible for the daily financial and administrative operations of the institute and is directly responsible to the minister.
Paragraph 2. The director appoints and dismisses all employees at the institute in accordance to the current regulations.
Paragraph 3. The director is responsible for the activitites of the institute being conducted in accordance to current legislation and regulations as well as pursuant to the internal rules of the institute.
Paragraph 4. Unless otherwise stipulated in the regulations or by law, the Food and Veterinary Agency is bound by the signature of the director.
Paragraph 5. The director can give employees authorisation to sign, which has to be notified to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Reporting
Article 8.
The Food and Veterinary Agency submits to the Ministry of Trade and Industry results of checks and research, which are of significance to the Ministry and Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) about the state of health of animals and the state of cleanliness and health regarding food products. The Ministry of Trade and Industry can stipulate regulations about this.
Article 9.
The Food and Veterinary Agency submits annual statistical information about the agencies tasks. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, the veterinary department can stipulate regulations about this.

Fee
Article 10.
The Food and Veterinary Agency charges fees for supervision, laboratory checks and services in persuance of the current regulations or in accordance with contracts with customers.

Come into force
Article 11.
This circular comes into force immediately.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry, 21 March 2003 (note 2)

Bjarni Djurholm (sign.)
Minister

/ Arne Poulsen (sign.)
Permanent Secretary

Note 1: Current international aprovement: DANAK accreditation no.: 303, see www.danak.dk.
Note 2: See homepage www.vmr.fo
General note. Due to change in the government, some changes has been done in this english text january 27, 2009, compred to the orginal Faroese text.