Section 20:
(1) The Minister may, in writing, require the Director to designate as a health officer
(a) a qualified medical practitioner; or
(b) a person with approved qualifications,
for purposes of discharging functions under section 22.

Section 22 (extract):

(1) The Director shall ensure that a health officer carries out such functions as the Director may direct.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) a health officer shall
(a) ensure that this Act is complied with within the local government area in respect of which he or she is appointed;
(b) assist in the preparation of any reports required to be made by the National Health Council under this Act;

Section 37 (extract):
(1) The Minister may, in writing, designate a person or class of persons to be an authorised officer or authorised officers, as the case may be, to discharge the functions under this Act.


Section 38 (extract):

(1) For the purposes of section 37, an authorised officer may, at any reasonable time
(a) enter, remain in and inspect any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(b) inspect anything found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(c) mark, fasten, secure, take and remove a sample of anything found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(d) open any container, receptacle or package found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(e) weigh, count, measure or gauge anything found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(f) seize anything or record found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle;
(g) take any record found in or on any area, premises, body of water or vehicle for the purpose of copying it; or
(h) seal any area, premises, and body of water or vehicle

Section 47:
(1) An authorised officer who discovers that any provision of this Act has not been complied with in relation to any land or premises, shall issue a compliance notice to the owner or person in charge of that land or premises.
(2) An authorised officer who is satisfied that the owner or person in charge of any land or premises has satisfied the terms of a compliance notice, may issue to the owner or person a compliance certificate.
(3) A compliance notice issued under subsection (1) shall remain in force until an authorised officer issues a compliance certificate in respect of that notice.
(4) For the purposes of this section
"compliance notice" means a notice issued by an authorised officer to the owner or person in charge of land or premises requiring him or her to comply with the requirement of the law; and
"compliance certificate" means a certificate issued by an authorised officer to the owner or person in charge of land or premises who has complied with the requirement of the law.


Section 85:
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, a health officer shall, in respect of the area for which he or she has been designated, take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for maintaining that area at all times in a clean and sanitary condition, or requiring to be remedied, any nuisance and shall institute legal proceedings against any person causing or responsible for the occurrence or continuance of the nuisance.
(2) Where it appears to a health officer that a nuisance exists on any premises occupied as offices of the public service of Botswana, the health officer shall serve notice on the head of the appropriate Government department and the latter shall immediately cause steps to be taken as may be necessary to abate the nuisance and to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance.

Section 86:
A health officer shall take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for preventing or causing to be prevented or remedied all conditions likely to be injurious or dangerous to health, arising from
(a) the erection or occupation of unhealthy buildings, dwellings or premises;
(b) the erection of buildings, dwellings or premises on unhealthy sites or on sites or sites of insufficient extent; or
(c) overcrowding, construction, condition or manner of use, of any factory or trade premises, and shall take legal proceedings, to discontinue that condition, against the person responsible for the continuance of the condition.

Section 92:
(1) A health officer may enter any building, dwelling or premises for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of any nuisance in the building, dwelling or premises at all reasonable times of the day, and the health officer may, where necessary, dig up the ground on that building, dwelling or premises and cause the drains to be tested or other work to be done, as may be necessary, for the effectual examination of the said premises.
(2) Where the health officer enters the building, dwelling or premises for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of nuisance and if no nuisance is found to exist, the Ministry or relevant local authority shall restore the building, dwelling or premises at its own expense.

Section 131:
The Director shall consult the departments responsible for customs and immigration as well as other authorities relevant to the establishment of
points of entry for purposes of port health services.

Section 132:
The Director shall, through port health programme designate a number of environmental health officers and authorised officers as the Director considers appropriate as port health officers for the implementation of the programme, and ensure that appropriate facilities for the programme at the points of entry are available.

Section 133 (extracts):
(1) Port health officers shall, at points of entry
(a) implement port health programmes and ensure compliance with public health laws;
[...]
(d) monitor the quality of chemicals, safety of food and water including imported food and water and their certification documents;

Section 5:
The Director shall be responsible for-
(a) the registration of plants;
(b) the control and inspection of the slaughter and processing of livestock;
(c) ensuring that any person operating a plant observes the appropriate hygiene requirements in the plant; and
(d) ensuring that any person transporting meat observes appropriate hygiene requirements.

Section 7 (extract):
(1) The Minister may, by statutory instrument, make regulations for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

Regulation 6:
(1) The Minister shall, after consultation with the Board, issue a food safety alert, warning consumers about food on the market which have been found to be hazardous to the health or safety of consumers.
(2) For the purpose of subregulation (1), the food safety alert shall be published-
(a) in the Gazette; and
(b) in at least one issue of a news paper with a wide circulation in Botswana.
(3) If the food is manufactured or already on the market, the food safety alert shall be followed by a food recall initiated by the Minister.

Section 4 (extract):
(1) There is hereby established a bureau, to be known as the Botswana Bureau of Standards, which shall be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and capable, in its corporate name of-
(a) suing and being sued;
(b) purchasing or otherwise acquiring, holding, managing, charging and disposing of property, movable or immovable;
(c) entering into contracts, and doing or performing all such other things as may be necessary, and as may lawfully be done or performed by a body corporate, for the proper performance of its functions and undertaking of its duties under this Act.
(2) The functions and duties of the Bureau shall be-
(a) to promote standardization and quality assurance in industry and commerce, with the aim of improving product quality, industrial efficiency and productivity, and the promotion of trade, so as to achieve optimum benefits for the public generally, particularly in the interests of health, safety and welfare, and protection of the consumer; [...]
(c) to make arrangements for, or provide facilities for, the examination and testing of commodities, and any material or substance from which, with which, or having regard to the manner in which, they may be manufactured, produced, processed or treated;
[...]
(i) to provide for the testing, on behalf of the Government, of locally manufactured or imported commodities, to determine whether such commodities comply with the provisions of this Act, or any other written law dealing with standards of quality or description;

Section 3 (extract):
(1) There is hereby established a Board, to be known as the National Food Control Board, which shall advise the Minister on all matters arising out of the administration of the provisions of this Act, and perform such other functions as may be assigned to it by or under this Act.

Section 4:
The functions of the Board shall be to advise the Minister with regard to all matters concerning food and food safety, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such advice shall include advice as to-
(a) the promotion and protection of personal and public health by ensuring the provision of safe and wholesome food to consumers;
(b) the prevention of and protection against commercial fraud in connection with imported or domestically available or produced unsafe and potentially hazardous foods;
(c) the advice and assistance to be given to councils in matters concerning food safety;
(d) the promotion or carrying out of research and investigation into all matters pertaining to food safety and control;
(e) the preparation and publication of reports and statistics and any other information or literature pertaining to food safety or food control, and the principles thereof;
(f) the appointment of advisory and technical bodies to assist in all matters concerning food safety and control.

Section 3 (extract):
(1) There shall be designated a public officer to be the Director of Wildlife and National Parks, and there shall be within the public service such wildlife officers as are necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Director shall designate suitable wildlife officers to be licensing officers for the purposes of this Act.
(3) The Director shall be the Scientific Authority and the Management Authority for the purposes of CITES in respect of animals, but may delegate his responsibilities as such Authorities to any wildlife officer, subject to his own overriding control.

Section 62 (extract):
(1) No person shall, except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a permit granted to him by the Director under subsection (3), export from or import into or transport through or re-export from Botswana any animal, or trophy, meat or eggs thereof.
(2) The export, import, transport through and re-export of animals listed under the Appendices to CITES, and any trophy, meat or eggs thereof shall be permitted only in accordance with the provisions of CITES, and before any permit is issued under subsection (3), the Director, as Management Authority in accordance with the terms of CITES, shall require to be satisfied that-
(a) the animal, trophy, meat or eggs has or have been lawfully acquired;
[...]
(c) where required, the Management Authority of the importing country has granted an import permit in respect of the animal, trophy, meat or eggs;

Section 5:
The Commissioner General shall —
(a) administer and enforce this Act;
(b) establish and maintain administrative, financial, technological, electronic and communicative systems and procedures necessary for the implementation and enforcement of this Act;
(c) coordinate and consult with other Government agencies to establish the most effective methods of working together and sharing information in order to simplify and facilitate the requirements of national legislation;
(d) conclude Memoranda of Understanding with other Government agencies, trade entities or other institutions to enhance the enforcement of customs and other relevant legislation;
(e) co-operate with other customs administrations and seek to conclude mutual administrative assistance agreements to enhance customs controls and simplify customs requirements; and
(f) determine the conditions and category of customs officers who shall have the power to carry out an arrest for the purpose of implementation and enforcement of this Act.

Section 11(extract):
(1) A customs officer may inspect any data and documents relating to the operations of the import, export, movement or storage of goods —
(a) after releasing the goods in order to ascertain the accuracy of the particulars contained in the customs declaration; or
(b) prior to commercial operations involving such goods.
  (2)   A customs officer may examine goods and take samples whereit is possible for them to do so.

Section 12:
A customs officer may carry out an inspection of goods, means of transport and persons for the purposes of application and enforcement of this Act with respect to the goods.

Regulation 23:
( 1) No person shall export from Botswana any fresh or processed fish without an export permit issued by an authorised officer.
(2) An application for an export permit shall be in Form N set out in Schedule 1 and accompanied by a fee set out in Schedule _2.
(3) A permit in terms of this regulation shall be in Form O set out in Schedule 1 and shall be valid for a period of 30 days from the date of issue.
( 4) A person who exports fish without an export permit commits an offense and is liable to a fine not exceeding P500, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

Section 4 (extract):
(2) The functions and duties of the Bureau shall be-
[...]
(i) to provide for the testing, on behalf of the Government, of locally manufactured or imported commodities, to determine whether such commodities comply with the provisions of this Act, or any other written law dealing with standards of quality or description;

Section 10:
Customs controls, other than random checks, shall be based on risk management techniques, which include risk analysis and risk criteria.

Regulation 6 (extract):
(1) The Minister shall, after consultation with the Board, issue a food safety alert, warning consumers about food on the market which have been found to be hazardous to the health or safety of consumers.
(2) For the purpose of subregulation (1), the food safety alert shall be published-
(a) in the Gazette; and
(b) in at least one issue of a news paper with a wide circulation in Botswana.
(3) If the food is manufactured or already on the market, the food safety alert shall be followed by a food recall initiated by the Minister.
(4) The Minister shall inform, in writing, the food business operator responsible for the production of the food that is the subject of the alert under subregulation (1) to take the appropriate measures to ensure that the food is recalled.

Section 10 (extract):
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ombudsman may investigate any action taken by or on behalf of a —
(a) department of Government, in the exercise of administrative functions of that department –
(i) in any case where a complaint is made to the Ombudsman by a person who claims to, or
(ii) on his or her own motion where he or she considers it necessary to investigate the action on the ground that a person has or may, have sustained injustice or unfair treatment in consequence of maladministration in connection with the action so taken; or
(b) department of Government or private entity –
(i) in any case where a complaint is made to the Ombudsman by a person who claims to, or
(ii) on his or her own motion where he or she considers it necessary to investigate the action on the ground that a person has or may, have sustained violation of his or her human rights in consequence of the action so taken.
(2) The Ombudsman may take appropriate action to call for the remedying, correction and reversal of instances specified in subsection (1) through fair, proper and effective means, including —
(a) mediation, arbitration, negotiation, conciliation and compromise between the parties concerned; and
(b) causing the complaint and a finding on it, to be reported to the principal officer of any department of Government or a private entity and to a person who is established to have taken or authorised the action in question.