Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997
| Year | 1997 |
1997 No. 266
INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997
Made 10th February 1997
Coming into force in accordance with article 1
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales acting jointly in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 14 of and Schedule 2 to the Industrial Organisation and Development Act 19471and now vested in them2, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, after consultation with the organisations appearing to them to be representative of substantial numbers of persons carrying on business in the industry and with the organisations representative of persons employed in the industry appearing to them to be appropriate, being satisfied that the establishment of a development council for the industry is desired by a substantial number of persons engaged in the industry, and having satisfied themselves that the incidence of the charges as between different classes of undertakings in the industry will be in accordance with a fair principle, hereby make the following Order, a draft of which has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament—
Title and commencement
1. This Order may be cited as the Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997 and shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947;
“commission agent” means a person who acts on behalf of another and is paid—
(a) a previously agreed sum related to the amount of money involved in the principal transaction,
(b) a fixed sum related to the weight of potatoes bought or delivered, or
(c) a fixed sum related to the area of potatoes grown;
“the Council” means the Potato Industry Development Council established under the provisions of this Order;
“first point of sale” means the point at which a person carrying on business in the industry takes delivery of potatoes, with or without the exchange of monies, as a first purchaser;
“first purchaser” means a person (including a commission agent, a co-operative or a co-operative owned by growers) carrying on business in the industry who buys or who takes delivery as an agent of 100 tonnes or more of potatoes a year where those potatoes have not previously been sold or delivered to an agent;
“the industry” means the activities of persons in growing, selling, purchasing or in any way dealing in potatoes, whether raw or processed, in Great Britain by way of business;
“the Ministers” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales acting jointly;
“potatoes” means—
(i) tubers of Solanum tuberosum L and any part thereof, and
(ii) other tuber-forming species or hybrids of the genus Solanum, produced or in the course of production in Great Britain for any purpose;
“processing” in relation to raw potatoes means an operation carried out upon raw potatoes which includes—
(a) peeling, slicing, heating, pasteurising, canning, freezing, drying, chilling or any other similar operation which alters the raw product, and
(b) grading and packing them for sale;
and processed shall be construed accordingly;
“producer” means a person who grows one hectare or more of potatoes per year, including seed potatoes, by way of business for the purpose of selling them, either as seed potatoes or in raw or processed form;
“producer/merchant” means a producer who in addition to selling his own produce also buys in and sells the produce of others;
“producers' co-operative” means a co-operative where 51% or more of the shares are owned by producers; and
“take delivery” means to take into a person’s possession or control, including where he does not take physical possession.
(2) For the purposes of this Order, where a person produces potatoes, processes them or arranges for them to be processed and then sells the processed product he shall be treated as selling the potatoes at the time that he sells the processed product.
(3) For the purposes of this Order, the quantity of potatoes which a person shall be treated as selling shall be the quantity after the stones and soil have been removed from them.
(4) For the purposes of this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—
(a)
(a) any reference to a numbered article and paragraph or Schedule is a reference to the article and paragraph or Schedule so numbered in this Order, and
(b)
(b) any reference in an article to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the article in which the reference occurs.
Establishment of the Development Council
3.—(1) There shall be established a development council for the industry, to be known as the British Potato Council, and there shall be assigned to it the functions specified in Schedule 1.
(2) The Council shall exercise its functions in such manner as appears to it to be likely to increase efficiency and productivity in the industry, to improve and develop the service that the industry renders or could render to the community or to enable the industry to render that service more economically.
(3) The Council may enter into such agreements, acquire such property and do such things as may in the opinion of the Council be necessary or desirable for the exercise of any of its functions and may dispose of any property acquired by it as it thinks fit.
Constitution of the Council
4. The Council shall consist of the following sixteen members appointed by the Ministers, that is to say—
(a) twelve persons capable of representing the interests of persons carrying on business in the industry, being nine producers (at least one of whom shall be a specialist seed producer) and three other persons with knowledge of aspects of the industry subsequent to production;
(b) one person capable of representing the interests of people employed in the industry;
(c) two persons (including the chairman) as to whom the Ministers are satisfied that they have no such financial or industrial interest as is likely to affect them in the discharge of their functions as members of the Council (hereinafter referred to as “independent members”); and
(d) one person having special knowledge of matters relating to the marketing or distribution of products of the industry.
Membership and proceedings of the Council
5.—(1) The provisions of Schedule 2 shall have effect in relation to the membership and proceedings of the Council.
(2) The Council shall, immediately after its members are appointed by the Ministers, set up a committee to be known as the Seed Sectoral Group.
(3) The Seed Sectoral Group shall have responsibility for reporting to the Council how the functions set out in Schedule 1 should best be carried out in relation to the part of the industry carrying out business in connection with seed potatoes.
(4) The Seed Sectoral Group shall be chaired by a specialist seed producer appointed pursuant to Article 4(a).
Register of producers and first purchasers
6.—(1) The Council shall, in accordance with the following provisions of this article, establish and maintain a register of persons carrying on business in the industry (“the register”).
(2) The register shall be divided into two parts: one part to contain producers and the other to contain first purchasers.
(3) The Council may acquire such information as it is reasonably practicable for it to acquire in order to enter on the register the name and address of each person who is carrying on business in the industry, who is a producer or first purchaser at the time of coming into force of this Order, and shall enter on the register the names and addresses of those so identified.
(4) Within thirty days after making any entry in the register in respect of any person, the Council shall give written notice to that person of the fact that it has done so and of details of the entry.
(5) The Council shall also enter on the register the name and address of every person who applies to the Council in writing, on the grounds that he is carrying on business in the industry as a producer or first purchaser, to have his name and address entered thereon.
(6) The Council may enter on the register, in addition to the name and address of any registered person, any business name under which and the address of any place at which he carries on business in the industry, and the names of his partners in any such business, but no other information.
(7) Any registered person who becomes aware that the entry on the register relating to him is inaccurate or incomplete shall give written notice to the Council of that fact within thirty days of his becoming aware of it, and the Council, if satisfied that the register is inaccurate or incomplete, shall amend it accordingly.
(8) Any registered person may apply in writing to the Council for the removal of his name from the register and the Council, if satisfied that such person is not carrying on business in the industry, shall remove his name forthwith.
(9) The register shall be kept at the office of the Council and any person shall be entitled to inspect the register during normal business hours and on the payment of reasonable photocopying charges, to take, or be supplied with, a copy of the entries.
(10) In this article “registered person” means a person whose entry is for the time being on the register.
Registration of producers and first purchasers
7.—(1) Every person who is carrying on business in the industry as a producer or first purchaser at the time at which this...
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