Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947
Industrial Organisation and Development Act , 1947.
(10 & 11 Geo. 6.) 40
An Act to provide for the establishment of development councils to exercise functions for improving or developing the service rendered to the community by industries and for other purposes in relation thereto, for making funds available for certain purposes in relation to industries for which there is no development council, for the disposal of any surplus of funds levied under emergency provision for encouragement of exports, for the making of grants to bodies established for the improvement of design, and for purposes connected therewith and consequential thereon.
[31st July 1947]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Development Councils.
1 Power to establish development councils, and purposes thereof.
(1) There may be established for any industry, by an order in that behalf made by an authority specified in subsection (2) of this section, a body, in this Act referred to as a development council, to whom there may be assigned by the order any functions of a kind specified in the First Schedule to this Act for whose exercise by the council it appears to that authority to be expedient to provide in order to increase efficiency or productivity in the industry, to improve or develop the service that it renders or could render to the community, or to enable it to render such service more economically.
(2) Orders under this Act establishing development councils (in this Act referred to as a ‘development council order’) may be made by the Board of Trade, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Minister of Supply, the Minister of Food, the Minister of Works, the Admiralty, the Secretary of State, or the Minister of Fuel and Power (hereafter in this Act referred to, in relation to any such order made or proposed to be made by them or him, as ‘the Board or Minister concerned’):
Provided that the power to make a development council order relating to agriculture within the meaning of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Act, 1919 , or to fisheries, and extending (but not applying solely) to Scotland shall be vested in the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Secretary of State jointly, and references in this Act to the Board or Minister concerned shall be construed accordingly in relation to such an order.
(3) Before making a development council order the Board or Minister concerned shall consult any organisation appearing to them or him to be representative of substantial numbers of persons carrying on business in the industry and such organisations representative of persons employed in the industry as appear to the Board or Minister concerned to be appropriate.
(4) A development council order shall not be made unless the Board or Minister concerned is satisfied that the establishment of a development council for the industry is desired by a substantial number of the persons engaged in the industry.
(5) A development council order may provide for any incidental or supplementary matters for which it appears to the Board or Minister concerned to be necessary or expedient to provide.
(6) A development council order shall not be made until a draft of the order has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.
2 Constitution, etc., of development councils.
(1) A development council shall be by virtue of this Act a body corporate, by such name as may be specified in the development council order.
(2) The members of a development council shall be appointed by the Board or Minister concerned.
(3) A development council shall consist of members of the following categories, that is to say, in the case of every development council,—
(a ) persons capable of representing the interests of persons carrying on business in the industry,
(b ) persons capable of representing the interests of persons employed in the industry, and
(c ) other persons, being persons as to whom the Board or Minister concerned is 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 (in this Act referred to as ‘the independent members’),
and, in a case in which it appears to the Board or Minister concerned to be expedient that the members of the council should include persons having special knowledge of matters relating to the marketing or distribution of products of the industry, persons of that category.
(4) A development council order shall specify the number, or a maximum or minimum number, of persons of each of the said categories to be included and shall contain provision for securing that the persons who are included as being of the categories specified in paragraphs (a ) and (b ) of the last preceding subsection shall together be of a number constituting a majority of the members of the council.
(5) A development council order may specify requirements as to the appointment of, and the tenure and vacation of office by, the members of the council, and as to qualification or disqualification for membership.
(6) Before appointing persons to be members of a development council of the categories specified in paragraphs (a ) and (b ) respectively of subsection (3) of this section, the Board or Minister concerned shall consult such representative organisations as are mentioned, in relation to persons carrying on business in the industry and to persons employed therein respectively, in subsection (3) of section one of this Act.
(7) A development council shall have a chairman who shall be one of the independent members and shall be appointed by the Board or Minister concerned, who may also appoint one of the members of the council to act as deputy chairman.
(8) A development council order may provide for the payment to all or any of the members of the council of such remuneration and allowances as may be determined by the Board or Minister concerned, and for the payment, on the retirement or death of any of the members of the council as to whom it may be so determined to make such provision, of such pensions and gratuities to them or to others by reference to their service as may be so determined.
(9) The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall apply as regards the subsidiary matters therein mentioned relating to development councils.
3 Provisions for furnishing development councils with information as to their industries.
(1) A development council order may provide for securing that persons carrying on business in the industry shall be registered in a register of such persons to be kept by the development council, which shall be open to the inspection of the public at all convenient hours on payment to the council of such reasonable fee, if any, and subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the order, and in which any person for the time being claiming to be a person carrying on business in the industry shall be entitled as of right to be and remain registered, subject to any provisions of the order as to notification to the council of such claims.
(2) A development council order may provide for enabling the council to require persons carrying on business in the industry to furnish such returns and other information, including information with respect to the productive capacity, capital assets, staff, output, orders, sales, deliveries, stocks and costs of any such business, as appear to the council to be required for the exercise of any of their functions:
Provided that powers conferred on the council under this subsection shall be qualified, in relation to exercise thereof generally as regards the industry or any section thereof, by provision requiring the previous consent of the Board or Minister concerned to their being so exercised and approval by the Board or Minister concerned of the form in which the returns or other information will be required to be furnished.
4 Levies by development councils.
(1) A development council order may provide for the imposition by the development council with the approval of the Board or Minister concerned, and for the recovery by the council, in such manner and through such channels, if any, as may be specified in the order, of charges for enabling the council to meet their expenses in the exercise of their functions and their administrative expenses, to be made on persons carrying on business in the industry, or on persons carrying on any business consisting wholly or partly in the production of, or dealing in, any of the materials of the industry.
(2) An order providing for such charges shall contain provision for limiting the amount of the charges that may be imposed, either by providing for their being computed so as not to yield more...
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