Agriculture Act 1986
| Year | 1986 |
Agriculture Act 1986
1986 CHAPTER 49
An Act to make further provision relating to agriculture and agricultural and other food products, horticulture and the countryside; and for connected matters.
[25th July 1986]
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
Provision of agricultural services and goods
1 Provision of services and goods connected with agriculture and countryside.
(1) The Minister may make provision for the supply to any person of any services or goods relating to—
(a ) the production and marketing of agricultural produce and other food;
(b ) the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty and amenity of the countryside; or
(c ) any other agricultural activity or other enterprise of benefit to the rural economy.
(2) The provision which may be made under this section includes, in particular, provision for—
(a ) the giving of information, advice, instruction and training;
(b ) the undertaking of research and development;
(c ) the examination or testing of any substance;
(d ) the supply of veterinary services and of goods required for veterinary purposes;
(e ) the performance of any service required in connection with the drainage of agricultural land.
(3) The provision which may be made under this section includes provision for the supply of such services and goods as are mentioned in subsection (1) above through any organisation; and the Minister shall establish an organisation through which such a supply may be made.
(4) Any services or goods provided by virtue of this section may be provided free of charge or for such reasonable charge as the Ministers may determine.
(5) For the purposes of this section the conservation of the natural beauty of the countryside includes the conservation of flora and fauna and geological and physiographical features.
(6) In this section—
‘agriculture’ has the same meaning as in the Agriculture Act 1947 ;
‘food’ has the same meaning as in the Food Act 1984 ; and
‘the Minister’ means—
(a ) in relation to services or goods provided in England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and
(b ) in relation to services or goods provided in Wales, the Secretary of State,
and ‘the Ministers’ means those Ministers acting jointly.
Fees and charges to meet costs of statutory functions connected with agriculture
2 Fees under seeds regulations.
2. In section 16 of the Plant Varieties and Seeds Act 1964(seeds regulations) after subsection (5) there shall be inserted—
(5A) In determining any fees to be charged under seeds regulations the Minister may have regard to the costs incurred by him in connection with the enforcement of the regulations.’.
3 Fees and charges under Plant Health Act 1967.
3. After section 4 of the Plant Health Act 1967there shall be inserted the following section—
4A ‘Charges in connection with import and export licences and certificates.
4A. Without prejudice to section 4(1) above, an order under this Act may impose such reasonable fees or other charges as the competent authority may, with the consent of the Treasury, prescribe—
Agricultural marketing
S-4 Constitution and functions of Home-Grown Cereals Authority. 4 Constitution and functions of Home-Grown Cereals Authority.
(1) The Cereals Marketing Act 1965 shall have effect subject to the following amendments (which relate to the constitution and functions of the Home-Grown Cereals Authority).
(2) In subsection (1) of section 1 of that Act (establishment of the Authority for the purpose of improving the marketing of home-grown cereals) for the word ‘marketing’ there shall be substituted the words ‘production and marketing’.
(3) For subsections (2) to (4) of that section (membership of the Authority) there shall be substituted—
(2) The Authority shall consist of not less than twelve and not more than twenty-one members appointed by the Ministers.
(3) Of those members—
(a ) not less than two and not more than three shall be appointed as being independent; and
(b ) an equal number (being not less than five and not more than nine) shall be appointed as being respectively—
(i) persons capable of representing the interests of growers of home-grown cereals, and
(ii) persons capable of representing the interests of persons who are either dealers in or processors of home-grown cereals.
(4) Of the members appointed under paragraph (b ) of subsection (3) of this section as being persons capable of representing the interests of growers of home-grown cereals—
(a ) such number as appears to the Ministers to be adequate shall be appointed as being also capable of representing the interests of farmers who use home-grown cereals for feeding livestock kept by them; and
(b ) at least one shall be appointed as being capable of representing, in particular, the interests of growers of home-grown cereals in Scotland, one the interests of such growers in Wales and one the interests of such growers in Northern Ireland.
(4A) The Ministers shall appoint one of the members appointed under paragraph (a ) of subsection (3) of this section to be chairman and another to be deputy chairman of the Authority.’.
(4) Sections 2 to 5 (bonus payments in respect of forward contracts and deliveries of cereals) and Part II (trading functions of Home-Grown Cereals Authority) of that Act shall cease to have effect.
(5) In section 6 of that Act (non-trading functions of Home-Grown Cereals Authority) in subsection (5)—
(a ) after the words ‘work in’ there shall be inserted the words ‘connection with any matter relating to—
aa ) the breeding and cultivation of cereals,’(b ) for the words ‘the marketing of cereals’ there shall be substituted the words ‘the production or marketing of cereals’; and
(c ) for paragraph (b ) there shall be substituted—
‘(b ) the invention of new uses of, or processes which might be applied to, home-grown cereals or straw or the development or assessment of such uses or processes or existing uses or processes,’.
(6) In paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 to that Act (appointment by the Home-Grown Cereals Authority of advisory committees)—
(a ) at the beginning of sub-paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the words ‘Subject to sub-paragraph (1A) below,’; and
(b ) after that sub-paragraph there shall be inserted—
(1A) The Authority shall appoint a committee to determine programmes for and report on research and development in connection with home-grown cereals and shall, if the Ministers so direct, appoint a committee to determine programmes for and report on the encouragement of the marketing of such cereals.
(1B) Different committees may be appointed under this paragraph in respect of different kinds of cereals.’
S-5 Levies under Cereals Marketing Act 1965. 5 Levies under Cereals Marketing Act 1965.
(1) Section 14 (alternative methods of raising levy) and section 15 (levy recovered wholly or mainly by deduction) of the Cereals Marketing Act 1965 shall cease to have effect.
(2) For subsection (1) of section 16 of that Act (preparation and submission of schemes for imposing levies) there shall be substituted—
(1) The Authority may at any time prepare and submit to the Ministers a scheme for imposing a levy on persons specified in the scheme who are growers or processors of, or dealers in, home-grown cereals of a kind so specified or who in the course of their business act as intermediaries in the selling and buying of such cereals.
(1A) Before submitting a scheme under subsection (1) above, the Authority shall in such manner as they consider appropriate consult such persons or organisations as appear to them to represent the interests concerned.’.
(3) In subsection (2) of that section (by virtue of which such schemes may provide for the registration of such growers, dealers and processors and require them to furnish information and keep records) for the words ‘any persons who are growers of, or dealers in, home-grown cereals or who process home-grown cereals’ there shall be substituted the words ‘any such persons as are mentioned in subsection (1) above’.
(4) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
(2A) A scheme under this section—
(a ) may authorise such of the persons on whom the levy is imposed as may be specified in the scheme to recover all or part of the levy payable by them from such other persons (being persons mentioned in subsection (1) above) as may be so specified and may provide for direct collection from those other persons; and
(b ) may authorise the deduction from the levy payable by persons with such a right of recovery, or the repayment to them, of—
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