Agriculture Act 1970

Section 2.

SCHEDULE 1 Provisions as to Eggs Authority

1 The Authority shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal.

2 (1) It shall be within the capacity of the Authority as a statutory corporation to do such things and to enter into such transactions as are incidental or conducive to the performance of any of their functions.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing sub-paragraph, where in the performance of any of their functions the Authority render any services to any person they may make such charges in respect of those services as may be agreed between the Authority and that person.

3 For the purposes of the [1956 c. 68.] Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956, the definition of " trade association " in section 6(8) of that Act shall be construed as not including the Authority.

4 The validity of any proceedings of the Authority shall not be affected by any vacancy among the members of the Authority or by any defect in the appointment of any of the members of the Authority.

5 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a member of the Authority and the chairman and deputy chairman thereof shall hold and vacate office as such in accordance with the terms of his appointment.

(2) If the chairman or deputy chairman ceases to be a member of the Authority, he shall also cease to be chairman or deputy chairman.

(3) A member of the Authority may at any time, by notice in writing addressed to the secretary of the Authority, resign his membership, and the chairman or deputy chairman may by the like notice resign his office as such.

6 (1) A member of the Authority shall, if he is in any way directly or indirectly interested in a contract made or proposed to be made by the Authority, disclose the nature of his interest at a meeting of the Authority as soon as possible after the relevant circumstances have come to his knowledge.

(2) Any disclosure made by a member under the foregoing sub-paragraph shall be recorded in the minutes of the Authority, and that member shall not take part after the disclosure in any deliberation or decision of the Authority with respect to that contract, but may, nevertheless, be taken into account for the purpose of constituting a quorum of the Authority.

7 In the case of an equality of votes at any meeting of the Authority, the person who is chairman at that meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

8 Subject to paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Schedule, the authority may determine their own quorum and procedure and the quorum and procedure of any committee of the Authority.

9 (1) The Authority may appoint a secretary and such other officers and such servants as the Authority may determine.

(2) The Authority shall—

(a) pay to their officers and servants such remuneration and such travelling or other allowances as they may, with the approval of the Ministers and the Minister for the Civil Service, determine, and

(b) as to any officers or servants in whose case the Authority may determine to do so, pay to or in respect of them such pensions or gratuities, or provide and maintain for them such pension schemes (whether contributory or not), as the Authority may with the like approval determine.

10 (1) The Authority may appoint such advisory committees as they think fit, to consider such matters with which the Authority are concerned as the Authority may determine and to report on those matters to the Authority ; and any such committee may include persons who are not members of the Authority.

(2) The Authority may pay to members of any such committee who are not members of the Authority such allowances as the Ministers may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

11 The application of the seal of the Authority shall be authenticated by the signature of the secretary of the Authority or some other person authorised by the Authority, either generally or specially, to act for that purpose.

12 In Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1957 c. 20.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 (bodies of which all members are disqualified under that Act), there shall (at the appropriate point in alphabetical order) be inserted the following entry :—

• “The Eggs Authority”;

and the like amendment shall be made in the Part substituted for the said Part II by Schedule 3 to that Act in its application to the Senate and House of Commons of Northern Ireland.