Agricultural Marketing Act 1958

44 Regulation of sales of home-produced agricultural products

(1) Where—

(a) the importation of an agricultural product into the United Kingdom is regulated by an order in force under the last foregoing section, or

(b) the Board of Trade certify that arrangements have been made, to the satisfaction of the Board, for controlling the importation of an agricultural product into the United Kingdom,

then, if it appears to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State concerned with agriculture in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively that an order under this section will conduce to the efficient reorganisation or organised development of any branch of the agricultural industry in the United Kingdom, or is necessary in order to secure the economic stability of any branch of that industry, the Ministers may, subject to the following provisions of this section, make, in respect of the said agricultural product or any related product, an order regulating sales of the product which is the subject of the order by persons producing it in the United Kingdom or by boards administering agricultural marketing schemes, by determining for any such period as may be specified in the order—

(i) the descriptions of the product which may be sold;

(ii) the quantity of the product, or of any description thereof, which may be sold.

In this subsection " related product" means, in relation to an agricultural product, any agricultural product from which the first-mentioned agricultural product is wholly or partly manufactured or derived, or any agricultural product wholly or partly manufactured or derived therefrom.

(2) Nothing in an order under this section shall apply to any product in so far as it is produced outside the United Kingdom.

(3) An order made under this section may contain such provisions as appear to the said Minister and Secretaries of State to be necessary for securing the due operation and enforcement of the scheme of regulation contained in the order, and, subject to any directions which may be contained in the order, it shall be the duty of boards administering agricultural marketing schemes to exercise their powers in such manner as appears to them to be necessary for securing that the order is not contravened.

(4) Before making an order under this section, the said Minister and Secretaries of State shall consult the Board of Trade, and, if the order is in respect of a product the marketing of which is regulated by agricultural marketing schemes, shall also consult the boards administering those schemes.

(5) Any expenses incurred under this section by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or a Secretary of State for the purpose of regulating sales of an agricultural product shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament, but such of the said expenses as the Joint Exchequer Board may determine to be properly payable by the Government of Northern Ireland shall be made good by means of deductions from the Northern Ireland residuary share of reserved taxes.

(6) In this section " agricultural marketing scheme " has the same meaning as in the last foregoing section.