Agriculture Act 1970

68 Duty of seller to give statutory statement

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person who sells material of a prescribed description for use as a fertiliser or feeding stuff shall give to the purchaser a statement in writing (in this Part of this Act referred to as a statutory statement) in such form, if any, as may be prescribed containing—

(a) such particulars as may be prescribed of the nature, substance or quality of the material; and

(b) such information or instructions as to the storage, handling or use of the material as may be prescribed.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply—

(a) to sales of two or more materials which are mixed at the request of the purchaser before delivery to him; or

(b) to sales of small quantities (that is to say, sales in quantities of not more than fifty-six pounds or the prescribed metric substitution) if the material sold is taken in the presence of the purchaser from a parcel bearing a conspicuous label on which are marked in the prescribed manner the matters which would, apart from this subsection, be required to be contained in a statutory statement on the sale of the material.

(3) Any statutory statement required to be given on the sale of any material shall be given not later than the time when the material is delivered to the purchaser and, if given before that time, shall be deemed to have been given at that time; but regulations may permit the statutory statement to be given later in such cases and subject to compliance with such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the regulations.

(4) Any person who—

(a) fails to give a statutory statement within the time or in the form required by or under this section, or gives a statutory statement which does not contain all or any of the information or instructions required to be contained in it by virtue of subsection (1)(b) of this section; or

(b) gives a statutory statement which, as respects a sampled portion of the material—

(i) does not contain all or any of the particulars required to be contained in the statement by virtue of subsection (1)(a) of this section; or

(ii) contains any such particulars which are false to the prejudice of a purchaser; or

(c) sells or exposes for sale material from a parcel purporting to be labelled as mentioned in subsection (2)(b) of this section in a case where the label does not contain all or any of the said particulars or contains any such particulars which are false as aforesaid,

shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400 or, on a second or subsequent conviction under this subsection, to a fine not exceeding £400 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both.

(5) In proceedings for an offence under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of this section the fact that any particulars ought to have been included or are false shall be proved by evidence of the result of an analysis of the sample taken from the portion in question ; and in proceedings for an offence under paragraph (c) of that subsection the fact that any particulars ought to have been included or are false shall be proved by evidence of the result of an analysis of a sample taken by an inspector in the prescribed manner from the material sold or, where the alleged offence is exposing for sale, from the parcel bearing the label.

(6) Failure to comply with this section shall not invalidate a contract of sale ; and a statutory statement shall, notwithstanding any contract or notice to the contrary, have effect as a warranty by the person who gives it that the particulars contained in it are correct; but in Scotland a contract of sale may not be treated as repudiated by reason only of a breach of that warranty.