Agriculture Act 1967

PART II The Commission

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

2 (1) It shall be within the capacity of the Commission 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 sub-paragraph (1) above—

(a) where in the performance of any of their functions the Commission render any services to any person, they may make such charges in respect of those services as may be agreed between the Commission and that person, and

(b) the Commission may borrow money and pledge, mortgage or charge any of their property (including the proceeds of the charges imposed under a levy scheme).

(3) The Commission may, with the consent of the Ministers, delegate any functions conferred on them by Part I of this Act, or a scheme or order under Part I of this Act, but, in the case of a development scheme, only so far as the development scheme so provides.

3 The validity of any proceedings of the Commission shall not be affected by any vacancy among the members of the Commission or by any defect in the appointment or any disqualification of any of the members of the Commission.

4 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a member of the Commission and the chairman and deputy chairman shall hold and vacate office as such in accordance with the terms of his appointment, and previous tenure of any such office shall not affect eligibility for re-appointment.

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

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

5 (1) A member of the Commission shall, if he is in any way directly or indirectly interested in a contract made or proposed to be made by the Commission, disclose the nature of his interest at a meeting of the Commission 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 Commission, and that member shall not take part after the disclosure in any deliberation or decision of the Commission with respect to that contract, but may, nevertheless, be taken into account for the purpose of constituting a quorum of the Commission.

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

7 (1) Subject to paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Part of this Schedule, the Commission may determine their own quorum and procedure and the quorum and procedure of any committee of the Commission.

(2) Subject to Part III of this Schedule, this paragraph applies in relation to the Production Committee, the Distribution Committee and the Consumers Committee as it applies in relation to any committee set up by the Commission.

8 (1) The Commission may appoint such officers and servants as the Commission may determine

(2) The Commission shall—

(a) pay to their officers and servants such remuneration and such travelling or other allowances as they may determine, and

(b) as to any officers or servants in whose case the Commission may determine to do so, pay to or in respect of them such pensions, or provide and maintain for them such pension schemes, as the Commission may with the approval of the Ministers determine.

9 (1) It shall be the duty of the Commission, except in so far as the Commission are satisfied that adequate machinery exists for achieving the purposes of this paragraph, to seek consultation with any organisation appearing to the Commission to be appropriate with a view to the conclusion between the Commission and that organisation of such agreements as appear to the parties to be desirable with respect to the establishment and maintenance of machinery for—

(a) the settlement by negotiation of terms and conditions of employment of persons employed by the Commission, with provision for reference to arbitration in default of such settlement in such cases as may be determined by or under the agreements, and

(b) the promotion and encouragement of measures affecting the safety, health and welfare of persons employed by the Commission and the discussion of other matters of mutual interest to the Commission and such persons, including efficiency in the discharge of the Commission's functions.

(2) The Commission shall send to the Ministers and to the Minister of Labour a copy of any agreement concluded in pursuance of this paragraph, and of any instrument varying the terms of any such agreement.

10 The application of the seal of the Commission shall be authenticated by the signatures of two members of the Commission and of the chief officer of the Commission or some other person authorised by the Commission to do so in his place.