5(1)Before appointing a person to be a member of an advisory committee, the Agency—E+W+S
(a)shall consult such of the associates for that advisory committee as it considers appropriate in the particular case; and
(b)may, if it considers it appropriate to do so, also consult bodies or persons who are not associates for that advisory committee.
(2)In this paragraph, “associates”, in the case of any advisory committee, means those bodies and persons specified or described in the approved membership scheme for that advisory committee pursuant to paragraph 2(2)(c) above.