S.I. No. 24/1973:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY) (MARKET INTERVENTION) REGULATIONS, 1973.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY) (MARKET INTERVENTION) REGULATIONS, 1973.

I, JAMES GIBBONS, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in exercise of the powers conferred on my by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Common Agricultural Policy) (Market Intervention) Regulations, 1973, and shall come into operation on the 1st day of February, 1973.

2. In these Regulations--

"agricultural products" means the products listed in Annex II to the EEC Treaty and any other product of agricultural origin;

"authorised officer" means a person appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations;

"the Community" means the European Economic Community;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries;

"process" includes denature and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

3. Where arrangements made by the Community for the purposes of its common agricultural policy require the buying, selling, storing, importation, exportation, grading, processing, disposal or withdrawal from the market of agricultural products, by a person in the State, the Minister may, upon and subject in each case to such terms and conditions as he considers appropriate, carry out those operations and such other operations as he considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of those arrangements or may cause them to be carried out on his behalf upon and subject in each case to such terms and conditions as he considers appropriate.

4. (1) Where arrangements made by the Community for the purposes of its common agricultural policy require the storing, grading, processing, disposal or withdrawal from the market of any agricultural products or the payment of subsidies in relation to any such products, by a person in the State, the Minister may--

( a ) support or assist, directly or indirectly, the storing, processing, grading, disposal or withdrawal from the market by any person of those products, or

( b ) pay subsidies in relation to those products, upon and subject in each case to such terms and conditions as he considers appropriate.

(2) The powers conferred on the Minister by this Regulation include power--

( a ) to pay premiums for the denaturing of agricultural products,

( b ) to pay subsidies in relation to the production of starch,

( c ) to make payments to producers' organisations in respect of portion of any losses incurred by them as result of the withdrawal of agricultural products from the market in pursuance of the arrangements aforesaid.

5. (1) The Minister may establish a committee to advise him, whenever requested by the Minister to do so, in relation to the matters referred to in Regulations 3 and 4 or such of them or such matters connected with them as he may specify, and the committee shall comply with the request.

(2) A committee established under this Regulation shall consist of such number of members appointed by the Minister as he thinks proper and the members shall include persons who in the opinion of the Minister have or are representative of persons who have special knowledge of matters with which the committee is concerned.

(3) The appointment of a person to act as a member of a committee established under this Regulation shall be subject to such conditions (including conditions in relation to the term and tenure of office of the member) as the Minister may think proper to impose when making the appointment.

(4) A member of a committee established under this Regulation may be removed from office at any time by the Minister.

(5) The Minister may at any time dissolve a committee established under this Regulation.

(6) A committee established under this Regulation shall regulate its own procedure.

6. (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many of his officers or officers of another Minister of State as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer and when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by these Regulations shall, if requested by any person affected, producethe warrant to that person.

7. (1) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times enter and inspect any premises, railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel or aircraft in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that there is stored or there has been, is being or is about to be processed any agricultural product in respect of which any subsidy, premium or other financial assistance has been paid by or claimed from, or is intended to be claimed from the Minister in pursuance of arrangements made by the Community for the purposes of its common agricultural policy and--

( a ) test and (where appropriate) take reasonable samples of any such agricultural product which he finds in the course of his inspection, or supervise the taking of any such sample by another person, and

( b ) supervise any processing which he finds in the course of his inspection of any such agricultural product.

(2) A person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

8. If any person fraudulently--

( a ) tampers with any agricultural product so as to procure that any sample of it taken under these Regulations does not correctly represent the product, or

( b ) tampers or interferes with any sample taken under these Regulations,

he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

9. (1) Persons from whom the Minister buys or to whom the Minister sells agricultural products in pursuance of powers conferred by these Regulations or to whom support or assistance is given or subsidies are paid by the Minister under Regulation 4 shall keep such records as the Minister may specify in relation to the purchase or sale or the transaction in relation to which the support, assistance or subsidy is given and the Minister may specify the form in which such records are to be kept, and if he does so, the records shall be kept in the form so specified.

(2) An authorised officer may--

( a ) at all reasonable times enter any premises in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that any books, documents or records in relation to purchases, sales or transactions of the kind aforesaid are kept,

( b ) require any person found on the premises to produce to him any books, documents or records which are in the person's control, possession or proceurement and which the officer has reasonable grounds for believing to be records, books or documents of the kind aforesaid and to give him such information as he may reasonably require in regard to any entries in any such records, books or documents, and

( c ) inspect and copy or take extracts from any such records, books or documents.

(3) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) or fails to comply with a requirement under paragraph (2) or obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

10. Where a person, fraudulently or negligently, for the purpose of or in connection with a sale to or a purchase from the Minister under Regulation 3 or a claim for support or assistance from, or payment of a subsidy or premium or the making of a payment by the Minister under Regulation 4, produces, furnishes, gives, sends or otherwise makes use of, any incorrect document, book, record, return, account, estimate, statement or information he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £200 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

11. The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, borrow money (including money in a currency other than the currency of the State) upon such terms and conditions as may be approved of by the Minister for Finance for any purpose relating to or connected with the exercise, discharge or performance by the Minister of his powers, functions and duties under these Regulations.

12. (1) There shall be paid to the Minister fees of such amount by such persons in respect of such matters relating to or connected with the exercise, discharge or performance by the Minister of his powers, functions and duties under these Regulations as he may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, from time to time direct.

(2) All fees payable under these Regulations shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of that Minister.

(3) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879 (1879, c. 58), shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under these Regulations.

13. Any account kept by or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of any transactions of the Minister under these Regulations shall be audited annually by the Comptroller and Auditor General and may be audited, if and whenever it should consider it appropriate to do so, by the Commission of the European Communities.

14. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 29th day of January, 1973.

JAMES GIBBONS,

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Regulations provide that the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries shall establish for EEC purposes an intervention system in order to carry out market intervention as may be required for a number of agricultural products under Community regulations.