Title, commencement and extent

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Deregulation (Corn Returns Act 1882) Order 1996 and shall come into force on 1st July 1996.

(2) This Order extends to Great Britain.

Amendment of Corn Returns Act 1882 and repeal of spent provision

2.-(1) For section 5 of the Corn Returns Act 1882 (weekly returns of purchases of British corn) there shall be substituted the following section-

(1) Every relevant person carrying on in an area for the time being prescribed under section 4 of this Act a business consisting of or including the buying of British corn by wholesale from the growers shall weekly at such times as may be prescribed and in an appropriate manner make to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State jointly or, in Scotland, to the Secretary of State a return-

(a)specifying with respect to such period of seven days as may be prescribed the aggregate amount of each sort of British corn, if any, bought by that person from the growers and the aggregate purchase price thereof, and

(b)giving such additional particulars of the purchases comprised in the return as may be prescribed.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above, "appropriate manner", in relation to the making of a return, means a manner which is-

(a)prescribed, or

(b)agreed between the person required to make the return and the person to whom it is to be made.

(3) Regulations for the purpose of subsection (2)(a) of this section-

(a)shall provide for there to be at least two ways of making a return, one of which shall be for the return to be made in writing and signed by its maker, and

(b)may make such other provision about the manner of making a return as the person making the regulations considers expedient.

(4) In this section-

"harvest year" means the period which begins on 1st July and ends on the following 30th June; and

"relevant person" means a person who has taken delivery of at least one thousand tonnes of British corn in the previous harvest year".

(2) Section 108(3)(b) of the Agriculture Act 1970(3) (which is spent in consequence of paragraph (1) above) is hereby repealed.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which extends to Great Britain, amends the Corn Returns Act 1882 by substituting a new section for section 5. The new section continues to require weekly returns of British corn to be made, but the requirements of the previous section are modified in the following respects. First, the new section limits the number of purchasers of corn required to make returns to those who have taken delivery of one thousand tonnes or more of British corn in the previous harvest year; secondly, it replaces the requirement that all returns must be in writing and signed by provision for regulations under the Act to include at least two ways of making a return, one of which is to comprise that requirement; and thirdly, it extends the manner of making a return so as to provide for it to be agreed with the recipient of the return. This Order also repeals section 108(3)(b) of the Agriculture Act 1970, which is spent in consequence of the substitution indicated above.