Part 3 - Matters Relating to Agriculture and Agricultural Products
Chapter 1 - Collection and sharing of data
160.This Chapter confers power on the Welsh Ministers to require the provision of information.
Section 25 - Agri-food supply chains: requirement to provide information
161.Section 25 confers power on the Welsh Ministers to require certain persons to provide information about certain matters. The persons are those in, or closely connected with, an “agri-food supply chain”, and the information is about matters connected with any of the person’s activities connected with that supply chain, so far as those activities take place in Wales. “Agri-food supply chain” is defined in section 26.
162.Subsection (2) confers power on the Welsh Ministers to make regulations requiring persons of the same type to provide information of the same type.
163.Subsection (4) provides that a requirement under subsection (1) or subsection (2) may not be imposed on an individual in a supply chain if they are in the supply chain because they, or a member of their household, are the ultimate consumer of the end-product of the supply chain. The intention is to ensure that ordinary consumers cannot be subject to requirements of the type described.
164.Subsection (5) exempts from the requirements any information which is subject to legal privilege.
165.Subsection (6) provides that any requirement imposed under subsection (1) must be in writing.
Section 26 - Meaning of “agri-food supply chain”
166.Subsection (2) defines an “agri-food supply chain”.
167.Subsection (3) defines persons “in” an agri-food supply chain. Subsection (4) defines persons “closely connected” with an agri-food supply chain: these persons include suppliers of seeds, stock, equipment, feed, fertiliser, pesticides, medicines or similar items, as well as persons providing services related to animal health, plant health and food safety.
Section 27 - Relevant activity: requirement to provide information
168.Section 27 confers power on the Welsh Ministers to require a person who carries on a “
169.Subsection (2) confers power on the Welsh Ministers to make regulations requiring persons of the same type to provide information of the same type.
170.Subsection (4) provides that a requirement under subsection (1) or subsection (2) may not be imposed on a person in relation to a relevant activity so far as the activity is carried on otherwise than for profit or reward.
171.Subsection (5) exempts from the requirements any information which is subject to legal privilege.
172.Subsection (6) provides that any requirement imposed under subsection (1) must be in writing.
Section 28 - Meaning of “relevant activity”
173.Section 28 defines a “relevant activity”: the effect is that an activity listed in section 51(1) (which defines “
174.The result of these definitions, taken with section 27, is that a requirement to provide information can potentially be imposed under section 27 in respect of, for example, an activity related to ornamental horticulture, or an activity relating to the growing of crops for energy.
Section 29 - Requirement to specify purposes for which information may be processed
175.Subsection (1) obliges a requirement imposed under section 25 or 27 to specify the purposes for which the information required may be processed. The purposes must be in, or covered by, the list of purposes in subsection (4).
176.The purposes in subsection (4) are intended, among other things, to permit the processing of information in ways that help farmers and other producers to increase productivity, minimise waste and increase resilience to a range of risks.
177.The intention is, also, to permit the processing of information in ways that support animal and plant health through the collection and sharing of data on animal births, deaths and movements, disease signs and veterinary medicine use as well as plant imports and plant pests and diseases.
Section 30 - Duty to publish requirement under section 25(1) or 27(1) in draft
178.Subsection (1)(a)(i) requires the Welsh Ministers to publish a draft of a requirement under section 25(1) or section 27(1) before imposing it. Subsection (1) (a)(ii) and (iii) require the Welsh Ministers also to publish a description of the persons on whom it is proposed that the requirement be imposed, and the deadline for comments. The effect of subsection (1)(b) is that, having considered any comments received, the Welsh Ministers may decide to impose the requirement in either its published form or a revised form.
179.Subsection (2) states that, once final terms of the requirement have been decided, the Welsh Ministers may impose the requirement at any time on a person within the description published under subsection (1)(a)(ii).
Section 31 - Provision of required information and limitations on its processing
180.Section 31 stipulates that information provided in response to a requirement may be processed only for the purposes specified in the requirement.
181.Subsection (3) provides that this restriction on processing applies to the recipient of the information, and anyone to whom it is subsequently disclosed. (But, in the case of a person to whom the information is subsequently disclosed, the information cannot be processed in ways that are contrary to the terms of the disclosure, even where this type of processing would be permitted by the terms of the original requirement.)
182.Subsection (5) sets out matters that may be dealt within the requirement to provide information.
183.Subsection (6) obliges the requirement to specify the types of processing to which the information supplied may be subjected and the forms in which information supplied may be disclosed.
184.Subsection (7) sets out that information provided in response to a requirement may not be subjected to types of processing, or disclosed in any form, other than as specified in the requirement (unless the requirement specifies circumstances in which other forms of processing or disclosure may occur).
185.Subsection (8) specifies that, where there is a proposal for information provided under a requirement to be disclosed in a form specified in, or permitted by, the requirement, the requirement in subsection (9) applies.
186.Subsection (9)(a) provides that where the proposal is to disclose the information otherwise than in anonymised form, the person proposing the disclosure must consider whether disclosure in that form would, or might, prejudice the commercial interests of any person.
187.Subsection 9(b) provides that, if the person proposing the disclosure considers that the disclosure in that form (i.e. non-anonymised) would or might prejudice the commercial interests of any person, the disclosure must instead be in an anonymised form.
188.The effect of subsection (10) is that there is an exception to the requirement imposed by subsection (9)(b): if the Welsh Ministers consider it is in the public interest for the information to be disclosed in a non-anonymised form, the disclosure may take place in non-anonymised form, so long as the form of disclosure is permitted by the requirement under which the information was provided.
189.Subsection (11) defines what is meant by “
Section 32 - Enforcement of information requirements
190.Section 32 confers power on the Welsh Ministers to make regulations providing for enforcement of a requirement imposed under section 25 or 27. The regulations may make provision about (among other things) penalties for non-compliance, and appeals and conferring functions on a person.
191.The regulations might for instance specify the sanctions that will be applied (if someone fails to provide information or provides false information).
192.The effect of subsection (4) is that penalties provided for in the regulations can be fixed by reference to a person’s income, turnover or profits. The objective behind this is to permit fines to be set at an appropriate level for different persons.
Section 33 - Review of operation and effect of sections 25 to 32
193.Section 33 requires the Welsh Ministers to prepare a report every five years about the operation and effect of sections 25 to 32 during that five year period.
Chapter 2 - Marketing Standards: Agricultural products
194.Section 34 confers powers on the Welsh Ministers in respect of standards with which certain agricultural products must conform when marketed in Wales. The powers replace time limited powers conferred by paragraph 16 of Schedule 5 to the 2020 Act.
Section 34 - Marketing standards
195.Subsection (1) provides that the Welsh Ministers may, by regulations, make provision about standards with which certain agricultural products must conform when marketed in Wales. The products are those listed in Schedule 1.
196.Subsection (2) provides a non-exhaustive list of matters that the regulations may make provision about; for example, criteria such as appearance, type of farming or production method, and storage and transport.
197.Subsection (3) states that the regulations cannot make provision about the place of farming or origin in relation to live poultry, poultry meat or spreadable fats.
198.Subsection (4) provides that the regulations make may provision about enforcement and outlines some of the matters that may be covered. These include powers of entry, the creation of summary offences and the imposition of monetary penalties.
199.Subsection (5) states that regulations made under section 34 may not authorise entry to a private dwelling without a warrant issued by a justice of the peace. “Private dwelling” is defined in section 54.
200.Subsection (6) allows the Welsh Ministers to make regulations to amend the list of agricultural products at Schedule 1 (whether by adding a product to the list, removing a product, or altering the description of a product).
Chapter 3 .Classification etc of certain carcasses
201.Section 35 confers powers on the Welsh Ministers in respect of the classification, identification and presentation of certain carcasses by slaughterhouses in Wales. The powers replace time limited powers conferred by paragraph 18 of Schedule 5 to the 2020 Act.
Section 35 - Carcass classification
202.Subsection (1) confers powers on the Welsh Ministers to make provision by regulation about the classification, identification and presentation of bovine, pig and sheep carcasses by slaughterhouses in Wales.
203.Subsection (2) states that regulations made under subsection 1 may include provision about enforcement, and that this may include, for example, provision conferring powers of entry, creating summary offences and imposing monetary penalties.
204.Subsection (3) states that regulations made under section 35 may not authorise entry to a private dwelling, without a warrant issued by a justice of the peace. “Private dwelling” is defined at section 54.
205.Subsection (4) defines “
