The Agricultural Marketing (Northern Ireland) Order 1982

Imposition of penalties, etc. N.I.

Disciplinary provisions of schemes N.I.

11 .F1 —(1) Every scheme shall be so framed as to secure that there is a committee of the board, to be known as the disciplinary committee, constituted, at each sitting thereof, of not less than four nor more than six members of the board and a chairman who is not a member of the board but is an independent person who is a barrister of not less than seven years' standing or a solicitor of not less than seven years' standing and is approved by the Department.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Article, every scheme shall require the disciplinary committee to impose on, and the board to recover from, any registered producer who contravenes any provision of the scheme made in pursuance of Article 8(2), 9(1)(h) or 10(2) such monetary penalties as may be specified by the scheme.

(3) No such penalty shall be imposed in respect of a contravention of the scheme which constitutes an offence under this Part or any other statutory provision.

(4) Every scheme shall be so framed as to secure—

(a) that no such penalty is imposed on a registered producer except after a hearing by the disciplinary committee and by the decision thereof, taken in accordance with the opinion of all or the majority of the members thereof;

(b) that notice of the time and place of every such hearing and a written statement of the charge against the producer in question is served personally or by registered post or the recorded delivery service on that producer at least fourteen days before the hearing;

(c) that no penalty is imposed for any such contravention which occurred more than six years, or such less time as is specified in the scheme, before the service of the said written statement of the charge;

(d) that, where such a written statement of a charge against a producer has been sent to or served on him as aforesaid and the charge is withdrawn or is not substantiated before the said committee, the board has the power, and, to such extent as the said committee may decide, the duty, to make payments to the producer in respect of his costs in connection with the charge; and

(e) that, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the scheme, the said committee has the power and the duty to reconsider and, if need be, vary its decisions and that effect is given to any such variation.

(5) For the purposes of Article 10(1)(b) and of any provision of a scheme made in pursuance of that sub-paragraph acts or omissions of the disciplinary committee shall be deemed to be acts or omissions of the board.

(6) Every hearing by the disciplinary committee of a board shall be held in public unless the committee for special reasons direct that the whole or part thereof shall not be so held.

(7) The chairman of the disciplinary committee of a board may direct that any evidence given at a hearing by the committee shall be given on oath and may for that purpose administer oaths.

(8) If, at any sitting of the disciplinary committee of a board, there is an equal division of opinion on any question, the opinion of the chairman shall prevail, and the reference in paragraph (4)(a) to the opinion of the majority of the members of such committee shall be construed accordingly.

F1 mod. by 1984 NI 12, SR 1995/103

Losses sustained by boards to be recoverable in the same way as penalties N.I.

12 .F2 —(1) Where a contravention of a provision of a scheme (being a contravention for which the disciplinary committee has the duty to impose, and the board the duty to recover, a penalty) causes loss to the board, the disciplinary committee may, if the written statement of the charge served on the producer in accordance with the provisions of Article 11(4) embodies an estimate by the board of the amount of the loss, together with a statement of the grounds on which that estimate is based, require by its decision that the producer shall pay to the board, in addition to any penalty imposed, each sum, to be stated in the decision, as the committee may think fit, not exceeding either—

(a) the sum which appears to the committee justly to represent the amount of the loss; or

(b) the amount stated in the said estimate.

(2) Where the written statement of the charge served on a producer in accordance with the provisions Article 11(4) embodies such an estimate of the loss caused to the board as is referred to in paragraph (1), no loss caused to the board by the contravention to which the charge relates shall be recoverable from the producer otherwise than in the manner for which provision is made by paragraph (1), and, whether or not the written statement of the charge embodies such an estimate as aforesaid, the penalty itself shall not be fixed with a view to recovering the whole or any part of any loss caused to the board by the contravention.

(3) Where such a contravention as aforesaid is concerned with the giving of information or returns to the board and as a result of the contravention the board fails to assess on or demand from the producer a contribution or other payment, or the full amount of a contribution or other payment, which it is entitled to receive from him, the contribution or payment, or the amount not assessed or demanded, as the case may be, shall, if the board so elects by including an estimate of the amount thereof in the written statement of the charge served on the producer in accordance with the provisions of Article 11(4), be treated for the purposes of this Article as lost to the board by reason of the contravention.

F2 mod. by 1984 NI 12, SR 1995/103

Power to postpone imposition of penalty N.I.

13 .F3   So much of any scheme as, in pursuance of Article 11(2), requires the disciplinary committee to impose penalties on a registered producer and the board to recover penalties from such a producer shall not be construed as preventing the disciplinary committee, if it finds that a contravention has occurred, from postponing the imposition of a penalty for such period, not exceeding twelve months, as may be specified in the scheme, but save as aforesaid nothing in this Article, Article 11(4) to (8) or Article 12 shall be construed as derogating from the duty to impose and recover penalties which is required by the said Article 11(2) to be provided for by every scheme.

F3 mod. by 1984 NI 12, SR 1995/103

Enforcement of decisions of disciplinary committee and power to state cases N.I.

14 .F4    [F5 Section 45 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (which relate to the determination by the court of questions of law) and section 66 of that Act (enforcement of awards) apply] in relation to the hearing and determination of the matters which by virtue of any of the provisions of this Part are referred to the disciplinary committee of a board, and in relation to the enforcement of the decisions of that committee, as if the proceedings were an arbitration under[F5 arbitral proceedings] agreement to which the board and the producer were parties and as if the disciplinary committee were the arbitrator or umpire appointed by the agreement.

F4 mod. by 1984 NI 12, SR 1995/103

F5 1996 c. 23