No. 39/1956:

DAIRY PRODUCE (PRICE STABILISATION) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1956

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Principal Act and Act of 1941.

2 Construction.

3 Levies on imported butter held by registered proprietors of creameries.

4 Restriction on sale of butter in specified area, etc.

5 Restriction on purposes for which butter may be sold, bought or used.

6 Restriction on sale of empty butter boxes.

7 Amendment of section 38 of Principal Act.

8 Amendment of section 41 (6) of Principal Act.

9 Amendment of section 9 (2) of Act of 1941.

10 Offences.

11 Short title, commencement and collective citation.

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE DAIRY PRODUCE (PRICE STABILISATION) ACTS, 1935 TO 1941 TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF LEVIES ON CERTAIN BUTTER AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE CHARGING OF FEES ON CERTAIN PERMITS.

[27th November, 1956.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act "the Principal Act" means the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Act, 1935 (No. 21 of 1935) and "the Act of 1941" means the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) (Amendment) Act, 1941 (No. 9 of 1941.).

2.—This Act shall be read and construed as one with the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Acts, 1935 to 1941, and every word and expression to which a particular meaning or interpretation is given by The Principal Act shall, if occurring in this Act, have herein the meaning or interpretation given to it by The Principal Act.

3.—(1) The Minister may, so often as he thinks fit, by order declare—

( a ) that a specified date (in this subsection referred to as the appointed date) shall be the appointed date for the purposes of the order, and

( b ) that there shall be paid to the Minister by every registered proprietor of a creamery a levy, at the rate specified in the order, on all imported butter held by or on behalf of such proprietor on the appointed date.

(2) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall have the force of law.

(3) Every levy under this section shall become due and payable on the seventh day after the date declared by the order imposing the levy to be the appointed date for the purposes of the order.

(4) Sections 21 and 23 of The Principal Act shall apply in respect of any levy under this section with and subject to the following modifications, that is to say:

( a ) references in those sections to Part III of The Principal Act shall be construed as references to this section,

( b ) references to a levy month shall be construed as references to the date which is declared by the order imposing the levy to be the appointed date for the purposes of the order.

(5) All moneys from time to time received by the Minister on foot of any levy under this section shall be paid into the dairy produce (price stabilisation) fund.

4.—(1) The Minister may by regulations, made in respect of a specified area, provide that a person (other than an authorised body) shall not—

( a ) sell in that area any butter to which this section applies,

( b ) acquire any such butter for the purpose of selling it in that area,

( c ) supply any such butter for the purpose of its being sold in that area, or

( d ) supply any such butter to the proprietor of a catering establishment situate in that area or the head of an institution so situate,

unless the butter was supplied to him by an authorised body or by a person who obtained it from an authorised body.

(2) In this section—

"butter to which this section applies" means any butter which is—

( a ) creamery butter, or

( b ) import butter;

"authorised body" means a central marketing organisation operating under rules approved by the Minister under the Principal Act;

"catering establishment" means a restaurant, hotel, boarding house, guest house, lodging house, café, tea-room, canteen or club;

"institution" means a hospital, sanatorium, convalescent home, nursing home, school, college, convent, monastery, or any similar institution.

5.—(1) The Minister may by regulations provide that a person shall not buy, sell or use butter to which this section applies for any purpose other than ordinary household use or a use authorised by a permit granted by the Minister.

(2) Regulations under this section may provide for the grant of permits for the purposes of the regulations and for the attachment of conditions to such permits.

(3) There shall be charged, levied and paid on the grant of a permit under regulations under this section such (if any) fee as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time direct.

(4) All fees charged and levied by virtue of this section 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.

(5) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees charged and levied by virtue of this section.

(6) In this section "butter to which this section applies" means butter which is—

( a ) creamery butter.

( b ) butter which is a blend of creamery butter and butter not manufactured in a creamery, or

( c ) imported butter.

6.—(1) The Minister may by regulations provide that empty butter boxes of a specified description shall not be sold save to specified persons and at specified prices.

(2) In this section "butter boxes" means a box in which creamery butter has been sold.

7.—section 38 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(i) the substitution of "any person" for "the manufacturer thereof" in subsection (1),

(ii) the substitution of "person" for "manufacturer of butter" in subsection (3), and

(iii) the addition thereto of the following subsection:

"(5) An order under this section may, as respects any class of butter to which it relates, either fix one maximum price or fix two or more maximum prices varying in accordance with all or any of the following:

( a ) the quantity of butter sold,

( b ) the class of purchaser of the butter, and

( c ) the method of packing the butter."

8.—Subsection (6) of section 41 of the Principal Act, as amended by subsection (1) of section 7 of the Act of 1941, is hereby further amended by the insertion therein after "or any milk product" of "or such allowances on butter or any milk product".

9.—Subsection (2) of section 9 of the Act of 1941 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

"( c ) the total amount of the sums standing at any particular time guaranteed under the immediately preceding paragraph shall not exceed four million pounds,".

10.—(1) A person who contravenes (whether by act or omission)—

( a ) a provision of regulations under this Act, or

( b ) a condition attached to a permit under regulations under this Act,

shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(2) An offence under this section may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister as prosecutor.

11.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) (Amendment) Act, 1956 .

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.

(3) The Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Acts, 1935 to 1941, and this Act may be cited together as the Dairy Produce (Price Stabilisation) Acts, 1935 to 1956.