Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
By this Order the Ministers approve a Scheme imposing a levy in respect of rapeseed, linseed, soyabean or sunflowerseed grown in the United Kingdom which are all home-grown cereals for the purposes of the Cereals Marketing Act 1965, by virtue of the Cereals Marketing Act (Application to Oilseeds) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/1200) (which, inter alia, extended the definition of “home-grown cereals” in section 24 of that Act to include specified oilseeds). The Scheme, which is for the purpose of financing the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, applies throughout the United Kingdom and comes into force on 1st July 1990.
The Scheme provides for a levy to be imposed on dealers who purchase oilseeds or on intermediaries who act on their behalf or on behalf of overseas purchasers or growers who sell to them or to the Intervention Board (paragraph 4(2) and (3)). The levy is recoverable by dealers (and by intermediaries where they act for dealers or overseas purchasers) from growers or their intermediaries (paragraph 4(4)). Where there is a sale by a grower to an overseas purchaser other than through an intermediary, liability to pay levy falls directly on the grower (paragraph 4(3)(c)). Growers thereby contribute to the financing of the Authority either by the direct payment of levy, or via the recovery by dealers or their intermediaries of the levy paid by them.
The Scheme also provides for the registration of dealers, agent intermediaries, financial intermediaries and growers who sell oilseeds direct to overseas purchasers and requires them to keep records of purchases and sales of oilseeds and to make half-yearly returns (paragraphs 3 and 7).
Levy may be recovered as a civil debt (paragraph 6) and there is a power to inspect records (paragraph 7(4)). Penalties are provided for in section 17 of the Cereals Marketing Act 1965 as amended.
A Home-Grown Cereals Authority (Rate of Levy) Order is made annually specifying the rate of levy for each of the kinds of home grown cereals in respect of which levy is to be imposed.