Section 20 100 001 - APPLE MARKETING ORDERSection I DEFINITIONS The terms defined in this section shall have the following meanings:
(a) Act means 6 V.S.A. Chapter 24.(b) Board means the Vermont Apple Marketing Board established by 6 V.S.A. Section 252.(c) Bushel means 40 pounds.(d) Producer means any individual, partnership, corporation or other business entity engaged within this state in the business of producing apples or causing apples to be produced for any market. The term shall only apply to persons who annually produce and wholesale more than 500 bushels of apples.(e) Wholesale means the act of selling to retail vendors, commission merchants, brokers, producers, wholesalers, handlers, processors, distributors, insititutional users or commercial users mainly for resale or business use. A commodity is sold wholesale if it is sold by a producer to anyone other than the consumer who pays the final price for the commodity.(f) Person means any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, company or unincorporated association.(g) Commissioner means the commissioner of agriculture or his or her designee..Section II APPLE PROMOTION, RESEARCH AND INSPECTION The Apple Marketing Board may contract with other parties and expend funds obtained pursuant to the assessment levied in this marketing order for the following purposes:
(a) The board may carry out in-state and out-of-state advertising, promotion, and publicity programs that are designed to maintain or enhance present markets or create new markets for apples. However, no such advertising, promotion, or publicity programs shall be conducted with reference to any particular private brand or trade name and no such program shall disparge the quality, value, sale, or use of any other agricultural commodity.(b) The board may carry on research programs designed to further the purposes of 6 V.S.A. Chapter 24.(c) The board may adopt mechanisms to assure uniform grading, standards, and inspection of apples which are in accord with any rules promulgated pursuant to 6 V.S.A. Chapter 23.Section III BUDGET AND ASSESSMENT (a) During each marketing season, and no later than August 15, the board shall estimate a budget necessary for the administration and enforcement of this order and for carrying out the programs created thereunder. The budget may provide that the Department of Agriculture shall be reimbursed for its actual costs of administering the program, but the reimbursement shall not exceed 5 percent of the total funds collected under this order.(b) The board shall announce rates of assessment that will provide adequate funds to defray expenditures in the budget. The rate of assessment shall not exceed eight cents per bushel on all U.S. # 1 apples sold at wholesale on or after September 2, 1985. Under no circumstances shall the foregoing rate of assessment exceed the maximum rate authorized in paragraph (e)(5) of Section 253 of the Act.Section IV COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT (a) Each producer shall be responsible for payment of the proper assessment upon the apples which he produces and sells.(b) All producers, producer sales cooperatives, and/or producer sales agents shall make remittance and accounting of the proper assessment to the commissioner, not later than the last day of each of the months of November, February, April and July.(c) For each producer for whom a broker or other agent sells or otherwise transfers apples, the broker may, at the option of the producer, deduct from moneys owed to the producer, the proper assessment on the first sale units sold or otherwise transferred from storage and thereby assume responsibility for the producer's assessment.Section V BALANCES Any moneys remaining in the fund allocated to apples affected by a marketing order may, in the discretion of the board, be refunded at the close of any marketing season upon a pro rata basis to all persons from whom assessments were collected. When, however, the board determines that moneys may be necessary to defray the cost of operating a marketing order in a succeeding marketing season it may carry over all or any portion of the moneys into the next succeeding season. Further, if upon termination of a marketing order, the commissioner finds that amounts refundable under 6 V.S.A. Section 253 are so small as to make impracticable the computation and refunding of refunds, the commissioner may use the moneys to defray the expenses incurred in the formulation, issuance, administration or enforcement of any subsequent marketing order.
Section VI EFFECTIVE DATE The assessment shall be levied on all U.S. # 1 grade, or better, apples harvested and sold wholesale. This order shall take effect on September 2, 1985.
20-001 Code Vt. R. 20-100-001-X
Effective Date: September 13, 1985 (Secretary of State Rule Log # 85-51)Statutory Authority: 6 V.S.A. Chatper 24