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The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries hereby announces the publication of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Bill 2013 for public comments.

The Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Bill 2013 was approved by the Minister for gazetting and it was subsequently published in the Government Gazette (General Notice No. 610 of 2013, Government Gazette No. 36562, Vol. 576) on 14 June 2013.

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• further redefine certain definitions;
• redefine the mandate of the National Agricultural Marketing Council;
• clarify the role of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in agricultural marketing;
• further clarify matters connected to the management and utilisation of statutory levies and agricultural industry trust funds;
• provide for public trusteeship of the nation’s agricultural and food markets;
• provide for assignments and delegations;
• provide for the monitoring, evaluation, assessments and reporting; and
• provide for the national monitoring of provinces.

Interested parties and the public are invited to submit comments on the Bill within 60 days of publication, therefore the deadline for submitting comments is 14 August 2013.

Written comments should be forwarded to the department for the attention of Mr H.M. Mamabolo at the following address:
Sefala Building, Office 710, 503 Belvedere Street, Arcadia, Pretoria or Private Bag X15, Arcadia 0007

Written comments can also be faxed to 012 319 8131 or e-mailed to MogalaM@daff.gov.za or PA.DM@daff.gov.za

Copies of the Bill may be obtained from the Directorate: Marketing using the contact details provided above or from the DAFF website www.daff.gov.za.

Please note that comments received after the closing date will not be taken into consideration.

Those who are interested in making further oral presentations should indicate that on their written submissions. Public hearings will take place between 1 July and 14 August 2013 at various venues that will be communicated to the public in due course.