Section 7. The Committee shall have authority and duties as follows:
(1) to lay down policies, plans, and measures pertaining to the promotion and implementation of agricultural standards;
(2) to provide recommendation to the Minister regarding the establishment, amendment and revocation of standards under this act;
(3) to provide recommendation to the Minister regarding the issuance of Ministerial Regulations and Notifications under this Act;
(4) to lay down rules and procedures in connection with public hearing under section 18;
(5) to consider appeals against the orders of the Bureau under section 57;
(6) to issue Notifications and any other orders for the execution of this Act;
(7) to consider academic information on science or technology, or any other information in relation to standards;
(8) to carry out other functions prescribed by this Act or other laws to be within the authority and duties of the Committee.

Section 8. An expert committee shall have the qualifications and shall not be under any prohibited conditions as follows:
(1) being of Thai nationality;
(2) being of not less than thirty five years of age;
(3) not being a bankrupt;
(4) not being an incompetent or quasi-incompetent person;
(5) never having been sentenced by a final judgment to imprisonment except for negligence or a petty offence;
(6) not being a holder of political position, an executive board, an advisor or an officer of the political party.

Section 9. An expert committee shall hold office for a term of three years.
Not less than sixty days preceding the expiration of term, there shall be an appointment of a new expert to replace the outgoing expert.

An expert committee who ends its term may be reappointed, but not more than two consecutive terms.
In the case where an expert committee is appointed during the term of duty, notwithstanding that it is an additional or replacing one, the appointee shall hold office for the remaining period of the predecessor.

Section 10. Other than the termination term, an expert shall be vacated office upon:
(1) death;
(2) resignation;

In the case where an expert committee vacates office before the expiration term and a new expert has not yet been appointed, the remaining experts shall continue to perform their duties.

Section 11. In the case where expert committee vacates office at the expiration of term but any new expert has not yet been appointed, such expert shall further perform duties up until new expert has been appointed.

Section 12. At a meeting of the Committee, the presence of not less than one-half of the total number of the members is required to constitute a quorum.

The Chairperson shall preside over the meeting. In case where the Chairperson is not present at the meeting or is unable to perform the duty, the Vice Chairperson shall preside over the meeting.

In the case where both Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are not present at the meeting or are unable to perform the duty, the members present shall elect one among themselves to preside over the meeting.

A decision of a meeting shall be a majority votes and each member shall have one vote. In the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding over the meeting shall have an additional vote as a casting vote.

Section 13. The Committee shall appoint a sub-committee for considering or performing any particular responsibility as entrusted thereby.

Section 12 shall apply to a meeting of the sub-committee mutatis mutandis.

Section 14. The Bureau shall perform as the secretariat office of the Committee and be in charge of general administrative and meeting procedural works, studies and researches, and other functions regarding the tasks of Committee, Technical Committees, and Sub-committees.

Chapter II
Establishment of Standards

Section 15. In case where it is expedient to establish standards for any agricultural commodity, the Committee shall appoint a Technical Committee to prepare draft standards for such agricultural commodity and submit it to the Committee for consideration.

Upon submission of the draft standards for certain agricultural commodity under paragraph one by the Technical Committee for consideration, if the Committee so agrees to the details thereof and is of the opinion that the draft standards should be established as mandatory or voluntary standards according to the recommendation of the Technical Committee, the Committee shall further submit it to the Minister for consideration and issuing of the Ministerial Regulation on the determination of mandatory standards or the Ministerial Notification on the determination of voluntary standards for such agricultural commodity, wherever the case may be.

The Ministerial Regulation issued under paragraph two may be stipulated that any agricultural commodity shall comply with mandatory standards in whole or in part.

Section 16. To determine mandatory or voluntary standards for any agricultural commodities, any of the following matters either one or more elements may be stipulated:

(1) method, treatment or managerial procedure for production, or characteristics of agricultural commodity regarding quality and chemical, biological and physical safety, sanitary or phytosanitary issues, or any other relevant characteristics;
(2) packages, packaging, marking or labeling;
(3) inspection, assessment, test, experiment, analysis or research regarding item (1) or (2);
(4) other requirements relating to agricultural commodity as notified by the Minister in the Royal Gazette.

Section 17. The Committee may appoint one or more Technical Committees under section 15 as appropriate, provided that each Technical Committee shall consist of not more than fifteen members.

The Technical Committee shall have functions to prepare draft standards for agricultural commodity, or to give recommendation to the Committee on the amendment or nullification of agricultural commodity standards, as well as to perform other technical tasks relating to standards as entrusted by the Committee.
The Technical Committee shall contain qualified persons or experts on standards of the kinds or groups of agricultural commodity for which they are appointed.

Qualifications and prohibited conditions, the terms of office, the vacation of office, the meeting, and other operations of the Technical Committee shall be prescribed by the Committee in the Notification.

Section 18. Prior to issuing of the Ministerial Regulation on the establishment of mandatory standards, the Bureau shall organize to have public hearing to be represented by groups of stakeholders or relevant beneficiaries in accordance with the rules and procedures prescribed by the Committee.

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