Section 2-8-22. Recommendation of marketing orders or amendments by commission; authorized provisions

   (a) If, upon the basis of the record of testimony and documentary evidence received at the hearing provided for in Code Section 2-8-21 and the facts officially noticed therein from official publications or institutions of recognized standing, the commission determines that the issuance of a marketing order or an amendment will tend to effectuate the intent and purpose of this article, it may recommend the promulgation of a marketing order or amendment with respect to the matters specified in the hearing notice and supported by the record, containing any or all of the following provisions, but no others:

   (1) Provisions regulating the period or periods during which any agricultural commodity or any grade, size, or quality of such commodity may be processed, distributed, or otherwise marketed within this state by any and all persons engaged in such processing, distributing, or marketing within this state; such periods shall be established by the commission so as to conform to the better principles of sound agricultural practices with respect to production of the commodities affected, in order to secure, so far as is commercially practical, a sufficient supply of good quality of each grade of such commodity proportionate to normal market demand and to prevent disruptive marketing practices likely to result in oversupply or scarcity, which create unnecessarily inflated prices to consumers and handlers, depressed prices to producers, or salability of products of inferior grade and quality due to unavailability of good quality products;

   (2) Provisions establishing or providing for establishing, with respect to any agricultural commodity, either as delivered by producers to handlers or processors or as handled, processed, or otherwise prepared for market or as marketed by producers, handlers, or processors:

      (A) Grading standards of quality, condition, size, maturity, or pack, which standards may include minimum standards, provided that the standards so established shall not be established below any minimum standards prescribed by law for such commodity; and

      (B) Uniform inspection and grading of such commodity in accordance with the standards so established.

   (3) Provisions for the establishment of plans for advertising and sales promotion to maintain present markets or to create new or larger markets for agricultural commodities grown in this state or for the prevention, modification, or removal of trade barriers which obstruct the normal flow of agricultural commodities to market. The commission is authorized to prepare, issue, administer, and enforce plans for promoting the sale of any agricultural commodity, provided that any such plan shall be directed toward promoting and increasing the sale, use, and utilization of such commodity without reference to a particular brand or trade name; and provided, further, that no advertising or sales promotion program shall be issued by the Commissioner or the commission which makes use of false or unwarranted claims in behalf of any such product or disparages the quality, value, sale, or use of any other agricultural commodity;

   (4) Provisions prohibiting unfair trade practices by which any producer or handler tends toward establishment of monopoly, unfairly discriminates among customers as to price or quality, or engages in fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading representations, concealment, or other similar sharp business practices which are harmful to his or its customers, injurious to competitors, likely to bring into disrepute persons generally engaged in production and handling of the commodity involved, or detrimental to the intent and purpose of this article;

   (5) Provisions for carrying on research studies in promoting the production, marketing, sale, use and utilization, processing, and improvement of any agricultural commodity or any combination thereof and for the expenditure of moneys for such purposes. In any research carried on under this paragraph, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of the University of Georgia, the Commissioner, and the commission shall cooperate in selecting the research project or projects to be carried on from time to time. Insofar as practicable such projects shall be carried out by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences but, if the dean of the college and the commission determine that the college has no facilities for a particular project or that some other research agency has better facilities therefor, the project may be carried out by other research agencies selected by the commission;

   (6) Provisions establishing or providing authority for establishing, for any agricultural commodity, either as such commodity is produced or is delivered by producers to handlers or as such commodity is handled or otherwise prepared for market or as such commodity is marketed by producers or handlers, an educational program designed to acquaint producers, handlers, or other interested persons with quality improvement, including sanitation practices, procedures, or methods as applied to such commodity;

   (7) Provisions for the promotion of the marketing of surplus commodities through the establishment of surplus, stabilization, or by-product pools for any agricultural commodity or any grade, size, quality, or condition thereof, providing for the sale of the commodity in any such pool and for the equitable distribution among the persons participating therein of the net returns derived from the sale of such commodity. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of any such pool or pools, the commission shall have the power to receive such commodity from each producer or handler, to handle the same according to the grade, size, quality, or condition thereof, and to account to each producer or handler participating therein upon a pro rata basis for the net proceeds derived from the sale thereof. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of a surplus, stabilization, or by-product pool, the commission shall have authority to promote the marketing of surplus commodities by making arrangements for and operating any necessary facilities for the storing, financing, grading, hauling, packing, servicing, processing, preparing for market, selling, and disposing of the contents of any pools provided for in this paragraph. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of any type of pool authorized in this paragraph, the commission shall have authority to create, by a uniform assessment upon producers, or to maintain and disburse, upon some other uniform and equitable basis, an equalization fund to be used for the removal of any inequalities between producers or handlers participating in any pool.

(b) All provisions authorized by this Code section which are contained in marketing orders and amendments thereto heretofore adopted by any commission and in effect on July 1, 1969, shall be and remain of full force and effect until repealed or modified by each such commission as provided in this article.

Ga. L. 1961, p. 301, § 13; Ga. L. 1968, p. 398, § 6; Ga. L. 1969, p. 763, § 13; Ga. L. 1971, p. 78, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 564, § 1; Code 1981, § 2-8-14; Code 1981, § 2-8-22, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1420, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 10, § 2.