Coco de Mer (Management) Decree (Decree 9 of 1978)
Seychelles
Coco de Mer (Management) Decree
Decree 9 of 1978
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Commenced on 30 January 1978
- [This is the version of this document at 30 June 2012.]
This Decree may be cited as the Coco‑de‑Mer (Management) Decree.* In this Decree, unless the context otherwise requires—"mature nut" means the coco‑de‑mer nut of the coco‑de‑mer palm tree (Lodoicea maldivica) in which the kernel or meat is hard to the touch;"immature nut" means one which is not mature;"trees" mean trees producing mature nuts;"in‑bearing" means female trees bearing at least one nut whether immature or mature;"approved label" means a label approved by the Minister under section 39(b);"Licensing Authority" means the Licensing Authority established by section 3 of the Licences Act;"licensed premises" or "premises" mean the apartment, room, store or compound specified in the licence of any licensed dealer;"the registering officer" means an officer appointed under section 9."deal" means purchase or receive into one's possession or custody for the purpose of doing business;"purchase" includes barter or exchange;"police officer" means any member of the police force not below the rank of corporal and any constable in charge of a police station;"producer" means the owner or tenant or person in actual possession of, and the manager of or any other person having main authority on, any land on which trees grow;"licensed dealer" means any person licensed under the provisions of this Decree to deal in mature nuts;"register" includes any book kept by an authorised officer under the provisions of this Decree. Every producer shall on or before the 15th June in each and every year make a declaration in duplicate to the Minister in such form and containing such particulars as are prescribed in Form A in the Schedule to this Decree. The Minister may make such enquiries as he considers necessary to satisfy himself that such a declaration is accurate, and if so satisfied may accept the declaration. When a declaration is accepted, the registering officer assigns to the producer a set of serial numbers being as many numbers as there are in‑bearing female trees disclosed in the declaration. The registering officer shall enter the serial numbers as assigned in section 5 on both copies of the declaration, return the duplicate copy to the producer and file the original in a register to be opened and kept in his custody. Within two months of the receipt of his duplicate declaration from the registering officer, the producer shall have his trees numbered with the numbers assigned to him. Such numbers shall be legibly painted in white paint not less than two inches wide. It shall be the duty of the producer to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent such numbers from the being obliterated and a producer failing to mark his trees as prescribed or allowing the markings to be obliterated shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees, or to both such fine and imprisonment. Any producer making a late or false declaration or failing to make a declaration as prescribed shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment. The registering officer shall be an officer of the Ministry appointed as such by the Minister. The registering officer shall make such corrections, alterations and additions to the register as the Minister or Principal Secretary of the Ministry may direct. A certificate of registration signed by the Minister is prima facie evidence that the producer named is correctly registered. Notwithstanding the date specified in section 3 the Minister shall have power to prescribe by notice in the Gazette a date other than the 15th June as the final date for making a declaration. It shall not be lawful for any person other than the holder of a licence to carry on the business of dealing in mature nuts. The Licensing Authority may grant a licence to deal in mature coco-de-mer nuts in accordance with the Licenses Act. Where a licensed dealer is convicted of an offence under this Decree, the Court may, in accordance with the Licences Act, suspend his licence. Two or more persons carrying on business in partnership shall not be obliged to take out more than one licence in respect of the same place of business; and where any person intending to carry on such business is not resident in Seychelles, application for a licence may be made by his partner, attorney or agent, and such partner, attorney or agent shall be personally liable for all offences under this Decree in the same manner as if such licence had been granted to him. A licence to two or more persons shall not be determined by the death or retirement from the business of any one or more of such partners, but no licence shall be assignable or shall be deemed to authorise any person to carry on business by reason of his being the representative of the person to whom such licence may have been granted beyond such time as would enable such representative to apply for and obtain a licence under this Decree. Where a licence is granted under this Decree to two or more persons, every such person is liable under this Decree for the acts or omissions of the other or others of them; and on the hearing of any information against such persons for any offence against this Decree evidence of any act done or omitted to be done by any of them shall be evidence against the other or others of them. Licences shall not be transfered or assigned in any way provided always that a licence is deemed to allow the representative of a deceased, retired, bankrupt or incapable dealer to carry on the business until the representative has had reasonable time to obtain a licence in his own name. Save as provided in the proviso to section 35 no mature nuts shall be removed from any place in Seychelles to another without being accompanied by a permit. Every producer personally carrying from one place to another mature nuts shall be bound to provide himself with a permit. The quality of the mature nuts shall be described in the permits as follows:— No permit shall be recognised which contains any erasures, surcharges, insertions or alterations between the lines unless such erasures, surcharges, insertions or alterations are initialled by the person signing the permit. All permits shall bear the date on which the mature nuts mentioned therein are to be removed, and shall be available only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on such date:Provided that permits for the removal of mature nuts from one island to another, or by sea from one place to another on the same island, shall be available for the time necessary to effect the voyage. Any mature nuts removed or recieved under a permit not in comformity with the provisions of section 25 shall be deemed to have been removed and recieved without a permit. Any person who signs, issues, or gives or knowingly uses or utters a false permit for the removal of any mature nuts shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment. It shall be lawful for— Provided that— If the person who may be called upon to produce a permit under section 31 in respect of any mature nuts or to justify the possession of the same shall let fall or throw away any such mature nuts from his possession and avoid or escape arrest, it shall be lawful for a Judge or the Registrar of the Supreme Court, or for any Magistrate or Justice of the Peace within the limits of his district, upon application to issue his warrant for the arrest of such person, and upon his arrest such person shall be deemed to be a person apprehended and detained within the meaning of section 31. Immediately upon the apprehension or detention of any person, under the powers contained in section 31, such person shall, together with the mature nuts in respect of which he has failed or refused to produce a permit and any mature nuts, the possession of which he has failed or refused or been unable to justify and any motor vehicle, cart, wagon, boat or other conveyance used in carrying and conveying the same, be taken to the nearest police station. Such person shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of section 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Any person who shall remove or cause to be removed from any place, any mature nuts without the permit required by this Decree and any person receiving or found under any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of section 31 in possession of mature nuts, without the same being accompanied by permit in strict conformity with the provisions of this Decree or who shall fail to produce such permit when bound under section 31 so to do, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment:Provided that no offence shall be committed by any person carrying without an individual permit a load of mature nuts when such load forms part of a greater quantity of mature nuts specified in a collective permit. No person shall deal in mature nuts unless he is a registered producer or a licensed dealer. A registered producer shall only be allowed to sell mature nuts to the Ministry responsible for Agriculture. A licensed dealer may buy mature nuts only from officers of the Ministry responsible for Agriculture nominated for this purpose by the Minister. On the sale of a mature nut to a licensed dealer the nominated officer shall use the following procedure: Any licensed dealer who— shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment. Any person who— At his place of sale of mature nuts the licensed dealer shall display a notice, clearly visible, as prescribed in Form B in the Schedule, warning buyers to retain an approved label as proof of legal purchase. Every licensed dealer shall keep on his licensed premises at his place of business a book to be called "Purchases and Sales Book" as prescribed in Form C in the Schedule which book shall contain particulars of mature nut numbers and dates and details of purchases and sales. It shall be lawful for any police officer to enter the premises of any licensed dealer and to call for and inspect any mature nuts and also the purchases and sales book and approved labels at any time between the hours of six in the forenoon and six in the afternoon, or at any time such premises are open (or if he has reasonable ground for believing that an offence has been committed against this Decree at any other time during the day or night and on all days including Sundays or holidays) and to make a copy of any entries in such a book and examine the mature nuts and approved labels in the possession of the licensed dealer and the place where it is stored. It shall also be lawful for any such police officer to take away and retain the purchases and sales book, approved labels and mature nuts for police enquiring. If such licenced dealer fails to produce such purchases and sales book, approved labels and mature nuts he may have in his possession or refuses to allow any such copy to be taken or obstruct or resists any such police officer in the course of his duty or neglects to give and provide such assistance as may be necessary to enable such police officer to check the purchases and sales book, approved labels or mature nuts, such licensed dealer shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment. No person shall deal in any immature nuts and any person contravening the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.Part I – Preliminary
1. Citation
2. Interpretation
Part II – Declaration and registration of producers
3. Producer to make declaration
4. Enquiries as to declaration
5. Acceptance of declaration
6. Producer to receive copy of declaration
7. Producer to number trees
8. Making late or false declaration
9. The registering officer
10. Power to make corrections
11. Certificate of registration prima facie evidence
12. Power to prescribe date for making declaration
Part III – Licensing of dealers
13. No person to deal without licence
14. Application for licence and penalty for false information
15. Granting of licence
16. Warehouse and branch business
17. Forfeiture of licence
18. Partners
19. Liability of partners
20. Licence not to be transferred
Part IV – Movement of Coco-de-Mer
21. No removal of mature nuts without permit
22. Issue of permits
23. Permit books
24. Proprietor carrying mature nuts
25. Permits to be signed and dated
26. Description of mature nuts in permit
27. Erasures or surcharges on permits
28. Permit to bear date of removal
29. Mature nuts removed without regular permit
30. Penalty for signing, issuing a false permit
31. Power to arrest persons carrying mature nuts
32. Letting fall or throwing away mature nuts
33. Procedure on arrest
34. Penalty for possession of excessive quantity
35. Penalty for removing mature nuts without a permit
Part V – Sale of Coco-de-Mer
36. No person to deal unless registered or licensed
37. Sale
38. Purchase
39. Procedure on sale
40. Label to be affixed and not removed
41. Penalty for buying other than from a licensed dealer
42. Display of notice on sale
43. Purchases and sales book to be kept
44. Power of entry and inspection
45. Penalty for dealing in immature nuts
Part VI – Regulations
46. Power to make regulations