Implementing Regulations of The Agriculture Law

1. The Review Committee shall, upon carrying out its duties, fully consider each violation or objection and impose the corresponding penalties in accordance with the provisions of the Law and its Regulations. It shall also observe the principle of proportionality between the violation and the corresponding penalty. 2. The Review Committee shall meet at its head office at the Ministry’s headquarters or branches, and it may hold its meetings elsewhere whenever the need arises. It may hold its meetings via electronic means or as it deems appropriate to perform its tasks and duties. 3. The Review Committee meetings and deliberations shall be confidential, and shall only be attended by its members. Non-members may attend said meetings only with the approval of the committee and pursuant to a prior notification addressed to its secretariat, provided that they do not participate in voting. 4. The meeting procedures and the Review Committee’s deliberations and decisions shall be recorded in special minutes, which shall include the meeting date and time and the names of attendees. Committee meetings shall only be deemed valid if attended by the majority of its members at least, including the chairman or his deputy. 5. The committee may, as it deems appropriate, summon a person accused of committing a violation to hear his statements. It may also find it sufficient to receive a written statement from that person via any means that it deems appropriate. This permissive procedure by the committee shall not preclude the competent administrative agency from investigating the violator or recording his refusal to attend the investigation, using an approved form prepared therefor. 6. The Review Committee shall be entitled, upon considering a violation, to hear the statements of any person it deems associated therewith. It may, at its own discretion, summon that person to appear, and may have access to all information related to the violation, including confidential information. 7. The Review Committee may consult an expert or any person it deems appropriate upon considering violations and objections. 8. The Review Committee shall have the right to address the public and private sectors 118| Implementing Regulations of the Agriculture Law to request statements and documents related to the violation under consideration. 9. The Review Committee may return violation documents to the competent administrative agency to complete control or investigation procedures and any other procedures it deems necessary to consider and decide on the violation. 10. The Review Committee shall have the right to accept any means of evidence that is established in Sharia or law. 11. The Review Committee shall refer to its records to detect any previous violation committed by the violator, and the measures taken pertaining thereto, and shall take such precedents into account when deciding on the penalty. 12. The committee members, secretariat and any person whose assistance is requested by the committee to perform its duties shall maintain the confidentiality of any information or data that they are privy to as a result of committee work, and shall not use the same in other than committee’s activities.