(1) This Act may be cited as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Restructuring) Act 1998.

(2) This Act comes into force on 11 November 1998.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(1) Every person—

• (a) who is employed in the Ministry immediately before the date of commencement of this Act; and

• (b) who is carrying out duties that on or after that date are to be carried out, in whole or in part, by a new company; and

• (c) whose transfer to the relevant new company is agreed to by the company and the chief executive of the Ministry—

is deemed to have transferred to the relevant new company on the date of commencement of this Act.

(2) The transfer of any employee by this section is subject to any relevant transfer provisions of the employment contract applying to that employee.

(3) This section applies notwithstanding section 61A of the State Sector Act 1988.

(1) The employment of any person deemed by section 3 to have been transferred to a new company is to be on terms and conditions no less favourable to the transferred employee than those applying to the employee at the date of transfer.

(2) Any unexpired collective employment contract which covers transferred employees is deemed, as from the date of transfer, to continue to apply on the same terms—

• (a) as if it were a contract that had been made in respect of the relevant new company; and

• (b) as if it were binding both on those employees and on the company.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) cease to apply to a transferred employee if the terms and conditions of employment that apply under the employment contract applying to the employee at the date of the transfer are varied by agreement between the employee and the new company.

(4) Subsection (1) ceases to apply to a transferred employee who, after the transfer, receives any subsequent appointment within the new company.

Every employee deemed by section 3 to have been transferred to a new company becomes an employee of the relevant company on the date of the transfer, but, for the purposes of every enactment, law, contract, and agreement relating to the employment of each such employee,—

• (a) the contract of employment of that employee that applied immediately before the transfer in respect of that person's employment in the Ministry is deemed to have been unbroken; and

• (b) the employee's period of service with the Ministry, and every other period of service of that employee that is recognised by the Ministry as continuous service, is deemed to have been a period of service with the relevant company.

Where a person deemed by section 3 to have been transferred to a new company was a contributor to the Government Superannuation Fund under the Government Superannuation Fund Act 1956 immediately before that transfer,—

• (a) that person is deemed for the purposes of that Act to be employed in the Government service for so long as the person continues to be employed by the new company; and

• (b) that Act is deemed to apply to the person in all respects as if the person's service with the Government service were continuous.

No person who is deemed by section 3 to have transferred to a new company is entitled to any compensation for redundancy by reason only of the person ceasing to be employed by the Ministry.

(1) The appointment of every Inspector appointed under the Meat Act 1981 who is deemed by section 3 of this Act to have transferred to a new company continues, and each such Inspector continues to have all the functions and powers of his or her office, until the earliest of the following occurs:

• (a) the term of appointment expires:

• (b) the person ceases employment in the new company:

• (c) the appointment is revoked.

(2) No person is to be treated as employed in the State services for the purposes of the State Sector Act 1988 by reason only of that person's continuance in office under subsection (1).

(3) This section applies notwithstanding anything in section 10 of the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry (Restructuring) Act 1997.

(1), (2) Amendment(s) incorporated in the Act(s).

(3) A person who, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was a Forestry Officer by virtue of paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of the definition of that term (as in force before its repeal by subsection (1)) ceases to be a Forestry Officer on the commencement of this Act.