Section 1709-3 - Powers and duties of Department of Commerce under actThe Department of Commerce shall have the power, and its duty shall be:
(1) To investigate, study and undertake ways and means of promoting and encouraging the prosperous development and protecting the legitimate interests and welfare of Pennsylvania business, industry and commerce, within and without the Commonwealth.(2) To investigate, study and undertake ways and means of expanding markets and promoting and development new markets for Pennsylvania products.(3) To promote and encourage the location and development of new business, industries and commerce within the Commonwealth.(4) To investigate and study conditions affecting Pennsylvania business, industry and commerce, and to collect and disseminate information, and engage in technical studies, scientific investigations and statistical research, and educational activities necessary or useful for the proper execution of its duties in promoting and developing Pennsylvania business, industry and commerce, within and without the Commonwealth.(5) To cooperate with and assist persons, firms, associations, corporations, cooperative associations and other organizations, and the political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, in the execution of its duties and functions under this act.(6) To make to the General Assembly, from time to time, recommendations for the remedy or improvement of any conditions, and the elimination of any restrictions and burdens imposed by law, or otherwise existing, which adversely affect or retard the development and expansion of business, industry or commerce.(7) To initiate, promote and conduct, or cause to be conducted, research designed to further new and more extensive uses and consumption of natural and other resources and their by-products; and, for such purposes, to enter into contracts and agreements with research laboratories maintained by educational or endowed institutions in this Commonwealth, and to expend appropriations made to the department for such purposes.(8) To investigate and study conditions of unemployment, and to recommend specific remedies for the alleviation of such conditions, and aid in restoring employment in communities affected thereby, in order that the burden of public relief may be lessened.(9) To aid and promote the elimination of unfair competition and trade practices tending to impair price stability and which are harmful to the financial soundness of business, industry and commerce, and to the wages and working conditions of employes.(10) To encourage and develop commerce with other states and foreign countries, and to devise ways and means of removing trade barriers hampering the free flow of commerce between this and other states.(11) To cooperate with interstate commissions engaged in formulating and promoting the adoption of interstate compacts and agreements helpful to business, industry and commerce.(12)(a) To promulgate a "Production Control" plan or plans, or amendments thereof, upon written petition, and with the approval of Pennsylvania producers of seventy-five per centum of the Pennsylvania output of any United States mineral resource industry located preponderantly within the Commonwealth, or to adopt and promulgate any such plan or plans in operation at the time of the enactment of this act with the sanction of Pennsylvania producers of seventy-five per centum of the Pennsylvania output of such industry, and to administer or secure the cooperation of others, including State officers, producers' representatives or employes' representatives in any industry where there are general collective bargaining arrangements, in administering such plan or plans or amendments thereof upon a voluntary basis: Provided, however, That no production control plan or rules or regulations relating thereto shall apply to producers who are not petitioning producers or who do not otherwise assent to the production control plan promulgated and adopted.(b) A "Production Control" within the meaning of this act is any system of regulated production in any industry as above defined which currently controls the daily, weekly or monthly volume of allowable production of said industry in Pennsylvania for the purpose of adequately supplying market demand, avoiding waste of mineral resources or the exploitation thereof without adequate return to the Commonwealth, her political subdivisions and people, protecting capital invested therein from unwise depletion and dissipation, promoting employment and security for the payment of wages and benefits to those employed in such industry and achieving other express purposes of the Commerce Law (1) by allocating or apportioning to each producer in the industry a fair and equitable distributive portion of the total allowable production; (2) by providing for the adjustment of inequities in assigned distributive portions and for fair and equitable adjustments of distributive portions whenever transfers of mineral properties or facilities take place between or among producers based upon the position in the industry fairly and equitably attributable to such properties or facilities; (3) by providing for the admission under such plan of new operations and for the assignment of a fair and equitable distributive portion of the total allowable production to such operations; (4) by providing, where applicable, for the establishment of fair and equitable standards of preparation to ensure purity and proper sizing and grading of the product in order to protect consumers and to prevent unfair trade practices; (5) and also by establishing and providing for reasonable rules and regulations to effectuate such control plan.(c) The department or any other agency administering any production control plan may inspect the production of any producer under such plan, and of such other producers as may desire such inspection, to determine whether any standards of purity, sizing and grading established under any plan are being complied with.(d) The department on its own initiative, or at the request of any agency administering a production control plan, and in such case at the expense of such agency, may, through its own staff, or through a recognized accounting agency, gather and compile composite statistics of volume, value and geographical distribution of sales, both within and outside the Commonwealth; realization on sales, production costs, employment and wages relating to any industry functioning under a production control plan, and such other statistics as may be deemed appropriate by any such administering agency. Such statistics shall be available for inspection only in composite form. Any other department of the Commonwealth collecting any of such statistics shall make them available to the department.(e) The department or agency administering any such production control plan, including the Production Control Plan for the Anthracite Industry heretofore promulgated and now functioning under the provisions of this act, shall make a report to each regular session of the General Assembly, showing, inter alia, the percentage of the output of the industry under such plan and the experience of the industry thereunder, and shall include therein any recommendations such agency may have with respect to further legislation which will be helpful in carrying out the purposes of this act.(f) No production control plan promulgated by the department under the authority of this act shall be continued, whenever the department, if it administers the plan, or the officers of the State, or a majority of such officers administering or assisting in the administration of any such plan, shall report to the Governor, and the Governor shall find that such plan no longer accomplishes the purposes of this act or no longer is in the public interest.(13) To provide planning assistance and to do planning work, including surveys, land use, studies, urban renewal plans, technical services and other elements of comprehensive planning programs, in and for any counties, cities, boroughs, townships, towns or regions and, for this purpose, to accept and utilize any funds, personnel or other assistance made available by the Federal government or any of its agencies, or made available from any other source, public or private, and, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law and for the purposes of receiving and using Federal planning grants for provision of urban planning assistance, to serve as the official State planning agency of the Commonwealth and, to these ends, to enter into agreements or contracts regarding the acceptance or utilization of such funds or assistance for any of the purposes authorized by this act. 1939, May 10, P.L. 111, No. 51, § 3. Amended 1941, July 7, P.L. 275, § 1; 1945, May 5, P.L. 432, § 1; 1955, Dec. 22, P.L. 887, § 2.