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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS


2001 No. 864

AGRICULTURE

The Extensification Payment Regulations 2001

  Made 9th March 2001 
  Laid before Parliament 9th March 2001 
  Coming into force 1st April 2001 

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the National Assembly for Wales, being designated[1] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[2] in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, acting jointly in exercise of the powers conferred on them by virtue of the said section 2(2) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Title and commencement
     1. These Regulations may be cited as the Extensification Payment Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 1st April 2001.

Interpretation
    
2.  - (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires - 

    (2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.

    (3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation (with no accompanying reference to a specific instrument) is a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations.

Application
     3.  - (1) These Regulations shall apply to claimants, and in relation to the holdings of such claimants, to the specified extent.

    (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), "the specified extent", in relation to a claimant, is the extent to which the appropriate authority is the relevant competent authority in relation to his holding for the purposes of the IACS Regulations.

Choice of scheme
    
4. A claimant may, when making a claim, choose for the calendar year in question the simplified scheme, instead of the standard scheme.

Submission of census declarations
    
5. No extensification payment shall be granted in respect of a calendar year to a claimant who has chosen the standard scheme for that year, unless the claimant has submitted to the appropriate authority within the period of two months from the end of that year, a census declaration for every census date in that year.

Supporting information
    
6.  - (1) A claimant shall, at the request of the appropriate authority, supply to the appropriate authority such information and such documents as the appropriate authority may reasonably require for the purpose of determining whether the claimant qualifies for an extensification payment.

    (2) Where the appropriate authority requires such information or documents, the claimant shall supply the appropriate authority with it or them within such period as the appropriate authority reasonably may determine.

Pasture land
    
7. For the purposes of Article 13(3)(c) of Council Regulation 1254/1999 (which requires that a claimant's forage area consist of at least fifty per cent of pasture land), pasture land shall mean grassland, including rough grazing, which, following the local farming practices, is recognised as being destined for grazing bovine animals or sheep or both.

Withholding and recovery of extensification payments
    
8. The appropriate authority may withhold, or recover on demand, the whole or any part of any extensification payment claimed from or granted by him or it in any of the following circumstances - 

Rate of interest
     9. Where the appropriate authority recovers the whole or any part of any extensification payment pursuant to regulation 8, he or it, as the case may be, shall, unless the sum recovered was paid as a result of his or its own error, be entitled in addition to charge and recover on demand interest on the sum recovered at the rate of one per cent above the sterling three months London Interbank Offered Rate on a day-to-day basis for the period from payment to recovery.

Exercise of powers by authorised persons
    
10. An authorised person may at all reasonable hours and on producing, if so required, some duly authenticated document showing his authority, exercise the powers conferred by regulations 11 and 12 for the purposes of - 

Powers of entry and inspection
    
11.  - (1) An authorised person may enter any land, other than land used only as a dwelling, which is, or which he reasonably believes to be, occupied by a claimant or used by him for keeping bovine animals.

    (2) An authorised person who has entered any land by virtue of this regulation may - 

    (3) An authorised person entering land by virtue of this regulation may take with him such other persons acting under his instructions as he considers necessary.

Powers in relation to documents
    
12. An authorised person may - 

Assistance to authorised persons
    
13. A claimant, any officer, employee, servant or agent of a claimant and any person in charge of animals on land entered pursuant to regulation 11 shall render an authorised person such assistance as he may reasonably request so as to enable him to exercise any power conferred by regulation 11 or 12 and in particular, in relation to any bovine animal, sheep or goat, shall arrange for the penning and securing of such animal if so requested.

Limits on powers of authorised persons
    
14. An authorised person authorised by the appropriate authority may exercise the powers conferred by regulations 11 and 12, and act otherwise in matters arising under these Regulations, in relation to a claimant's holding only to the extent that his authorising body is the relevant competent authority in relation to that holding for the purposes of the IACS Regulations.

Offences
    
15. It shall be an offence for a person - 

Penalties
    
16.  - (1) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 15(a) or (b) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

    (2) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 15(c) or (d) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Time limit for prosecutions
    
17.  - (1) Proceedings for an offence under regulation 15 may, subject to paragraph (2), be commenced within the period of six months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to warrant proceedings comes to his knowledge.

    (2) No such proceedings shall be commenced by virtue of this regulation more than twelve months after the commission of the offence.

    (3) For the purpose of this regulation, a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which evidence sufficient in his opinion to warrant the proceedings came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.

    (4) A certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

Offences by bodies corporate
    
18.  - (1) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under regulation 15, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the body corporate, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

    (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), "officer", in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of that body corporate.

    (3) Where an offence under regulation 15 is committed in Scotland by a Scottish partnership, and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, he as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.


Joyce Quin
Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

9th March 2001



Signed on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales


D. Elis Thomas
The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly

27th February 2001



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)


These Regulations, which come into force on 1st April 2001, lay down implementing measures for the extensification payment scheme introduced by Article 13 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal (OJ No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 21) for beef producers who comply with certain stocking density requirements.

The Regulations prescribe rules for the administration of the scheme in relation to - 

(regulations 4 to 9). They also lay down enforcement provisions applicable where the Minister or the National Assembly has such responsibility (regulations 10 to 18).

The rules relating to administration provide for the two Community methods of checking stocking density (regulations 4 and 5), require producers to supply information in support of their claims (regulation 6), define "pasture land" for the purposes of the scheme (regulation 7) and provide for withholding or recovery of extensification payments where there is a breach of the rules of the scheme (regulations 8 and 9).

The enforcement provisions confer powers of entry, inspection and collection of evidence on authorised persons (regulations 10 to 13). These include the powers required under Article 6 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (OJ No. L391, 31.12.92, p. 36, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2721/2000 (OJ No. L314, 14.12.2000, p. 8)). Regulations 15 to 18 deal with offences and penalties.

No Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.


Notes:

[1] The power of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to make, as a Minister designated by virtue of S.I. 1972/1811 in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, regulations which extend to Scotland remains exercisable by virtue of section 57(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 (1998 c. 46). The Minister's power to make, as a Minister so designated, regulations which extend to Wales is confirmed by article 3(4) of the European Communities (Designation) (No. 3) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/2788). The power of the National Assembly for Wales, being designated by virtue of S.I. 1999/2788 in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, to make regulations in respect of an agricultural activity undertaken anywhere in the United Kingdom on a farm or group of farms which includes a parcel of land situated in Wales is exercisable by virtue of article 3(3) of, and Schedule 2(b) to, that Order, whilst the power of the National Assembly to make regulations jointly with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is conferred by article 3(4) of that Order.back

[2] 1972 c. 68.back

[3] S.I. 1996/1686, revoked by S.I. 1998/871.back

[4] S.I. 1996/3241, amended by S.I. 1999/1179.back

[5] S.I. 1995/12, partially revoked by S.I. 1998/871.back

[6] S.I. 1990/1867, revoked by S.I. 1995/12.back

[7] OJ No. L391, 31.12.92, p. 36, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2721/2000 (OJ No. L314, 14.12.2000, p. 8).back

[8] OJ No. L281, 4.11.1999, p. 30.back

[9] OJ No. L118, 19.5.2000, p. 4.back

[10] OJ No. L228, 8.9. 2000, p. 25.back

[11] OJ No. L316, 15.12.2000, p. 44.back

[12] OJ No. L29, 31.1.2001, p. 27.back

[13] OJ No. L117, 7.5.1997, p. 1, repealed by Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L204, 11.8.2000, p. 1).back

[14] OJ No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 21.back

[15] S.I. 1993/1317, amended by S.I. 1994/1134, 1997/1148, 1999/1820 and 2000/2573.back

[16] OJ No. L204, 11.8.2000, p. 1.back

[17] S.I. 1996/3241, amended by S.I. 1999/1179.back

[18] S.I. 1993/1441, amended by S.I. 1994/1528, 1995/15, 1995/1446, 1996/1488, 1997/249.back



ISBN 0 11 028937 4


 © Crown copyright 2001

Prepared 16 March 2001


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/legis/num_reg/2001/20010864.html