The Agriculture (Hardship Payment) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2009

Citation and commencement

1.  This Scheme may be cited as the Agriculture (Hardship Payment) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2009, and shall come into operation on 5th March 2009.

Interpretation

2.  In this Scheme—

“application” means an application for a hardship payment made in accordance with Article 5;

“authorised officer” means a person authorised by the Department for the purposes of this Scheme;

“eligible crop” means a crop referred to in Article 4(1);

“crop establishment cost” means—

(a)

in the case of potatoes, £2,559 per hectare;

(b)

in the case of cereals, £931 per hectare; and

(c)

in the case of vegetables, £1,918 per hectare;

“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

“eligible producer” means a producer who falls within Article 4; and

“hardship payment” means a payment by the Department under and for the purposes of Article 3.

Hardship Payments

3.  The Department may, under and in accordance with the following provisions, pay any eligible producer a hardship payment in respect of hardship suffered as a consequence of flooding on 16 August 2008.

Eligibility for payment

4.—(1) An eligible producer for the purposes of Article 3 is a person who in August 2008 was engaged in the production of potato, vegetable or cereal crops and who—

(a) had an area of his crop damaged beyond economic recovery by the flooding which occurred in that month and as a direct result suffered an economic loss of at least £500 in aggregate for all those crops;

(b) reported this loss to the Department; and

(c) had his loss verified by an inspection and report by an officer of the Department.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) (a) a person’s economic loss in relation to each eligible crop shall be X where—

(a) X = A x B;

(b) A is the area in hectares of that crop that was damaged as described in paragraph(1); and

(c) B is the crop establishment cost per hectare for that area.

Application for payment

5.—(1) The Department shall publish, in such manner as it considers appropriate, a notice inviting applications for a hardship payment.

(2) A notice under paragraph (1) shall specify the closing date for such applications.

(3) A notice under paragraph (1) may be amended by further notice published by the Department in the same manner.

(4) An application for a hardship payment shall be made in such form or manner and shall be delivered to such address as the Department may specify in the notice under paragraph (1) and shall be received by the Department before the closing date specified in that notice.

(5) An applicant shall furnish all such information relating to the application as the Department may specify in the notice under paragraph (1) or from time to time require in writing.

Calculation of hardship payment

6.—(1) In the case of any eligible producer the hardship payment in relation to each eligible crop shall be his economic loss in relation to that crop x 0.528854.

(2) An eligible producer may receive a hardship payment for each eligible crop grown by him.

(3) Hardship payments for any eligible producer shall not exceed £6532.50 in aggregate.

Reduction of Aid Payment

7.—(1) Where any eligible producer is entitled to receive a payment under any contract of insurance which becomes payable to him as a result of the damage to an area of eligible crops referred to in Article 4(1)(a), the amount of any such payments—

(a) shall be deducted from the amount that would otherwise be payable to him under this Scheme; or

(b) where the amount has been paid without the deduction referred to in sub-paragraph (a), shall be recoverable by the Department.

(2) Any payments made to an eligible producer as de minimis aid, for any purpose, in the last 3 years under the conditions of Commission Regulation EC 1535/2007 shall be deducted from any amount that would otherwise be payable to him under this Scheme.

Withholding of payment

8.—(1) Where a person, with a view to obtaining a hardship payment for himself or any other person, makes any statement or furnishes any information which is false or misleading, or refuses to cooperate with an authorised officer exercising powers under this Scheme, the Department may withhold an amount equal to the whole or part of any amount payable to that person or such other person and may recover the whole or part of any payment already paid to that person or such other person.

(2) Before withholding the whole or any part of any payment or recovering any amount equal to the payment or part of the payment which has been made under the provisions of paragraph (1), the Department shall—

(a) give to the person to whom any hardship payment would be payable, or from whom any such amount would be recoverable, a written notification of the reasons for the action proposed to be taken.

(b) afford that person an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed for the purpose by the Department; and

(c) consider the report of a person so appointed and supply a copy of the report to the person mentioned in subparagraph (a).

Recovery of payment

9.  Where an amount falls to be repaid to the Department by virtue of this Scheme, that amount or any part of it shall be recoverable as a civil debt.

Powers of authorised officers

10.—(1) An authorised officer may, after giving the occupier or other person in charge of the premises reasonable notice of his intention and upon production, if so required, of his authority, enter any land or premises for the purposes of exercising powers specified under this Scheme.

(2) An authorised officer may—

(a) inspect any land specified by the eligible producer in his application;

(b) require an applicant or any employee, servant or agent of an applicant to provide any relevant record or documentation ,or extracts therefrom, and to supply such additional information as is in that person’s possession or under his control relating to an application under this Scheme.

(c) have access to, and inspect and copy any relevant records or documents (in whatever form they are held) or remove such records or documents to enable them to be copied;

(d) have access to, inspect and check the operation of, any computer and any associated apparatus which is or has been in use in connection with the relevant records or documents; and for this purpose may require any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the computer, apparatus or material to afford him such assistance as he may reasonably require and, where a record is kept by means of a computer, may require the records to be produced in a form in which they may be taken away; and

(e) seize and retain any relevant record or document which he has reason to believe may be required as evidence in proceedings under this Scheme.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on 19th February 2009.

Michelle Gildernew

Minister of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby approves the foregoing Scheme.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 19th February 2009.

Nigel Dodds

Minister for the Department of Finance and Personnel