2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(1) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(2) In these Regulations—
“activities” means the activities referred to in regulation 3(4);
“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, livestock breeding or keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadowland, osier land, reed beds, market gardens and nursery grounds;
“agri-environment scheme” means an arrangement which is—
regulated by statutory provision providing for the payment of aid to persons who give an undertaking or enter an agreement in relation to land to which that statutory provision relates; and
approved by the Commission of the European Communities under Article 7(3) of the Council Regulation as part of a zonal programme drawn up pursuant to Article 3 of the Council Regulation;
“applicant” means an applicant under these Regulations and in regulations 9 and 10 includes a person whose application for grant has been accepted and a person who takes on an undertaking on a change of occupation as provided in regulation 8;
“application for grant” means an application under these Regulations and includes an application made under regulation 6(1);
“the Commission Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 746/96(2) laying down detailed rules for the application of the Council Regulation, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 435/97(3);
“the Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92(4) on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2722/95(5) as rectified in turn by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1962/96(6);
“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland;
“environmentally sensitive area” means an area designated as an environmentally sensitive area under Article 3 of the Agriculture (Environmental Areas) (Northern Ireland) Order 1987(7);
“eligible land” means land which is outside an environmentally sensitive area and which is used for agriculture;
“parkland” means an enclosed area of land at least 3 hectares in extent with a minimum of two mature trees per hectare;
“parkland management plan” means a management plan agreed with the Department designed to restore parkland through a programme of tree planting and restoration of landscape features;
“relevant period” means a period of not less than 5 years or, in the case of an undertaking under these Regulations which is in substitution for an undertaking given under any of the Regulations mentioned in regulation 6(1), a period which together with the expired period of the undertaking under those Regulations forms a continuous period of not less than 5 years;
“statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.
(3) Words and phrases used in Schedules 1 to 6 and not defined in paragraph (2) shall be construed in accordance with Schedule 6.
O.J. No. L102, 25.4.96, p. 19
O.J. No. L67, 7.3.97, p. 2
O.J. No. L215, 30.7.92, p. 85
O.J. No. L288, 1.12.95, p. 35
O.J. No. L259, 12.10.96, p. 7