Organic Farming Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Conditions of eligibility

5.—(1) The conditions of eligibility referred to in regulation 3(2) are that—

(a) the application shall be made in respect of not less than one hectare of land;

(b) at the date of his application, the applicant—

(i) shall be the owner or tenant of the land which is the subject of his application and in lawful occupation of that land; and

(ii) shall not be disqualified from eligibility to participating in an agri-environment scheme either by application of a penalty consequent upon Article 20(2) of the Commission Regulation (which requires member States to determine a system of penalties for breaches of undertakings) or by application of Article 20(3) of the Commission Regulation (which requires a person who, intentionally or by reason of gross negligence, makes a false declaration to be excluded from all aid under Council Regulation 2078/92);

(c) the use of any land in accordance with the proposals contained in the application relating to it shall not be such as to frustrate the purposes of any assistance previously given or to be given out of money provided by or under any statutory provision or by the European Community; and

(d) the applicant shall give the undertakings mentioned in paragraph (2) in support of his application.

(2) The undertakings referred to in paragraph (1)(d) are—

(a) before claiming aid in respect of any organic parcel, to furnish to the Department a certificate of registration in respect of that organic parcel;

(b) for the duration of the specified period—

(i) to retain a certificate of registration in respect of each organic parcel on which aid has been claimed;

(ii) to farm the land that is the subject of his application, and such part of the organic unit comprising that land as at any given time is being farmed by organic farming methods, in accordance with the proposals set out in his application and with UKROFS standards and the standards set out in Schedule 2;

(iii) to ensure that no livestock other than organic livestock or livestock undergoing conversion are grazed on his organic unit for more than 62 days in each grazing year unless with the prior written agreement of the Department;

(iv) to ensure that any organic livestock or livestock undergoing conversion which are kept on his organic unit are kept in accordance with UKROFS standards; and

(v) where at the date of his application the applicant has introduced organic farming on a part of his holding other than the part which is the subject of the application, to ensure that that other part conforms to UKROFS standards and continue with organic farming on that other part of his holding, in accordance with UKROFS standards and the standards set out in Schedule 2; and

(c) to complete the conversion of each organic parcel no later than the fifth anniversary of the date on which the conversion period in respect of the organic parcel in question begins.