Dairy Produce Quotas (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations come into operation on 1st April 2004 and amend the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (S.R. 2002 No. 88). They apply in relation to producers, purchasers and other relevant persons in relation to whom the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is “the relevant competent authority” as defined by the Dairy Produce Quotas (General Provisions) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/458), that is to say, producers, purchasers or other persons whose trading address is in Northern Ireland. The holdings of producers to whom these Regulations apply may comprise land in parts of the United Kingdom outside Northern Ireland.

The Regulations implement Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (O.J. No. L270, 21.10.2003, p. 123) and also the European Court’s judgment in case C-401/99 Peter Heinrich Thomsen v Amt für ländliche Räume Husum [2002] ECR I-5775. The Thomsen judgment confirmed, in relation to a lessor on expiry of a lease, that milk quota may generally be held only by a “producer” within the meaning of what is now Article 5(c) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003.

The Regulations –

(a) replace the definitions of “Council Regulation” and “Scottish Islands area” (regulation 5);

(b) continue to restrict quota held within Scottish Island areas to use within those areas (regulation 6);

(c) require a transfer of quota made by lease to be notified on or before 1st March in any quota year if it is to have effect in that year (regulation 7);

(d) remove various restrictions on the transfer of quota without land (regulation 8);

(e) maintain the registration obligations of those no longer producing and marketing milk until their quota has been transferred or withdrawn (regulations 12 and 13);

(f) extend to understatements, the administrative penalties for inaccurate summaries from purchasers and incorrect declarations from direct sellers which currently apply only to overstatements (regulations 14 and 15);

(g) revise the provisions on confiscation and restoration of quota by applying the time limit prescribed for restoration by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003, by restricting quota holding to producers, by updating the references to the Council Regulation, and by making administrative changes (regulations 16 and 17);

(h) update the remaining references to the Council Regulation (regulation 18 and the Schedule);

(i) make further minor amendments (regulations 9, 10 and 11).

The map referred to in the definition of “Scottish Islands area” is held at the offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. A copy of the map is available for inspection at the offices of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.