The Dairy Produce Quotas (Amendment) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations come into force on 1st April 2004 and amend the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/457). They apply in relation to producers, purchasers and other relevant persons in relation to whom the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 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 England. The holdings of producers to whom these Regulations apply may comprise land in parts of the United Kingdom outside England.

The Regulations implement Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ No. L 270, 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) make general provision for the transfer, within each United Kingdom quota region, of quota without transfer of land (regulation 7);

(d) maintain the registration obligations of those no longer producing and marketing milk until their quota has been transferred or withdrawn (regulations 8 and 9);

(e) extend to understatements, the administrative penalties for inaccurate summaries from purchasers and incorrect declarations from direct sellers which currently apply only to overstatements (regulations 10 and 11);

(f) 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 12 and 13);

(g) update the remaining references to the Council Regulation (regulation 14 and Schedule 1);

(h) make further minor amendments (regulation 15 and Schedule 2).

A copy of the map referred to in the definition of “Scottish Islands area” is available for inspection at the offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies of this assessment can be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Area 5d, 9 Millbank, c/o Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.