(This note is not part of the Regulations)
1. These Regulations make a number of amendments to the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/1441) [“the 1993 Regulations”]. Like the 1993 Regulations, they apply in Great Britain.
2. The principal amendment made to the 1993 Regulations is the insertion of a new regulation, regulation 3A. That regulation gives effect to the amendment made to Article 4g of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 805/68 by Council Regulation (EC) No. 3611/93 (OJ No. L328, 29.12.93, p.7), which amendment permits member States to introduce environmental protection measures into, inter alia, the Suckler Cow Premium Scheme. The new regulation limits premium payments to the number of suckler cows which the land on which they are being grazed and maintained can support. The new regulation 3A also permits premium payments otherwise payable for a calendar year to be withheld completely if, following notification to the producer by the appropriate Minister under paragraph (1) of that new regulation, the land continues to be overgrazed.
3. Two consequential amendments are made to the 1993 Regulations in the light of the insertion of the new regulation 3A, namely—
(a)the insertion (into regulation 2(1)) of a definition of “overgrazing”; and
(b)the giving of a further power to an authorised person (by the insertion of an additional sub-paragraph, (d), into regulation 5(3)), that of inspecting land for the purpose of determining whether or not it has been subject to overgrazing.
4. These Regulations further amend the 1993 Regulations by—
(a)(in regulation 2(1)) up-dating the definition of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 805/68 in the light of the aforementioned amendment made to it by Council Regulation (EC) No. 3611/93;
(b)(in regulation 3(1)) substituting a reference to “9th December” for the existing reference to “11th December”; and
(c)correcting textual inaccuracies contained in regulations 6 and 9(d)(i).
5. A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and has been deposited in the Library of each House of Parliament.