The Direct Payments to Farmers (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Amendment of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 E+W

2.—(1) Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy(1) is amended as follows.

(2) In Article 1—

(a) omit point (b)(iii);

(b) omit point (b)(vii).

(3) In Article 4—

(a) in paragraph 1—

(i) in point (c)—

(aa) at the end of point (i) insert “or”;

(bb) in point (ii), omit the words from “on the basis” to the end;

(cc) omit point (iii);

(ii) after point (s) insert—

“(t) ‘total ceiling’ means the amount determined in accordance with Article 5A.”;

(b) in paragraph 2, in the first subparagraph, omit point (b).

(4) After Article 5, insert—

“Article 5A E+W The total ceiling for England

1.   In determining the total ceiling for England, the Secretary of State must determine an amount equivalent to England’s share of the 2020 national ceiling set out in Annex II.

2.   The Secretary of State must determine the total ceiling before the start of the relevant year.

3.   When the total ceiling has been determined, the Secretary of State must publish that amount as soon as practicable after that determination has been made.

4.   The total ceiling, for any relevant year, is to be distributed among all allocated payment entitlements, the national reserve or the regional reserves, and the ceiling fixed in accordance with Article 51, as they apply in England.

5.   Where the Secretary of State makes a decision under Article 22(2) to increase the basic payment scheme ceiling, the total ceiling, for any relevant year, may be exceeded by the increase decided pursuant to that Article.

6.   In this Article, “relevant year” has the meaning given by section 10(4) of the Agriculture Act 2020.”.

(5) Omit Articles 6, 7 and 7A.

(6) Omit Article 9.

(7) In Article 10—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “Subject to paragraph 2, the” substitute “The”;

(b) omit paragraph 2.

(8) Omit Article 11(3).

(9) Omit Article 14.

(10) In Article 21(b), omit “comply with Article 9 and”.

(11) In Article 22—

(a) omit paragraph 1;

(b) for paragraph 2 substitute—

“2.   The basic payment scheme ceiling in England for the given year is the amount which remains for the basic payment scheme after deducting from the total ceiling the ceiling set for England under Article 51 for that year. The relevant authority may increase the amount of the basic payment scheme ceiling in England. That increase may not exceed 3% of the total ceiling.”;

(c) in paragraph 4—

(i) for “the constituent nation” substitute “England”;

(ii) omit “its share of”;

(iii) after “ceiling” insert “in England”;

(iv) omit the second sentence;

(d) in paragraph 5—

(i) for “paragraph 1” substitute “paragraph 2”;

(ii) for “Article 7A, Article 14, Article 42(1)” substitute “or”;

(iii) omit “or Article 53,”.

(12) In Article 23—

(a) in the heading, for “national ceilings” substitute “basic payment scheme ceiling”;

(b) in paragraph 2, for the words from “its share of” to “Article 22(1)” substitute “the basic payment scheme ceiling in England referred to in Article 22(2)”;

(c) in paragraphs 3 and 4, after “regional ceilings” insert “in England”.

(13) In Article 25—

(a) in paragraph 1—

(i) in the first subparagraph—

(aa) for “Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, for” substitute “For”;

(bb) for “relevant authority’s share of the national ceiling” substitute “total ceiling”;

(ii) in the second subparagraph—

(aa) for “relevant authority’s share of the basic payment scheme ceiling” substitute “basic payment scheme ceiling in England”;

(bb) after “Article 30” insert “, as it had effect immediately before exit day,”;

(b) omit paragraphs 2, 3 and 8.

(14) In Article 30—

(a) for “relevant authority’s share of the basic payment scheme ceiling”, in each place it occurs, substitute “basic payment scheme ceiling in England”;

(b) after “regional ceiling”, in each place it occurs, insert “in England”;

(c) omit paragraph 5;

(d) in paragraph 7(f), omit “and Article 65(1), (2) and (3)”;

(e) in paragraph 8, omit the third subparagraph.

(15) In Article 32—

(a) in paragraph 1—

(i) omit “of financial discipline,”;

(ii) omit “Article 7 and”;

(b) omit paragraph 5.

(16) In Article 34(1), omit the words from “entitled” to “Article 9”.

(17) In Article 35(1), omit point (h).

(18) Omit Articles 41 and 42.

(19) In Article 50(4)—

(a) omit “of financial discipline,”;

(b) omit the words from “and of linear” to “this Regulation”.

(20) In Article 51—

(a) in paragraph 1—

(i) in the first subparagraph, for “its share of the annual national” substitute “the total”;

(ii) for the second subparagraph substitute—

“Where the relevant authority decides by 1 August in a calendar year to revise the percentage, that revised percentage will have effect for the following calendar year.”;

(b) in paragraph 2, for “relevant authority’s share of the national” substitute “total”;

(c) in paragraph 3, for “its share of the annual national” substitute “the total”.

(21) Omit Articles 52 and 53.

(22) In Article 71—

(a) in paragraph 1, for “paragraphs 2” substitute “paragraphs 3”;

(b) omit paragraph 2.

(23) In Annex 1, omit the second and fifth entries in the table.

(24) Omit Annex 3.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 2(1)-(3) in force at 1.1.2021, see reg. 1(2)

I2 Reg. 2(4) in force at 11.12.2020, see reg. 1(3)

(1)

EUR 2013/1307, amended by S.I. 2020/91, 576 and 760 and by section 5 of the Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Act 2020 (c. 2). This Regulation was incorporated into domestic law by section 1 of that Act. It was also prospectively amended with effect from IP completion day by S.I. 2019/207 (as amended by S.I. 2019/812). Those instruments were revoked by S.I. 2020/1445 immediately before IP completion day.