Arable Area Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations revoke and replace the Arable Area Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995. As respects Northern Ireland the Regulations implement and supplement provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1765/92 (“the Council Regulation”), which establishes a support system for producers of certain arable crops, and the Commission Regulations made under it, namely Commission Regulations (EC) No. 762/94, 658/96 (which repeals and replaces Commission Regulations (EEC) Nos. 2294/92, 2295/92 and 2780/92) and 1586/97 (which repeals and replaces Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 334/93).

Regulation 2(1) defines these various Regulations and by virtue of regulation 2(2) the definitions include amendments to them.

Under the support system established under Council Regulation 1765/92, producers of particular arable crops are entitled to receive a compensatory payment calculated according to the area which they have sown with such crops.

The level of compensatory payment per hectare in a particular locality is determined (in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 of the Council Regulation) by multiplying an amount per tonne by the average yield per hectare for the production region in which the land lies. Member States are required to define production regions for the purposes of this calculation in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 3 of the Council Regulation, which permits the yields so calculated to be adjusted in order to take account of structural differences between production regions. The production regions in Northern Ireland are defined in regulation 3(1), while regulation 3(2) sets out the method by which the yield calculated for each such region should be adjusted. Regulation 4 provides for yield calculation in relation to oilseed rape.

Article 9 of Council Regulation 1765/92 and Article 2(5) of Commission Regulation 658/96 provide for an exchange of land ineligible for compensatory payment with land which is so eligible. Regulation 6 provides for a farmer to apply for approval for such an exchange, and sets out the conditions for such approval to be granted.

Article 7 of the Council Regulation requires all producers claiming compensatory payments to set aside part of their arable land, unless they come within the exception for small producers, as defined in Article 8(2) of the Council Regulation. Except in circumstances justified by objective criteria laid down by Member States, land qualifying to be set aside must have been previously farmed by the producer setting it aside for at least 2 years (Article 3(4) of Commission Regulation 762/94) and the minimum area of land which he sets aside in each production region must be in a specified ratio to the cropped land in that region for which he claims payment (Article 9(2) of the same Regulation). The circumstances in which producers are exempted from the first requirement are set out in regulation 7 and Schedule 1, and those in which producers are exempted from the second requirement are set out in regulation 8.

To ensure protection of the environment, Member States are required to take appropriate measures relating to set-aside land (Article 3(3) of Commission Regulation 762/94). Regulation 9 and Schedules 2 and 3 specify the requirements to be met in relation to land set aside and set out how a green cover is to be established on land set aside.

Article 7(7) of the Council Regulation permits a producer to transfer his set-aside requirement to another producer, in accordance with a plan presented in advance to the European Commission. Regulation 10 requires producers transferring their set-aside requirement in reliance on Article 7(7) to provide evidence to the Department that that transfer is undertaken in accordance with the plan submitted by the UK to the European Commission.

Land sown with specified categories of oilseed qualifies for compensatory payment only when seed conforms to a quality policy established by the Member State in accordance with Article 4 of Commission Regulation 658/96. Regulation 11 implements the quality policy in relation to each of the types of seed listed in Article 4(3) of that Regulation and also makes provision for a minimum sowing distance separation in relation to rapeseed. That regulation also provides for a similar minimum sowing distance separation in relation to rapeseed grown as a non-food crop on set-aside land (in implementation of Article 13 of Commission Regulation 1586/97).

The Regulations also—

(a) prescribe the minimum size of an agricultural plot for which certain compensatory payments may be claimed (regulation 5);

(b) require producers, collectors and processors to keep, retain and produce records (regulations 13 and 14);

(c) specify the reductions in compensatory payments applicable to breaches of requirements relating to land set aside (regulation 15);

(d) prescribe the rate of interest payable where a compensatory payment is recovered by the Department (regulation 16);

(e) confer on authorised persons powers of entry for the purposes of the Regulations and require that such assistance be given to them for the exercise of their powers as they may reasonably request (regulations 17 and 18); and

(f) create offences and penalties (regulation 19).

• The main changes to the regime effected by the Regulations are that—

  (a)

  amendments are made in consequence of the abolition of the distinction between rotational and non-rotational set-aside effected by an amendment to Council Regulation 1765/92;

  (b)

  provision is made, in implementation of Article 2(5) of Commission Regulation 658/96, for applications for approval to the exchange of ineligible and eligible land for the purpose of receipt of compensatory payments (regulation 6);

  (c)

  provision is made to implement Articles 3 and 4 of Commission Regulation 658/96 (on certain conditions for granting payments under the support system for producers of certain arable crops) in respect of local standards for sowing distance separation for the sowing of rapeseed and a quality policy for rapeseed implemented by setting out restrictions on types of seeds eligible for compensatory payments (regulation 11);

  (d)

  provision is made for application of Article 13 of Commission Regulation 1586/97 (which lays down implementing rules for the use of land set aside for the provision of non-food crops). It specifies the standards for sowing distance in relation to rapeseed subject to which access to set-aside compensatory payments is permitted (regulation 11);

  (e)

  a restriction is introduced so that where a farmer has been authorised to act as an agent to take samples of farm-saved rapeseed for mandatory analysis required by Article 4(3) of Commission Regulation 658/96, then that authorisation shall not be taken to be an authorisation to sample any such seed to be sown by that farmer (regulation 11);

  (f)

  a deadline is set for the declaration in respect of the delivery of non-food raw materials by a farmer to a collector or first processor as provided for by Articles 5(4) (for farmers) and 6(4) (for collectors or first processors) of Commission Regulation 1586/97. Provision is also made for the imposition of penalties for late declarations by farmers (regulation 12);

  (g)

  amendments are made to Schedule 1 (derogations from the requirement to have farmed land for two years in order to set it aside). The entitlement to set aside land forming part of any recently acquired unit of 60 hectares or more, and land needed to satisfy regional requirements on setting land aside, is replaced by an entitlement to set aside up to 10 per cent of any recently acquired land, and to set aside land used or destined for organic farming. Also the entitlement to set aside land of which at least 10 per cent is farmed under sharefarming or similar agreements now arises with respect to land farmed under licence;

  (h)

  the management rules for set-aside in Schedules 2 and 3 are clarified, notably in relation to the liming of set-aside land and the maintenance of the green cover; and

  (i)

  the grounds on which a farmer may on application be exempted from one or more of the requirements of the set-aside management rules are widened to include the case where such an exemption is necessary to benefit a charity.