Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Interpretation

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(1) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the 1975 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1975(2);

“the 1979 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1979(3);

“the 1984 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1984(4);

“the 1994 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994(5);

“the 1996 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(6);

“the 1999 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(7);

“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the use of land for other agricultural purposes;

“area aid application” has the same meaning as in Article 6 of Council Regulation 3508/1992;

“authorised person” means any person who is authorised by the Department, either generally or specially, to act in relation to matters arising under these Regulations, whether or not he is an officer of the Department;

“beneficiary” means a person who has entered into an undertaking;

“claimant” means any person who has made a claim for compensatory allowance;

“claimed forage area” means land which has been entered as forage area in an area aid application for the year 2000;

“Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“Commission Regulation 1750/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1750/1999(8) laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation 1257/1999, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2075/2000(9);

“Commission Regulation 2342/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2342/1999(10) laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1900/2000(11);

“common land” means land the grazing of animals on which is shared;

“compensatory allowance” means either—

(a)

a less favoured area compensatory allowance; or

(b)

in the case of a compensatory allowance payable in the year 2000 or earlier, a compensatory allowance payable in accordance with the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations;

“Council Regulation 3508/1992” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/1992(12) establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes, as last amended by Council Regulation 1593/2000(13);

“Council Regulation 1254/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999(14) on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal;

“Council Regulation 1257/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999(15) on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF);

“cross-border holding” means a holding which is situate partly in Northern Ireland and partly in one or more of England, Scotland or Wales;

“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

“designated map” means the map marked “map of less-favoured farming areas in Northern Ireland”, dated 8th May 1991, signed by the Secretary of State and deposited at the Offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB;

“disadvantaged land” (except in the expression “severely disadvantaged land”) means land shown coloured blue on the designated map;

“electronic communication” has the same meaning as in the Electronic Communications Act 2000(16);

“eligible land” means land within the less favoured area or relevant afforested land;

“eligible forage area” means such part of the relevant forage area as lies within a less favoured area;

“ewe” means a female sheep which is at least one year old, or has lambed, on 1st January 2001;

“first compensatory allowance” means less favoured area compensatory allowance or, where a compensatory allowance has been paid under the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations, the first payment of that allowance;

“forage area” has the same meaning as in Article 12(2)(b) of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“heifer” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations” means the 1994 Regulations, the 1996 Regulations or the 1999 Regulations, as the case may be;

“holding” has the same meaning as in Article 1 of Council Regulation 3508/1992;

“individual reference quantity of milk” has the same meaning as in Article 31 of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

“less favoured area” means all that land coloured blue or pink on the designated map;

“less favoured area compensatory allowance” means the compensatory allowance payable in accordance with regulations 7 and 8 and with Chapter V of Title II of Council Regulation 1257/1999;

“livestock unit” means a unit of measurement of livestock numbers, and the following constitute a single livestock unit—

(a)

one suckler cow or a heifer aged over 24 months;

(b)

1.67 heifers aged between 8 months and 24 months; or

(c)

6.67 ewes;

“notional livestock density” means the number of livestock units per hectare of eligible forage area, calculated as a fraction of which the numerator is the number of relevant animals expressed in livestock units and the denominator is the claimant’s eligible forage area expressed in hectares;

“relevant afforested land” means land which, in the opinion of the Department, was converted to forest on or after 1st January 1986 and before 1st January 1988 by or on behalf of a person to whom a compensatory allowance was paid in respect of the land under the 1975 Regulations, the 1979 Regulations or the 1984 Regulations before the date when the conversion to forest was completed, but land shall cease to be relevant afforested land for the purposes of these Regulations 15 years after the date on which such conversion was completed;

“relevant animals” means the suckler cows, heifers and ewes in respect of which a claimant, in the year 2000, applied for suckler cow premium or as the case may be, sheep annual premium;

“relevant forage area” means the claimed forage area or, in relation to a claimant in relation to whom regulation 9 applies, such part of the claimed forage area as results from the deductions made to the relevant forage area in accordance with that regulation;

“severely disadvantaged land” means land shown coloured pink on the designated map;

“sheep annual premium” means the premium payable under the Sheep Annual Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(17);

“suckler cow” shall have the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“suckler cow premium” means the premium payable under the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993(18); and

“undertaking” means an undertaking under regulation 5(a).

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.

(3) A reference in these Regulations to anything done in writing or produced in written form includes a reference to an electronic communication which has been recorded and is consequently capable of being reproduced.

(1)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(2)

S.I. 1975/2210, amended by S.I. 1976/1203, S.I. 1977/1960 and S.I. 1979/941 and revoked by S.I. 1979/1748

(3)

S.I. 1979/1748, amended by S.I. 1980/2028, S.I. 1981/1843 and S.I. 1982/1886 and revoked by S.I. 1984/2024

(4)

S.I. 1984/2024, amended by S.I. 1985/2075, S.I. 1987/2129, S.I. 1991/392 and S.I. 1991/1439 and revoked, insofar as they applied to Northern Ireland, by S.R. 1987 No. 92 and, insofar as they applied to Great Britain, by S.I. 1992/269

(5)

S.R. 1994 No. 417 amended by S.R. 1995 No. 22, S.R. 1995 No. 245, S.R. 1995 No. 404, S.R. 1996 No. 7 and revoked by S.R. 1996 No. 230

(6)

S.R. 1996 No. 230 amended by S.R. 1996 No. 498, S.R. 1997, No. 13, S.R. 1997 No. 486, S.R. 1998 No. 439, S.R. 1999 No. 68 and which cease to apply by virtue of S.R. 1999 No. 497

(7)

S.R. 1999 No. 497

(8)

O.J. No. L214, 13.8.1999, p. 31

(9)

O.J. L246, 30.9.2000, p. 46

(10)

O.J. L281, 4.11.1999, p. 30

(11)

O.J. L228, 8.09.2000, p. 25

(12)

O.J. No. L355, 5.12.92, p. 1

(13)

O.J. L182, 21.7.2000, p. 4

(14)

O.J. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 21

(15)

O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.

(16)

2000 c. 7

(17)

S.R. 1992 No. 476 amended by S.R. 1994 No. 404, S.R. 1995 No. 403, S.R. 1996 No. 497, S.R. 1997 No. 485, S.R. 1999 No. 457 and S.R. 2000 No. 301

(18)

S.R. 1993 No. 280 amended by S.R. 1994 No. 211, S.R. 1995 No. 246, S.R. 1996 No. 229 and S.R. 1997 No. 53