Agriculture Act 2020

16 Support for rural development

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations modify the Rural Development Regulation and retained direct EU legislation made under that Regulation, as it has effect in relation to England, for or in connection with—

(a) extending the period to which the core contribution relates;

(b) amending the amount of the core contribution;

(c) changing the currency in which the core contribution is expressed;

(d) amending Annex 1 of the Regulation (support for rural development).

(2) In subsection (1), the “core contribution” means the amount for the time being specified in Article 58(1) of the Rural Development Regulation as being the core contribution to rural development.

(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations modify retained direct EU legislation relating to support for rural development, as it has effect in relation to England, for or in connection with—

(a) removing a requirement that the commitment period in relation to support for a measure must be at least 5 years;

(b) removing a restriction on extending the commitment period in relation to support for a measure;

(c) enabling, in connection with financial assistance under section 1, the conversion or adjustment of commitments that have been made;

(d) securing that any provision of the legislation ceases to have effect.

(4) The provision which may be made under subsection (3)(b) includes provision—

(a) removing requirements for extensions to be made on an annual basis,

(b) securing that the Secretary of State may extend a commitment period whenever the Secretary of State considers it appropriate to do so, and

(c) removing requirements for provision about extending the commitment period to be included in a rural development programme.

(5) The Secretary of State may by regulations modify the Common Provisions Regulation and retained direct EU legislation made under that Regulation, as it has effect in relation to England, for or in connection with extending the deadline by which a payment must have been made in order for it to be eligible for support for rural development (see Article 65 of the Common Provisions Regulation).

(6) In this section—

• “the Common Provisions Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund etc;

• “retained direct EU legislation relating to support for rural development” means—

  (a)

  the Rural Development Regulation,

  (b)

  Regulation (EU) No 1310/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down certain transitional provisions on support for rural development,

  (c)

  the legacy regulations, and

  (d)

  retained direct EU legislation made under the legislation in paragraphs (a) to (c);

• “the Rural Development Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development.

(7) In subsection (6), “the legacy regulations” means retained direct EU legislation relating to support for rural development that preceded the Rural Development Regulation and includes—

(a) Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development,

(b) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/99 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development,

(c) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2080/92 of 30 June 1992 instituting a Community aid scheme for forestry measures in agriculture,

(d) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside, and

(e) Council Regulation (EEC) No 1096/88 of 25 April 1988 establishing a Community scheme to encourage the cessation of farming.

(8) Regulations under this section are subject to negative resolution procedure (unless section 50(5) applies).