(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations, which extend to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, enable the National Assembly for Wales (“the Assembly”), if duly accredited for the purpose, to act as a paying agency for the purposes of Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1258/99 (on the financing of the common agricultural policy) (O.J. No. L160, 26.6.99, p. 103).
The accreditation of the Assembly as a paying agency may be both for the purposes of its functions and for the purposes of any functions which are exercisable by the Assembly by virtue of any arrangement made under section 41(1)(a) of the Government of Wales Act 1998. Taken together, this includes any functions of either category exercisable in relation to Wales, or exercisable in relation to land outside Wales which forms part of a “holding” (that is to say the totality of the production units in the United Kingdom managed by a producer) in relation to which any functions exercisable in implementation of the common agricultural policy are exercisable by the Assembly.
These Regulations provide for the Secretary of State for Wales to cease to act as a paying agency for so long as the Assembly acts as such.
No regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.