The Direct Payments to Farmers and Cross-Compliance (Simplifications) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Amendment of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014

7.—(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014(1) of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the integrated administration and control system and conditions for refusal or withdrawal of payments and administrative penalties applicable to direct payments, rural development support and cross compliance, is amended as follows.

(2) Insofar as it relates to direct payments, in Article 2, in paragraph 1, in subparagraph (22) omit “use of area in terms of the type of crop as referred to in Article 44(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013,”.

(3) Insofar as it relates to direct payments, in Article 4, in paragraph 2 for “fifteen working days” substitute “eight weeks”.

(4) Insofar as it relates to direct payments, in Article 5, in paragraph 2—

(a) omit point (c);

(b) omit point (d).

(5) Insofar as it relates to direct payments, in Article 13—

(a) in paragraph (1), in the second subparagraph, for “the first subparagraph” to the end of that subparagraph substitute “an applicant may submit documents which are constitutive for the eligibility for the aid in question to the relevant authority by no later than 25 calendar days after the final date for submission of an aid application as fixed by Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 809/2014.”;

(b) for paragraph (3) substitute—

“(3) Except in cases of force majeure and exceptional circumstances as referred to in Article 4, no amendment to the single application may be admissible after the final date for submission of amendments as specified in Article 15(2) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 809/2014.”.

(6) Insofar as it relates to direct payments, in Article 16, in paragraph 1, omit the second subparagraph.

(7) In Title II, in Chapter IV—

(a) insofar as it relates to direct payments, in the title to Section 2, omit “, except the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment”;

(b) omit Section 3.

(8) In Article 39(1)(2)—

(a) in the first subparagraph, for “, as a general rule, be 3%” substitute “be a percentage”;

(b) in the second subparagraph—

(i) for “However, the” substitute “The”;

(ii) for “either to reduce that percentage to 1% or increase it to 5%” substitute “that the percentage reduction will be 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% or 5%”.

(1)

EUR 2014/640, amended in relation to direct payment schemes by S.I. 2020/90 and in relation to direct payment schemes in England by S.I. 2020/551 and the Direct Payments to Farmers (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. EUR 2014/640 was incorporated into domestic law by section 1 of the Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Act 2020. EUR 2014/640 is also amended prospectively with effect from IP completion day by S.I. 2019/765. However, by virtue of the amendments in The Agriculture (Payments) (Amendment, etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, these prospective amendments do not have effect in relation to direct payment schemes.

(2)

Under Article 138 of the withdrawal agreement and section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, certain common organisation of the markets and rural development measures committed under the MFF 2014-20 and previous financial perspectives continue to be governed by directly applicable EU law.