The Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations come into force on 1st April 2004 and amend the Dairy Produce Quotas (Wales) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/897 (W.103)). They apply in relation to producers, purchasers and other relevant persons in relation to whom the National Assembly for Wales is “the relevant competent authority” as defined by the Dairy Produce Quotas (General Provisions) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/458). The holdings to which these Regulations apply may comprise land in other parts of the United Kingdom outside Wales.

The Regulations implement Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ No. L270, 21.10.2003, p.123) and also the European Court of Justice’s judgement in case C-401/99 Peter Heinrich Thomsen v Amt für ländliche Räume Husum [2002] ECR I-5775. The Thomsen judgment confirmed, in relation to a lessor on expiry of a lease, that milk quota may generally be held only by a “producer” within the meaning of what is now Article 5(c) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003.

The Regulations —

(a) replace the definitions of “Council Regulation” and “Scottish Islands area” (regulation 5);

(b) continue to restrict quota held within Scottish Island areas to use within those areas (regulation 6);

(c) make general provision for the transfer, within each United Kingdom quota region, of quota without transfer of land (regulation 7);

(d) maintain the registration obligations of those no longer producing and marketing milk until their quota has been transferred or withdrawn (regulations 8 and 9);

(e) extend to understatements, the administrative penalties for inaccurate summaries from purchasers and incorrect declarations from direct sellers which currently apply only to overstatements (regulations 10 and 11);

(f) revise the provisions on confiscation and restoration of quota by, applying the time limit prescribed for restoration by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1788/2003, by restricting quota holding to producers, by updating the references to the Council Regulation, and by making administrative changes (regulations 12 and 13);

(g) update the remaining references to the Council Regulation (regulation 14 and Schedule 1);

(h) make further minor amendments (regulation 15 and Schedule 2).

A copy of the map referred to in the definition of “Scottish Islands area” is available for inspection at the offices of the National Assembly for Wales, Department for Environment, Planning and Countryside, Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and at the offices of the Scottish Executive, Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh, EH4 1TY.

A regulatory appraisal has been prepared in respect of these Regulations and is available for inspection at offices of the National Assembly at the address given above.