These Regulations make provision in Wales for the administration of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003 (O.J. No. L270, 21.10.2003, p.1) (“the Council Regulation”), Commission Regulation (EC) No. 795/2004 (O.J. No. L 141, 30.4.2004, p.1), Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 (O.J. No. L141, 30.4.2004, p.18) and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1973/2004 (O.J. No. L345, 20.11.2004, p1) (“Commission Regulation 1973/2004”), in relation to establishing a new system of direct support schemes (including the Single Payment Scheme) under the Common Agricultural Policy which came into force on 1 January 2005.

In relation to the Single Payment Scheme (“the Scheme”) these Regulations:

1. (a)

   Provide that Wales is a single region for the purposes of the Scheme and provide that the National Assembly is the competent authority for the purposes of, administering the Scheme in Wales, and sending out in the first year of application of the Scheme, application forms to farmers (regulations 3 and 4);

2. (b)

   prescribe the minimum size of a holding in respect of which the establishment of entitlements may be requested (regulation 5);

3. (c)

   fixes the beginning and end of the period in which the farmer can choose a date for the beginning of the 10 month period for which parcels declared corresponding to the eligible hectares are to be at the farmers disposal (regulation 6);

4. (d)

   exercise the derogation in Article 62 of the Council Regulation to include in full, the amounts resulting from the dairy premium and the additional payments and due to farmers in Wales, in the Single Payment Scheme starting from 2005 (regulation 7);

5. (e)

   provide that secondary crops may be cultivated on eligible hectares during a period of not more than three months beginning each year on 15 August (regulation 8);

6. (f)

   provide that payment entitlements established in Wales are only used and transferred within Wales and that the transfer of payment entitlements is communicated, by the transferor, to the National Assembly, no later than six weeks before the last day for submission of the single application but also no earlier than six weeks before the transfer is due to take place (regulation 9);

Regulation 10 requires the National Assembly to deduct a sum equal to a specified proportion (1.5% in the year 2005, and 0.5% in the year 2006) from the total amount of direct payments to be paid to a farmer. The amounts deducted are to be applied as additional support for rural development measures.

Regulations 11 to 13 apply where an applicant uses areas covered by the aid provided for in Article 88 of the Council Regulation (aid for energy crops) for the growing of agricultural raw materials under Article 24 of Commission Regulation 1973/2004 and provide as follows —

1. (a)

   the National Assembly is the competent authority for the purposes of Chapter 8 of Commission Regulation 1973/2004 (Aid for energy crops) (regulation 11(2);

2. (b)

   the minimum cultivated area for such raw material is 0.1 hectares (regulation 12(1));

3. (c)

   the National Assembly must notify the farmers concerned where it excludes any agricultural raw material from aid for energy crops (regulation 12(2));

4. (d)

   for the requirements for the weighing of such raw materials to which Article 25(2)(b) of Commission Regulation 1973/2004 applies (regulation 12(3));

5. (e)

   for the method of denaturing to be applied to cereals, oilseeds and oil produced by processing oilseeds where they are to be used for any of the purposes specified in Article 25(4) of Commission Regulation 1973/2004 (regulation 12(4));

6. (f)

   for the last date on which a contract may be deposited with the National Assembly to be the last day for submitting the relevant single application and for the 9th February of the following year to be the last day by which certain information may be provided to the National Assembly (regulation 12(5) and (6)).

Regulation 13 lays down the records that must be kept by processors in respect of any such raw materials purchased by them and the period for which such records should be kept.

Regulation 15 revokes various Regulations with savings.

A regulatory appraisal on the effect of the Single Payment Scheme has been prepared and is available for inspection at the offices of the National Assembly for Wales, Department of Environment, Planning and Countryside, Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.