Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2003

Year2003

2003 No. 289

AGRICULTURE, ENGLAND

The Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2003

Made 12th February 2003

Laid before Parliament 13th February 2003

Coming into force 8th March 2003

The Secretary of State, being designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by that section3, hereby makes the following Regulations:

S-1 Title, commencement and extent

Title, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2003, shall come into force on 8th March 2003 and, subject to paragraph (2), shall apply to England.

(2) Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 4, and regulation 10 in so far as it relates to those paragraphs, shall also apply to Scotland.

S-2 Interpretation

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the use of land for other agricultural purposes;

“area aid application” has the same meaning as in Article 6 of Council Regulation 3508/92;

“claimant” means any person who has made a claim for hill farm allowance and “claim” shall be construed accordingly;

“claimed forage area” means land which has been entered as forage area in an area aid application for 2002;

“Commission Regulation 2316/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2316/19994laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1251/19995;

“Commission Regulation 2342/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2342/19996laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes;

“common land” means any land which is registered as common land with grazing rights under the Commons Registration Act 19657;

“compensatory allowance” means any payment made under these Regulations, the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 20028, the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 20019, the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 199910, the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 199611or the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 199412;

“Council Regulation 2092/91” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/9113on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs;

“Council Regulation 3508/92” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/9214establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes;

“Council Regulation 1254/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/199915on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal;

“Council Regulation 1257/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/199916on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations;

“disadvantaged land” (except in the expression “severely disadvantaged land”) means any area of land shown coloured blue on the England LFA maps;

“eligible forage area” means such part of the qualifying forage area as lies within a less favoured area;

“the England LFA maps” means the three volumes of maps numbered 1 to 3, each volume being marked “Volume of maps of less-favoured farming areas in England”, dated 20th May 1991, signed and sealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and deposited at the offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR;

“ewe” means a female sheep which is at least one year old on 1st January 2003, or has lambed by that date;

“forage area” has the same meaning as in Article 12(2)(b) of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“heifer” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“hill farm allowance” means the compensatory allowance payable in accordance with these Regulations and with Chapter V of Title II of Council Regulation 1257/1999;

“holding” has the same meaning as in Article 1 of Council Regulation 3508/92;

“individual reference quantity of milk” has the same meaning as in Article 31 of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

“less favoured area” means any area of land shown coloured blue or pink on the England LFA maps except land situated in the Isles of Scilly;

“livestock unit” means a unit of measurement of livestock numbers, and each of the following constitutes a single livestock unit—

(a) one suckler cow;

(b) one heifer aged 24 months or over;

(c) 1.67 heifers under the age of 24 months; and

(d) 6.67 ewes;

“moorland” means all the land which is shown as a less favoured area on the England LFA maps and which is also shown coloured pink in the three volumes of maps entitled “Moorland Map of England 1992” each volume being marked with the number of the volume, dated 20th February 2001, signed on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and deposited at the offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR;

“notional livestock density” means the number of livestock units per hectare of the claimant’s eligible forage area, calculated in accordance with Schedule 1;

“organic farmer” means a claimant who—

(a) throughout 2002—

(i) produced, with a view to subsequent marketing, livestock and unprocessed livestock products as referred to in Article 1(1)(a) of Council Regulation 2092/91; and

(ii) complied with any more stringent rules applying to the production of livestock or livestock products in the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 12 of Council Regulation 2092/91; and

(b) did not at any time in 2002 receive aid under the Organic Farming (Aid) Regulations 199417, the Organic Farming Regulations 199918or the Organic Farming (England Rural Development Programme) Regulations 200119;

“other competent authority” means the Scottish Ministers, the National Assembly for Wales or, in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

“permanent pasture” has the meaning specified in Article 2.1 of, and Annex I to, Commission Regulation 2316/1999;

“qualifying forage area” means the relevant forage area or, in relation to a claimant to whom regulation 9 applies, such part of the relevant forage area as results from the deductions made to the relevant forage area in accordance with that regulation;

“related less favoured area” means, in relation to a claimant, all that claimed forage area, excluding any less favoured area, in respect of which the Secretary of State has been advised by any other competent authority that the claimant is eligible for a related less favoured area allowance;

“related less favoured area allowance” means—

(a) in relation to Northern Ireland, the Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowance;

(b) in relation to Scotland, the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme; and

(c) in relation to Wales, the Tir Mynydd Scheme;

“relevant animals” means, in relation to a claimant, the suckler cows, heifers and ewes in respect of which the claimant was paid suckler cow premium or sheep annual premium in 2002;

“relevant forage area” means any claimed forage area situated in England;

“severely disadvantaged land” means any area of land shown coloured pink on the England LFA maps except land situated in the Isles of Scilly;

“sheep annual premium” means the premium payable under the Sheep Annual Premium Regulations 199220;

“suckler cow” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“suckler cow premium” means the premium payable under the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations 200121.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.

(3) A reference in these Regulations to anything done in writing or produced in written form includes a reference to an electronic communication which has been recorded and is capable of being subsequently reproduced.

S-3 Payment of hill farm allowance

Payment of hill farm allowance

3.—(1) The Secretary of State shall, subject to regulation 5, pay hill farm allowance in respect of 2003 to any claimant who is eligible under regulation 4.

(2) Hill farm allowance shall be payable to a claimant in respect of eligible forage area not exceeding 700 hectares.

S-4 Eligibility for hill farm allowance

Eligibility for hill farm allowance

4.—(1) Subject to Article 14.2 of Council Regulation 1257/1999 (third indent) a claimant shall be eligible for hill farm allowance provided—

(a)

(a) his claim is made in an area aid application submitted in 2002;

(b)

(b) the claimed forage area entered in that area aid application complies with one of the conditions specified in paragraph (2); and

(c)

(c) subject to paragraph (3), the notional livestock density is not less than 0.15.

(2) The conditions are—

(a)

(a) the claimed forage area lying within a less favoured area is at least ten hectares; or

(b)

(b) where the claimed forage area lying within a less favoured area is at least one hectare but is less than ten hectares, the total claimed forage area includes land situated in a related less favoured area which is eligible for related less favoured area allowance.

(3) The Secretary of State may determine that a notional livestock density of less than 0.15 is sufficient for the purposes of paragraph (1) if she is reasonably satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in all the circumstances of the case, including any obligation of the claimant as to the number of animals that may be kept on the land comprising the eligible forage area.

(4) In order to enable the Secretary of State to consider whether to exercise her discretion...

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