Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Extensification Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 and shall come into operation on 27th April 2001.

Interpretation

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In these Regulations—

“authorised person” means a person who is authorised by the Department, either generally or specially, to act, subject to regulation 13, in matters arising under these Regulations;

“beef special premium” means the special premium for male bovine animals provided for in Article 4 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“bovine animal” means an animal of the domestic bovine species;

“cattle passport” means, in relation to a bovine animal—

“census date” means a date determined by the Department pursuant to the first sub-paragraph of Article 32(3) of Commission Regulation 2342/1999, on which bovine animals on claimants' holdings are to be counted in accordance with the third sub-paragraph of the said Article 32(3);

“claim” means an indication, given in accordance with Article 32(1) of Commission Regulation 2342/1999, that a producer wishes to participate in the extensification payment scheme and “claimed”, in relation to an extensification payment, shall be interpreted accordingly;

“claimant” means a producer who submits a claim;

“claimant’s document” means any of the following documents or records, whether in writing or kept by means of a computer—

“Commission Regulation 3887/92” means Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes(7);

“Commission Regulation 2342/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes(8) (as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1042/2000(9), Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1900/2000(10), Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2733/2000(11) and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 192/2001(12);

“the Community rules” means the rules concerning the extensification payment laid down in Articles 12, 13, 21 and 23 of Council Regulation 1254/1999 and Chapter IV of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

“Council Regulation 820/97” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef products(13);

“Council Regulation 1254/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No.1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(14);

“Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

“extensification payment” means the extensification payment granted, for each beef special premium and suckler cow premium granted, to producers who comply with certain stocking density requirements, which is provided for in Article 13 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“holding” means all the production units managed by a producer situated within the United Kingdom;

“the IACS Regulations” means the Integrated Administration and Control System Regulations 1993(15);

“officer” means a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a claimant which is a body corporate, or any person who purports to act in any such capacity;

“producer” has the same meaning as in Chapter 1 of Title I of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

“Regulation 1760/2000” means Regulation (EC) No. 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 820/97(16);

“relevant competent authority” has the same meaning as in the IACS Regulations;

“the simplified scheme” means the system of checking compliance with the stocking density requirements laid down in Article 13(2) of Council Regulation 1254/1999 on the basis of a claimant’s declaration and undertaking, which is provided for in Article 32(4) of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

“specified control measure” means any check which a member State is required to carry out under Article 6 of Commission Regulation 3887/92;

“the standard scheme” means the system of checking compliance with the stocking density requirements laid down in Article 13(2) of Council Regulation 1254/1999 by counting bovine animals on census dates, which is provided for in Article 32(3) of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

“suckler cow premium” means the premium for maintaining suckler cows provided for in Articles 6 to 10 of Council Regulation 1254/1999.

(3) 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.

Application

3.  Regulations 4 to 8 shall apply to claimants to the extent that the Department is the relevant competent authority in relation to their holdings for the purposes of the IACS Regulations.

Choice of scheme

4.  A claimant may, when making a claim, choose for the calendar year in question the simplified scheme, instead of the standard scheme.

Supporting information

5.—(1) A claimant shall, at the request of the Department, supply to the Department such information and such documents as the Department may reasonably require for the purpose of determining whether the claimant qualifies for an extensification payment.

(2) Where the Department requires such information or documents, the claimant shall supply the Department with it or them within such period as the Department reasonably may determine.

Pasture land

6.  For the purposes of Article 13(3)(c) of Council Regulation 1254/1999 (which requires that a claimant’s forage area consists of at least fifty per cent of pasture land), pasture land is defined as grassland, including rough grazing, which, following the local farming practices, is recognised as being destined for grazing bovine animals or sheep or both.

Withholding and recovery of extensification payments

7.  The Department may withhold, or recover on demand, the whole or any part of any extensification payment claimed from or granted by it in any of the following circumstances—

(a)where the grant of an extensification payment to the claimant in question would not, or does not, comply with the Community rules;

(b)where the claimant in question has artificially complied with a stocking density requirement laid down in Article 13(2) of Council Regulation 1254/1999 by removing bovine animals from his holding otherwise than in accordance with normal husbandry practice;

(c)where, pursuant to regulation 10(4) of the Beef Special Premium (Protection of Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(17) or regulation 3A(4) of the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993(18) (which prescribe penalties for overgrazing land), the Department withholds or recovers from the claimant in question any beef special premium or suckler cow premium;

(d)where, pursuant to regulation 11 of the Beef Special Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 or regulation 3B of the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 (which prescribe penalties for using unsuitable supplementary feeding methods), the Department reduces or withholds the amount of beef special premium or suckler cow premium otherwise payable to the claimant in question;

(e)where the claimant in question, or an officer, employee, servant or agent of that claimant, intentionally obstructs an authorised person, or a person accompanying an authorised person and acting under his instructions, from exercising any power conferred by regulation 10 or 11, or fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement made by an authorised person, under regulation 11, or with a request made by an authorised person under regulation 12;

(f)where the claimant in question has failed to supply the information or documents required by the Department pursuant to regulation 5, or has failed to supply it or them within the required period;

(g)where the claimant in question fails, in the reasonable opinion of the Department, to keep any claimant’s document in a form which is accurate and up to date;

(h)where the claimant in question, when so requested by an authorised person requiring information pursuant to regulation 11(a), is unable to demonstrate that he can ascertain the number of bovine animals of six months of age or more on his holding on any day of the calendar year for which an extensification payment has been or will be granted.

Rate of interest

8.  Where the Department recovers the whole or any part of any extensification payment pursuant to regulation 7, unless the sum recovered was paid as a result of its own error, it shall be entitled in addition to charge and recover on demand interest on the sum recovered at the rate of one per cent above the sterling three months London Interbank Offered Rate on a day-to-day basis for the period from payment to recovery.

Exercise of powers by authorised persons

9.  An authorised person may at all reasonable hours and on producing, if so required, some duly authenticated document showing his authority, exercise the powers conferred by regulations 10 and 11 for the purposes of—

(a)carrying out any specified control measure; or

(b)ascertaining whether an offence under regulation 14 has been or is being committed; or

(c)ensuring that an extensification payment has been or will be granted only in accordance with the Community rules.

Powers of entry and inspection

10.—(1) An authorised person may enter any land, other than land used only as a dwelling, which is, or which he reasonably believes to be, occupied by a claimant or used by him for keeping bovine animals.

(2) An authorised person who has entered any land by virtue of this regulation may:—

(a)inspect and verify the area of the land or any part thereof;

(b)inspect and count any bovine animals on the land and read their eartags or other identification marks;

(c)inspect and count any sheep and goats on the land; and

(d)carry out any other activity which is a specified control measure.

(3) An authorised person entering land by virtue of this regulation may take with him such other persons acting under his instructions as he considers necessary.

Powers in relation to documents

11.  An authorised person may—

(a)require a claimant or any officer, employee, servant or agent of a claimant to produce any claimant’s document in his possession or under his control and to supply such additional information in that person’s possession or under his control relating to a claim as the authorised person may reasonably request;

(b)examine any claimant’s document referred to in paragraph (a) and, where it is kept by means of a computer, have access to, and inspect and check the operation of, any computer and any associated apparatus or material which is or has been used in connection with that claimant’s document;

(c)make such copies of any claimant’s document referred to in paragraph (a) as he may think fit; and

(d)seize and retain any claimant’s document referred to in paragraph (a) which he has reason to believe may be required as evidence in proceedings under these Regulations and, where any such claimant’s document is kept by means of a computer, require it to be produced in a form in which it may be taken away.

Assistance to authorised persons

12.  A claimant, any officer, employee, servant or agent of a claimant and any person in charge of animals on land entered pursuant to regulation 10 shall render an authorised person such assistance as he may reasonably request so as to enable him to exercise any power conferred by regulation 10 or 11 and in particular, in relation to any bovine animal, sheep or goat, shall arrange for the penning and securing of such animal if so requested.

Limits on powers of authorised persons

13.  An authorised person may exercise the powers conferred by regulations 10 and 11, and act otherwise in matters arising under these Regulations, only where, and to the extent that, the Department is the relevant competent authority in relation to a claimant’s holding by virtue of the IACS Regulations.

Offences

14.  It shall be an offence for a person—

(a)intentionally to obstruct an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by regulation 10 or 11;

(b)without reasonable excuse, to fail to comply with a requirement made under regulation 11 or a request made under regulation 12;

(c)knowingly or recklessly to make a statement or furnish any information which is false or misleading in a material particular where the statement is made or the information is furnished for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person the grant of an extensification payment.

Penalties

15.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 14(a) or (b) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 14(c) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Time limit for prosecutions

16.—(1) Proceedings for an offence under regulation 14 may, subject to paragraph (2), be commenced within the period of six months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to warrant proceedings comes to his knowledge.

(2) No such proceedings shall be commenced by virtue of this regulation more than twelve months after the commission of the offence.

(3) For the purpose of this regulation, a certificate signed by or on behalf of the prosecutor and stating the date on which evidence sufficient in his opinion to warrant the proceedings came to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.

(4) A certificate stating that matter and purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations, which come into operation on 27th April 2001, lay down implementing measures for the extensification payment scheme introduced by Article 13 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal (O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 21) for beef producers who comply with certain stocking density requirements. The Regulations prescribe rules for the administration of the scheme in relation to holdings in Northern Ireland and also holdings situated partly in Northern Ireland and partly elsewhere in the United Kingdom, where the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for processing the farmer’s claim for extensification payments (regulations 4 to 8). They also lay down enforcement provisions in relation to holdings or parts of holdings in Northern Ireland (regulations 9 to 16).

The rules relating to administration provide for the two Community methods of calculating stocking density (regulation 4), require producers to supply information in support of their claims (regulation 5), define “pasture land” for the purposes of the scheme (regulation 6) and provide for withholding or recovery of extensification payments where there is a breach of the rules of the scheme (regulations 7 and 8).

The enforcement provisions confer powers of entry, inspection and collection of evidence on authorised persons (regulations 9 to 13). These include the powers required under Article 6 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (O.J. No. L391, 31.12.92, p. 36, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2721/2000 (O.J. No. L314, 14.12.2000, p. 8)). Regulations 14 to 16 deal with offences and penalties.