The Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2001

InterpretationU.K.

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1975 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1975 M1;

• “the 1979 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1979 M2;

• “the 1984 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1984 M3;

• “the 1994 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1994 M4;

• “the 1996 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1996 M5;

• “the 1999 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1999 M6;

• “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, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;

• “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 compensatory 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 the year 2000;

• “Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

• “Commission Regulation 1750/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1750/1999 M7 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation 1257/1999, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2075/2000 M8;

• “Commission Regulation 2316/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2316/1999 M9 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1251/1999 M10, as last amended by Commission Regulation 2860/2000 M11;

• “Commission Regulation 2342/1999” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2342/1999 M12 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, as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1900/2000 M13;

• “common land” means any land which is registered as common land with grazing rights under the Commons Registration Act 1965 M14;

• “Council Regulation 3508/92” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92 M15 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes, as last amended by Council Regulation 1593/2000 M16;

• “Council Regulation 1254/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1254/1999 M17 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal;

• “Council Regulation 1257/1999” means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 M18 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF);

• “designated 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 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SWIP 3HX;

• “disadvantaged land” (except in the expression “severely disadvantaged land”) means land shown coloured blue on the designated maps;

• “eligible land” means land within the less favoured area or relevant afforested land;

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

• “ewe” means a female sheep which is at least one year old, or has lambed, on 1st January 2001;

• “first compensatory allowance” means hill farm allowance or, where a compensatory allowance has been paid under the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations, the first payment of that allowance;

• “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 regulations 7 and 8 of these Regulations and with Chapter V of Title II of Council Regulation 1257/1999;

• “Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations” means the 1994 Regulations, the 1996 Regulations or the 1999 Regulations, as the case may be;

• “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 all that land coloured blue or pink on the designated maps and land situate in the Isles of Scilly;

• “livestock unit” means a unit of measurement of livestock numbers, and the following constitute a single livestock unit—

  (a)

  one suckler cow or a heifer if aged 24 months or over;

  (b)

  1.67 heifers under the age of 24 months; or

  (c)

  6.67 ewes;

• “Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

• “moorland” means all that land which is shown as less favoured area in the designated maps and which is also depicted in 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 by the Minister of State and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR;

• “notional livestock density” means the number of livestock units per hectare of eligible forage area, calculated as a fraction of which the numerator is the number of relevant animals expressed in livestock units and the denominator is the claimant’s eligible forage area expressed in hectares;

• “Organic Farming schemes” means the aid schemes made under the Organic Farming (Aid) Regulations 1994 M19 or the Organic Farming Regulations 1999 M20 as the case may be;

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

• “registered organic farmer” means a claimant who is registered with UKROFS or with an organisation that is itself registered with UKROFS and who, in the year 2000 was—

  (a)

  not in receipt of aid under one of the Organic Farming schemes; or

  (b)

  not undergoing conversion to organic farming;

• “relevant afforested land” means land which, in the opinion of the Minister, was converted to forest on or after 1st January 1986 and before 1st January 1988 by or on behalf of a person to whom a compensatory allowance was paid in respect of the land under the 1975 Regulations, the 1979 Regulations or the 1984 Regulations before the date when the conversion to forest was completed, but such land shall cease to be relevant afforested land for the purposes of these Regulations 15 years after the date on which such conversion was completed;

• “relevant animals” means the suckler cows, heifers and ewes in respect of which a claimant, in the year 2000, applied for suckler cow premium or, as the case may be, sheep annual premium;

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

• “severely disadvantaged land” means land shown coloured pink on the designated maps and land situate in the Isles of Scilly;

• “sheep annual premium” means the premium payable under the Sheep Annual Premium Regulations 1992 M21;

• “suckler cow” shall have 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 1993 M22; and

• “UKROFS” means the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards;

(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) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation (with no corresponding reference to a specific instrument) is a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations and any reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule to these Regulations.

(4) 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 consequently capable of being reproduced.