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The Common Agricultural Policy Basic Payment and Support Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

S.R. 2015/191 · Made 27 March 2015 · Extends to Northern Ireland

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 1 January 2026.

Agriculture

Made 27th March 2015

Coming into operation 30th April 2015

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is a Department designated M1 for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 M2 in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union and in relation to matters relating to the promotion of rural development.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred on it by section 2(2) of that Act.

Annotations to the whole text

Marginal citations

M1

S.I.2000/2812 to which there are amendments not relevant to the subject matter of these Regulations and S.I.2000/3238.

M2

1972 c.68.

Contents

  1. 1Title, commencement and interpretation
  2. 2Interpretation
  3. Part 1: Basic Payment Scheme
  4. 3Regions
  5. 4Payment entitlements
  6. 5Allocation of Payment Entitlements
  7. 6Regulation 6
  8. 7Regulation 7
  9. 8Regulation 8
  10. 9Regulation 9
  11. 10Regulation 10
  12. 10AActive farmers
  13. 11Active farmers Repealed
  14. 12Minimum eligible area of holding
  15. 13Regulation 13
  16. 14Date on which eligible land must be at farmer's disposal
  17. 15Reductions
  18. 16Short rotation coppice
  19. Part 2: Young farmer scheme
  20. 17Young farmer
  21. Part 3: Greening
  22. 18Calculation of greening payment Repealed
  23. 19Crop diversification Repealed
  24. 20Environmentally sensitive permanent grassland
  25. 21Ecological focus areas Repealed
  26. 22Revocations and savings
  27. Signature
  28. Schedule 1: Ecological focus areas: Nitrogen-fixing crops for the purposes of Article 45(10) of the Direct Payments Delegated Regulation
  29. Paragraph Repealed
  30. Paragraph Repealed
  31. Paragraph Repealed
  32. Paragraph Repealed
  33. Paragraph Repealed
  34. Paragraph Repealed
  35. Paragraph Repealed
  36. Explanatory note

1Title, commencement and interpretation

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Common Agricultural Policy Basic Payment and Support Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and shall come into operation on 30th April 2015.

(2)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 M1 shall apply to this Order as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

2Interpretation

(1)

In these Regulations—

  • F1“the 2025 scheme year” means the scheme year beginning on 1st January and ending on 31st December 2025,

  • “the Direct Payments Delegated Regulation” means Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No.639/2014 supplementing the Direct Payments Regulation M1;

  • “the Direct Payments Implementing Regulation” means Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No.641/2014 laying down rules for the application of the Direct Payments Regulation M2;

  • “the Direct Payments Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No. 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy M3;

  • “the European Regulations” means—

    1. (a)

      the Direct Payments Regulation;

    2. (b)

      the Direct Payments Delegated Regulation;

    3. (c)

      the Direct Payments Implementing Regulation; and

    4. (d)

      the Horizontal Implementing Regulation;

  • “the Horizontal Implementing Regulation” means Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 809/2014 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the integrated administration and control system, rural development measures and cross compliance M4;

  • F2“active farmer” means a person who holds decision making power, derives the benefits and assumes the financial risks in relation to the agricultural activity on the land;

  • F3“agricultural activity” has the same meaning as in the Direct Payments Regulation;

  • “Bank Holiday” means a day specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 M5;

  • “Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme” has the same meaning as in the Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme (Eligibility etc) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025;

  • “management control” in relation to land means management control for the purpose of any agricultural activity in the relevant scheme year and includes authority from the owner of the land to carry out the agricultural activity;

  • “working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holiday or other public holiday.

(2)

Terms used in these Regulations that are also used in any of the European Regulations have the meaning they bear in those Regulations.

F4(3)

In these Regulations, any reference to “the European Regulations” is a reference to those Regulations as amended from time to time.

3Regions

(1)

For the purposes of Article 23(1) of the Direct Payments Regulation, Northern Ireland will be a single region.

4Payment entitlements

(1)

For the purposes of Article 8(1) of the Direct Payments Implementing Regulation, the period within which the transferor of payment entitlements must notify the Department of the transfer is—

(a)

on or before 2nd May 2016, if 2016 is the first calendar year in which the transferee may include those entitlements in the transferee's application for direct payments; or

F1(aa)

on or before 15th May in relation to the 2025 scheme year and subsequent scheme years,

(b)

otherwise from 3rd May of the preceding calendar year to 2nd May (both those dates included) of the first calendar year where the first calendar year is 2017 or a subsequent year in which the transferee may include those entitlements in the transferee's application for direct payments F2, or

F3(c)

otherwise from 16th May of the preceding calendar year to 15th May (both those dates included) of the first calendar year where the first calendar year is 2026 or a subsequent year in which the transferee may include those entitlements in the transferee’s application for direct payments.

(2)

If, for the purposes of paragraph (1), 2nd May F4or 15th May is not a working day, the deadline for notification is the next working day.

F5(3)

For the purposes of Article 22(1) of the Horizontal Implementing Regulation, to the extent that Article relates to direct payments F6..., applications for the allocation of payment entitlements must be submitted on or before 15th May of the relevant calendar year.

5Allocation of Payment Entitlements

Article 21(3) of the Direct Payments Regulation shall not be applied.

6

Article 24(1)(c) of the Direct Payments Regulation shall be applied with the exception of the last sentence of that paragraph.

7

The limitations referred to in Article 24(3) of the Direct Payments Regulation shall not be applied.

8

In accordance with Article 25(4) of the Direct Payments Regulation payment entitlements with an initial unit value lower than 100% of the regional unit value in 2019 shall for claim year 2019 have their unit value increased by 71.4% of the difference between their initial unit value and 100% of the regional unit value in 2019.

9

The decrease referred to in Article 25(7) of the Direct Payments Regulation shall be applied in a linear fashion each year.

10

The initial unit value of payment entitlements as referred to in Article 26 of the Direct Payments Regulation shall be calculated in accordance with paragraph 3 of that Article.

10AActive farmersF1

(F21)

Only persons who are active farmers on land for which they have claimed payment entitlements shall be eligible to activate payment entitlements in respect of that land

F3(2)

An applicant for the Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme must have management control of any agricultural activity carried out on land used to activate entitlements.

(3)

An applicant for the Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme must carry out agricultural activity on at least 3 hectares of land used to activate entitlements.

(4)

Where an applicant for the Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme submits a claim of less than 5 hectares of land to activate entitlements, the applicant must carry out agricultural activity on at least 2 hectares of land used to activate entitlements.

11Active farmersF1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12Minimum eligible area of holding

For the purposes of Article 10(1) F1... of the Direct Payments Regulation, no direct payments may be granted to a farmer where the eligible area of the holding for which the payments are claimed or due to be granted in accordance with Article 10(1)F2... is less than three hectares.

13

For the purposes of Article 24(9) of the Direct Payments Regulation, the minimum size per holding in respect of which a farmer may apply for an allocation of payment entitlements shall be 3 hectares.

14Date on which eligible land must be at farmer's disposal

In relation to any year in which the farmer makes a declaration in respect of parcels pursuant to Article 33(1) of the Direct Payments Regulation, the date on which those parcels must be at the farmer's disposal is 15th May.

15ReductionsF1

For the purposes of Article 11(1) of the Direct Payments Regulation, where the payments to be granted to a farmer pursuant to Chapter 1 of Title III of that Regulation for a given calendar year exceed the amount stated in Column 1 of the Table it must be reduced by the percentage stated in Column 2 or Column 3 of the Table in Schedule 2 of the Farm Sustainability Payment Scheme (Eligibility etc) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 as the case may be.

16Short rotation coppice

For the purposes of Article 4(1)(k) F1... of the Direct Payments Regulation—

(a)

the list of planted tree species is—

(i)

Alder (Alnus spp);

(ii)

Birch (Betula spp);

(iii)

Hazel (Corylus avellana);

(iv)

Ash (Fraxinus excelsior);

(v)

Lime (Tilia cordata);

(vi)

Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa);

(vii)

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus);

(viii)

Willow (Salix spp); and

(ix)

Poplar (Populus spp);

(b)

the maximum harvest cycle is 5 years.

17Young farmer

(1)

The payment for young farmers as referred to in Annex I of the Direct Payments Regulation shall be calculated in accordance with Article 50(8) of that Regulation.

(2)

For the purposes of Article 50(9) of the Direct Payments Regulation, a single maximum limit of 90 hectares is applicable to the number of payment entitlements activated by the farmer.

18Calculation of greening paymentF1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19Crop diversificationF1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20Environmentally sensitive permanent grassland

F1(1)

Permanent grasslands in areas to which the Conservation Directives apply are designated as permanent grasslands which are environmentally sensitive for the purposes of and in the areas referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 45(1) of the Direct Payments Regulation as it had effect immediately before exit day.

(2)

In paragraph (1)—

“the Conservation Directives” means—

  1. (a)

    Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora M1 F2as amended from time to time ; and

  2. (b)

    Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conservation of wild birds M2 as amended from time to time ;

21Ecological focus areasF1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22Revocations and savings

(1)

The Common Agricultural Policy Single Payment and Support Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 M1 are revoked.

(2)

Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Common Agricultural Policy Single Payment and Support Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 as in force immediately before 2015 continue to apply in respect of aid applications relating to 2014 and earlier claim years.

Signature

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on 27th March 2015.

L.S.

David Small

A senior officer of the

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

.................................

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision in Northern Ireland for the administration of Regulation (EU) No.1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy (OJ No. L347, 20.12.2013, p. 608) (“the Direct Payments Regulation”) and the three other associated Regulations referred to in the regulation 2(1).

Regulation 3 provides for one region in Northern Ireland for the purposes of the basic payment scheme. Regulation 4 makes provision for the period within which a transferor must notify the Department of a transfer of payment entitlements and the deadline for submitting applications for the allocation of payment entitlements from the regional reserve.

Regulations 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 detail how the European Direct Payments Regulation will be implemented in Northern Ireland, including those Articles which will not apply here.

Regulation 11 provides detail for tests to rebut the presumption that certain businesses are not entitled to receive direct payments.

Regulations 12 and 13 define the minimum eligible area for allocating entitlements and claiming payments under the Basic Payment Scheme as 3 hectares.

Regulation 14 fixes the date on which parcels used as the basis for a claim under the basic payment scheme must be at the disposal of farmers.

Regulation 15 provides for the reduction by 100% of the part (if any) of any basic payment granted to a farmer which exceeds EUR 150,000.

Regulation 16 designates the short rotation coppice trees eligible under the basic payment scheme and sets the maximum harvest cycle. Regulation 17 provides for the basis on which an increase in direct payments to qualifying farmers aged 40 or less and participating in the young farmer scheme must be calculated.

Regulation 18 sets out how greening payments will be calculated.

Regulation 19 sets out the period to be taken into account for the purposes of determining whether crop diversification requirements have been met. Regulation 20 provides for the designation of permanent grasslands which are environmentally sensitive.

Regulation 21 sets out the areas which are to be ecological focus areas (“EFAs”) and details as to the scope of the EFAs relating to landscape features and areas with nitrogen-fixing crops.

Regulation 22 revokes the Regulations which provide in Northern Ireland for the administration of the European Single Payment and Support Scheme but with a saving provision for the continued application for the Common Agricultural Policy Single Payment and Support Scheme Regulations 2010 in respect of aid applications relating to claim years before 2015.