Regulation 16 Conversion of quota
For the purposes of the provisions of Article 4(2) of the Council Regulation (which concerns changes from direct sales to wholesale delivery and vice versa), the second sub-paragraph of Article 2(2) of the Council Regulation (which concerns replacements of purchasers) and this regulation, a producer may apply to convert, temporarily or permanently, direct sales quota to wholesale quota or wholesale quota to direct sales quota.
Where a producer wishes to convert quota permanently or temporarily in any quota year, the producer shall submit to the Scottish Ministers an application in such a form as they may reasonably require for that purpose and such application shall–
state the amount (if any) of direct sales quota of the producer, wholesale quota, direct sales and wholesale deliveries for the quota year in which the application is made, the amount of unused quota which the producer holds at the time of the application and the amount which the producer wishes the Scottish Ministers to convert; and
include such other information as they may reasonably require in order to assess whether the requirements of Article 4(2) of the Council Regulation and Article 3 of the Commission Regulation (which concerns representative fat content) are fulfilled.
The application referred to in paragraph (2) shall be submitted by the producer to the Scottish Ministers by–
in the case of a permanent conversion of quota, 31st December in the quota year in which the conversion is intended to take effect; or
in the case of temporary conversion of quota, 14th May in any year following the end of the quota year in which the temporary conversion of quota takes place.
Subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), where a producer has permanently converted quota in any quota year, that producer shall not subsequently in that quota year transfer out quota, of the type to which the producer has converted, whether temporarily or otherwise.
Where, upon an application to the Scottish Ministers by a producer who has permanently converted quota in any quota year, the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that exceptional circumstances of a type described in regulation 12(6) have resulted in a significant fall in milk production or a significant failure to achieve a planned increase in milk production, which, in the opinion of the Scottish Ministers, could have been neither foreseen nor avoided by the producer at the time of the permanent conversion by the producer, they may, in the same quota year in which the permanent conversion occurred, release that producer from the restriction in paragraph (4) to the extent that is required so as to allow the transfer of the amount of quota that the Scottish Ministers consider has remained unused in the particular case.
The restriction in paragraph (4) shall not apply to any producer who, in the immediately preceding quota year, has temporarily converted quota.