The Organic Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Interpretation S

2.—(1) In these Regulations–

“application” means an application for grant under these Regulations, and “applicant” and “apply” shall be construed accordingly;

“authorised person” means a person who is authorised by the Scottish Ministers, either generally or specifically, to act in relation to matters arising under these Regulations;

“beneficiary” means–

(a)

a person or grazings committee whose application for a grant in respect of any farm or part of a farm has been accepted by the Scottish Ministers; or

(b)

a person who occupies a farm or part of a farm following a change of occupation of that farm or part and whose undertaking to comply with the obligations relating to that farm or part assumed by its previous occupier has been accepted by the Scottish Ministers under regulation 16(1);

“capital grant” means a grant for carrying out activities specified in column 1 of Schedule 1;

“Commission Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 445/2002 M1 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation 1257/99, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 567/2003 M2 and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 963/2003 M3 ;

“conversion grant” means a grant for converting a farm or part of a farm to organic farming methods;

“conversion plan” means a report which identifies how a farm or part of a farm will be converted to being fully organic over a period of at least two years;

“date of entry into the conversion part of the scheme” means 1st September following the applicant’s making of the application for the conversion grant;

“date of entry into the maintenance part of the scheme” means–

(a)

where an applicant applies for the maintenance grant during the specified period of an undertaking given under the 1994 Regulations, the later of–

(i)

1st September following the applicant’s making of the application for the maintenance grant; and

(ii)

the earlier of–

(aa)

the day after the end of the specified period of the undertaking; and

(bb)

1st November following the applicant’s making of the application for the maintenance grant; and

(b)

in all other cases, 1st September following the applicant’s making of the application for the maintenance grant;

“date of registration” means the date on which an applicant for a conversion grant or a beneficiary first registered the farm or part of a farm which is the subject of the application with a private inspection body;

“eligible arable land” means eligible land within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the Arable Area Payments Regulations 1996 M4 ;

“farm” includes a common grazing;

“first certificate of registration” means a certificate of registration issued by a private inspection body for the period commencing with the date of registration in respect of a farm or part of a farm which is the subject of an application for a conversion grant;

“fully organic” means able to produce products entitled to bear indications referring to the organic production method in terms of Regulation 2092/91;

“grazings committee” means a committee appointed under section 47(1) or (3) of the 1993 Act and includes a grazings constable;

“holding” means all the production units farmed by an applicant or beneficiary;

“improved grassland” means either land used for grazing where over one third of the sward comprises, singly or in mixture, ryegrass, coxsfoot or timothy, or land that has been improved by management practices such as liming and top dressing, where there is not a significant presence of sensitive plant species indicative of native unimproved grassland;

“landlord” means–

(a)

in the case of agricultural land to which the 2003 Act applies and the 1991 Act does not apply, the landlord within the meaning of section 93 of the 2003 Act;

(b)

in the case of an agricultural holding to which the 1991 Act applies, the landlord within the meaning of section 85 of that Act;

(c)

in the case of a croft within the meaning of the 1993 Act, the landlord within the meaning of section 61(1) of that Act;

(d)

in the case of a holding within the meaning of the 1911 Act to which the 1991 Act does not apply, the same as it means in the 1911 Act,

and, where appropriate, includes a head tenant;

“LIBOR”, in relation to any particular day of the month, means the rate of interest per centum notified by the Bank of England on the first working day of the month, provided if necessary to two decimal places;

“maintenance grant” means a grant for maintaining organic farming methods on a farm or part of a farm;

“organic farming methods” means the methods of farming which comply with Regulation 2092/91 and the Organic Standards Compendium;

“organic production unit” means land, other than a common grazing, which is fully organic;

“private inspection body” means a private inspection body which holds a current approval under Article 9 (national inspection system for organic farming) of Regulation 2092/91 from the Scottish Ministers;

“production unit” means land, other than a common grazing, farmed in Scotland by an applicant or beneficiary which has been accepted by a private inspection body as viable for conversion to organic farming methods;

“Regulation 2092/91” has the same meaning as it has in Schedule 2;

“Regulation 1257/99 means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/99 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGFF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations M5 as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1783/2003 M6 ;

“Regulation 2419/2001” means Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2419/2001 M7 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes established by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2550/2001 M8 ;

“rough grazings” means land containing semi-natural vegetation including heathland, heather moorland, bog and rough grassland used or suitable for use as grazing;

“scheme” means the scheme to encourage organic farming methods as authorised under Articles 22 to 24 of Regulation 1257/99 and provided by these Regulations;

“Scottish Natural Heritage” means Scottish Natural Heritage established under section 1 of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 M9 ;

“site of special scientific interest” means land designated as a site of special scientific interest pursuant to section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 M10 ;

“specified conversion period” means the period of five years commencing on the date of registration;

“specified maintenance period” means the period of five years commencing on the date the applicant for a maintenance grant proposes to assume the obligations under the undertaking to be granted under regulation 9 as specified in the application for maintenance grant in terms of regulation 11(1)(d)(ii);

“specified period” in relation to undertakings given under the 1994 Regulations, has the same meaning as it has in regulation 2(1) of the 1994 Regulations;

“tenant” means–

(a)

in the case of agricultural land to which the 2003 Act applies and the 1991 Act does not apply, the tenant within the meaning of section 93 of the 2003 Act;

(b)

in the case of an agricultural holding to which the 1991 Act applies, the tenant within the meaning of section 85 of that Act;

(c)

in the case of a croft within the meaning of the 1993 Act, the crofter within the meaning of section 3(3) of that Act;

(d)

in the case of a holding within the meaning of the 1911 Act to which the 1991 Act does not apply, the landholder within the meaning of section 2(2) of the 1911 Act,

and, where appropriate, includes a sub-tenant;

“the 1911 Act” means the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 M11 ;

“the 1991 Act” means the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 M12 ;

“the 1993 Act” means the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 M13 ;

“the 1994 Regulations” means the Organic Aid (Scotland) Regulations 1994 M14 ;

“the 2003 Act” means the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 M15 ;

“the Crofters Commission” means the Crofters Commission established under section 1 of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955 M16

“the Organic Standards Compendium” means the Compendium of UK Organic Standards, December 2003 edition, published by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;

“the Scottish Environment Protection Agency” means the Scottish Environment Protection Agency established under section 20 of the Environment Act 1995 M17 ;

“unimproved grassland” means land used for grazing or mowing which does not constitute improved pasture or rough grazing;

“vegetable and fruit land” means land used for growing vegetables or fruit.

(2) In these Regulations–

(a) any reference to a numbered regulation or to a numbered Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and

(b) a reference to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation or Schedule in which that reference occurs.

Marginal Citations

M1 O.J. No. L 74, 15.3.02, p.1.

M2 O.J. No. L 82, 29.3.03, p.11.

M3 O.J. No. L 138, 5.6.03, p.32.

M4 S.I. 1996/3142 as amended by S.I. 1997/2969, 1998/3169, 1999/8, 2000/2573, 2001/430 and 3686, 2002/3159 and S.S.I. 2001/390.

M5 O.J. No. L 160, 26.6.99, p.80.

M6 O.J. No. L 270, 21.10.03, p.70.

M7 O.J. No. L 327, 12.12.01, p.11.

M8 O.J. No. L 341, 22.12.01, p.105.

M9 1991 c. 28.

M10 1981 c. 69.

M11 1911 c. 49.

M12 1991 c. 55 as amended by the 2003 Act.

M13 1993 c. 44.

M14 S.I. 1994/1701 as amended by S.I. 1996/3083 and 1999/107.

M15 2003 asp 11.

M16 1955 c. 21.

M17 1995 c. 25.