The Direct Payments to Farmers and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Amendments etc.) (Wales) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Amendment of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 640/2014

3.—(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 640/2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the integrated administration and control system and conditions for refusal or withdrawal of payments and administrative penalties applicable to direct payments, rural development support and cross compliance(1), is amended, insofar as it relates to direct payments, as follows.

(2) In Article 2(1), for point (22) substitute—

“(22) ‘use’ in relation to area means the use of area in terms of the type of permanent grassland as defined in Article 4(1)(h) of Regulation (EU) No. 1307/2013, or areas of grassland, other than permanent grassland, or ground cover or the absence of a crop;”.

(3) In Article 5(2)—

(a) omit point (c);

(b) in point (d), omit the words from “areas designated” to the end.

(4) In Article 6—

(a) for paragraph 1 substitute—

“1.   The relevant authority shall annually assess the quality of the identification system for agricultural parcels. Where the results of the quality assessment reveal deficiencies in the system, the relevant authority shall take appropriate remedial action.”;

(b) for paragraph 2 substitute—

“2.   The relevant authority shall perform the assessment referred to in paragraph 1 on the basis of a sample of reference parcels.”;

(c) in paragraph 3, omit “by 31 January 2021”.

(5) In Article 7(1), omit “at United Kingdom level”.

(6) Omit the final subparagraph of Article 9(3).

(7) Omit Article 10.

(8) In Article 13—

(a) omit the second subparagraph of paragraph 1;

(b) after the final subparagraph of paragraph 1 insert—

“All documents in support of an aid application, must be submitted by 31 December of that calendar year.”;

(c) in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3, for “third” substitute “second”.

(9) Omit the second subparagraph of Article 16(1).

(10) In Article 18(2), omit “and (8)”.

(11) In Article 19a—

(a) for paragraph 2 substitute—

“2.   The administrative penalty referred to in paragraph 1 shall be reduced by 50% if the difference between the area declared and the area determined does not exceed 10% of the area determined.”;

(b) omit paragraphs 3 and 4.

(12) Omit Articles 22 to 29.

(13) Omit the final sentence of Article 38(1).

(1)

EUR 2014/640, amended in relation to direct payment schemes by S.I. 2020/90 and in relation to direct payment schemes in England by S.I. 2020/551. EUR 2014/640 is also amended prospectively with effect from implementation period completion day by S.I. 2019/765. However, by virtue of the amendments in the Agriculture (Payments) (Amendment, etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, these prospective amendments do not have effect in relation to direct payment schemes.