The Common Agricultural Policy Single Farm Payment and Support Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011

Withholding and recovery of payments

4.—(1) The Scottish Ministers are entitled to recover as a debt the whole of any Scheme payment made to an applicant where the applicant or keeper, or any employee, agent, contractor or tenant of the applicant or keeper—

(a) obstructs an authorised person (or a person accompanying an authorised person and acting under the instructions of the authorised person), from exercising a power under paragraph 2; or

(b) fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a request made by an authorised person—

(i) under paragraph 3; or

(ii) when that person is carrying out a specified control measure.

(2) Where an applicant is liable to repay all or part of a Scheme payment in accordance with Article 80 of Commission Regulation 1122/2009, the amount of the repayment, together with the interest on that amount as calculated in accordance with paragraph 6, is recoverable as a debt.

(3) In any legal proceedings brought pursuant to sub-paragraph (2), a certificate of the relevant competent authority which—

(a) sets out the LIBOR applicable during a specified period; and

(b) includes a statement that the Bank of England or the coordinating body notified the Scottish Ministers of that rate for that period,

is evidence of the rate applicable during that period.

(4) In sub-paragraph (3), “the coordinating body” means the coordinating body referred to in Article 6(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(1).

(1)

OJ L 209, 11.8.2005, p.1, as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 473/2009 of 25 May 2009 (OJ L 144, 9.6.2009, p.3).