The Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1994

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the use of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;

“the appropriate Minister” means–

(a)

in relation to England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and

(b)

in relation to any other part of Great Britain, the Secretary of State;

“authorised person” means a person (whether or not an officer of the Minister concerned) who is authorised by the appropriate Minister, either generally or specially, to act in matters arising under these Regulations;

“breeding cow” means a female bovine animal comprised in a regular breeding herd which is not maintained primarily for the production of milk and which–

(a)

on or before the qualifying day has borne a calf and is capable of lactation; or

(b)

is in the opinion of the appropriate Minister in calf on the qualifying day and has been brought into the herd before that day primarily for the purpose of replacing an animal which has borne a calf and left the herd on or after 1st July 1994;

“claimant” means a person who has made a claim for a compensatory allowance under these Regulations;

“Commission Regulation 3887/92” means Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes(1);

“compensatory allowance” means the allowance payable under regulation 3;

“Council Regulation 2328/91” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2328/91 on improving the efficiency of agricultural structures(2), as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 870/93(3), Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1992/93(4) and Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3669/93(5);

“designated maps” means–

(a)

in relation to England, the 3 volumes of maps numbered 1 to 3, each such volume being marked “volume of maps of less–favoured farming areas in England” and with the number of the volume, dated 20th May 1991, signed and sealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HX;

(b)

in relation to Wales, the 2 volumes of maps numbered 1 and 2, both volumes being marked “volume of maps of less–favoured farming areas in Wales” and with the number of the volume, dated 20th May 1991, signed by the Secretary of State for Wales and deposited at the offices of the Welsh Office Agriculture Department at Trawsgoed, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 4HT;

(c)

in relation to Scotland, the 4 maps numbered 1 to 4, each such map being marked “map of less–favoured farming areas in Scotland” and with the number of the map, dated 15th May 1991, signed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and deposited at the offices of the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department at Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh EH14 1TW;

“disadvantaged land” means the land shown coloured blue or coloured pink on the designated maps, being land–

(a)

which is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, inherently suitable for extensive livestock production but not for the production of crops in quantity materially greater than that necessary to feed such livestock as are capable of being maintained on such land; and

(b)

whose agricultural production is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, restricted in its range by, or by any combination of, soil, relief, aspect or climate;

“ECU” means the unit of account used in legal instruments relating to the common agricultural policy of the European Community as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3180/78(6), as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2626/84(7) and Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1971/89(8), and any reference in these Regulations to a specified number of ECU in relation to a compensatory allowance shall be taken to be a reference to the sterling equivalent of that number of ECU, converted into sterling in accordance with Article 3(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3813/92 on the unit of account and the conversion rates to be applied for the purposes of the common agricultural policy(9) at the agricultural conversion rate applicable on 1st January in the year in respect of which the compensatory allowance is paid;

“eligible land” means an area of land of not less than three hectares–

(a)

which is situated in an area included in the list of less–favoured farming areas adopted by the Council of the European Communities under Article 2(2) of Council Directive 75/268/EEC on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less–favoured areas(10), as amended by Council Directive 80/666/EEC(11) and Council Directive 82/786/EEC(12), which list is contained in Council Directive 84/169/EEC(13), as amended by Commis– sion Decision 91/25/EEC(14); and

(b)

which is severely disadvantaged land or disadvantaged land;

“ewe” means a female sheep which, on the qualifying day, is at least one year old;

“forage area” has the same meaning as in the second indent of Article 4g(3) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 805/68 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(15), as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2066/92(16);

“livestock unit” means a unit of measurement of numbers of livestock described in Article 19 of and Annex 1 to Council Regulation 2328/91;

“occupier” includes a person who has a right to use eligible land for the purpose of grazing cattle or sheep;

“overgrazing” means grazing land with livestock in such numbers as adversely to affect the growth, quality or species composition of vegetation (other than vegetation normally grazed to destruction) on that land to a significant degree, and “overgrazed” shall be construed accordingly;

“qualified flock” means a flock of sheep which is kept on eligible land, or on eligible land and other land used with it, and which is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister–

(a)

maintained primarily for the purpose of breeding and rearing lambs; and

(b)

maintained and managed in accordance with sound husbandry practice;

“the qualifying day” means the day of submission of a claim for a compensatory allowance under these Regulations;

“regular breeding herd” means a herd of cattle which is kept on eligible land, or on eligible land and other land used with it, and which is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister–

(a)

maintained primarily for the purpose of breeding and rearing calves; and

(b)

maintained and managed in accordance with sound husbandry practice;

“the 1984 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1984(17);

“the 1992 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1992(18);

“the 1993 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1993(19);

“relevant afforested land” means land which in the opinion of the appropriate Minister was converted to forest on or after 1st January 1986 and before 1st January 1988 by or on behalf of a person to whom a compensatory allowance was paid in respect of that land under the 1984 Regulations, the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1979(20) or the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1975(21) before the date when the conversion to forest was completed; but land shall cease to be relevant afforested land for the purposes of these Regulations 15 years after the date when such conversion was completed;

“retirement pension” means a category A and category B pension within the meaning of section 20(1)(f) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(22), a category C and category D pension within the meaning of section 63(f) of that Act, or graduated retirement benefit as referred to in Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Graduated Retirement Benefit) (No. 2) Regulations 1978(23);

“Scheme year” means 1995 and each succeeding calendar year;

“severely disadvantaged land”means–

(a)

the land shown coloured pink on the designated maps, being land–

(i)

which is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, inherently suitable for extensive livestock production but not for the production of crops in quantity materially greater than that necessary to feed such livestock as are capable of being maintained on such land, and

(ii)

whose agricultural production is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, severely restricted in its range by, or by any combination of, soil, relief, aspect or climate; or

(b)

land situated in the Isles of Scilly;

“sound husbandry practice” includes practice in relation to the grazing and feeding of livestock;

“specified control measure” means any check which a member State is required to carry out under Article 6 of Commission Regulation 3887/92;

“unsuitable supplementary feeding methods” means providing supplementary feed (other than to maintain livestock during abnormal weather conditions) in such a manner as to result in damage to vegetation through excessive trampling or poaching of the land by animals or excessive rutting by vehicles.

(2) Where in Scotland any agricultural unit consists in part only of eligible land, that land or any part thereof shall be deemed for the purposes of these Regulations not to be eligible land unless, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, such land or such part thereof would be suitable to be dealt with as a separate unit which is capable, having regard to the number of other animals normally grazed thereon, of maintaining a regular breeding herd or a qualified flock.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to–

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

(b) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation in which the reference appears.

(1)

OJ No. L391, 31.12.92, p.36.

(2)

OJ No. L218, 6.8.91, p.1.

(3)

OJ No. L91, 15.4.93, p.10.

(4)

OJ No. L182, 24.7.93, p.12.

(5)

OJ No. L338, 31.12.93, p.26.

(6)

OJ No. L379, 30.12.78, p.1.

(7)

OJ No. L249, 18.9.84, p.1.

(8)

OJ No. L189, 4.7.89, p.1.

(9)

OJ No. L387, 31.12.92, p.1.

(10)

OJ No. L128, 19.5.75, p.1.

(11)

OJ No. L180, 14.7.80, p.34.

(12)

OJ No. L327, 24.11.82, p.19.

(13)

OJ No. L82, 26.3.84, p.67.

(14)

OJ No. L16, 22.1.91, p.25.

(15)

OJ No. L148, 28.6.68, p.24 (OJ/SE vol I p.187).

(16)

OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p.49.

(17)

S.I. 1984/2024, amended by S.I. 1985/2075, 1987/2129, 1991/392 and 1991/1439 and revoked, in so far as they applied to Northern Ireland, by S.R. (N.I.) 1987 No. 92 and, in so far as they applied to Great Britain, by S.I. 1992/269.

(18)

S.I. 1992/269, amended by S.I. 1993/70 and revoked by S.I. 1993/2631.

(19)

S.I. 1993/2631, amended by S.I. 1993/2924 and S.I. 1994/94 and revoked by these Regulations.

(20)

S.I. 1979/1748, amended by S.I. 1980/2028, 1981/1843 and 1982/1886 and revoked by S.I. 1984/2024.

(21)

S.I. 1975/2210, amended by S.I. 1976/1203, 1977/1960 and 1979/941 and revoked by S.I. 1979/1748.

(22)

1992 c. 4.

(23)

S.I. 1978/393, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.