The Plant Protection Products (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2011

Title and commencement U.K.

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Plant Protection Products (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2011 and, subject to paragraph (2), come into force on 24th September 2011.

(2) Regulations 3(2) and 6 come into force on 26^th November 2011.

Interpretation U.K.

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“authorisation holder” means the holder of a valid authorisation or permit for a plant protection product—

(a)

issued in accordance with Regulation 1107/2009, or

(b)

deemed to be issued in accordance with that Regulation,

unless there is a nominated sales representative for that plant protection product, in which case it means that person;

“the Directive” means Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides(1);

“import tolerance” has the same meaning as in the MRL Regulation;

“liability period” means the period between 1 April in any year and 31 March in the following year;

“the MRL Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed of plant and animal origin and amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC(2);

“nominated sales representative” means any person who has agreed in writing with the holder of a valid authorisation or permit for a plant protection product, issued in accordance with Regulation 1107/2009 or deemed to be issued in accordance with that Regulation, to be a sales representative for the authorised or permitted plant protection product and to pay the charge under these Regulations;

“Regulation 1107/2009” means Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC(3) and 91/414/EEC(4);

“United Kingdom competent authorities” means—

(c)

in relation to England and Wales, the Secretary of State;

(d)

in relation to Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland; and

(e)

in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Ministers.

(2) Expressions used in both these Regulations and Regulation 1107/2009, other than “authorisation holder”, have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in Regulation 1107/2009.

Functions of the Member State U.K.

3.—(1) The functions of the Member State referred to in Article 74(1) of Regulation 1107/2009 are to be performed by the United Kingdom competent authorities.

(2) The functions of the Member State referred to in Article 19(1) of the Directive are to be performed by the United Kingdom competent authorities.

Fees U.K.

4.—(1) A United Kingdom competent authority may charge fees for work carried out within the scope of Regulation 1107/2009 which relates to evaluating applications made to it for the—

(a) authorisation of plant protection products;

(b) approval of active substances, safeners, synergists or basic substances; or

(c) official recognition of a test facility or organisation,

and such fees are payable in accordance with Schedule 1.

(2) A United Kingdom competent authority may charge fees for applications for import tolerances under Article 7 of the MRL Regulation and such fees are payable in accordance with Schedule 2.

(3) The fees in these Regulations apply in relation to any activity carried out after they come into force, provided no invoice has been issued under the Plant Protection Product (Fees) Regulations 2007(5) or the Plant Protection Products (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004(6) in relation to that work.

(4) Fees are payable by the applicant, on invoice, to a United Kingdom competent authority.

(5) A United Kingdom competent authority is under no obligation to process or to issue a decision in respect of an outstanding application if there are outstanding fees in relation to it.

(6) In paragraph (5), “outstanding application” means any application for which a fee has been charged under the Plant Protection Products (Fees) Regulations 2007, the Plant Protection Products (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 or under these Regulations.

(7) Any unpaid fee may be recovered by a United Kingdom competent authority as a civil debt.

Charge in relation to Regulation 1107/2009 and the MRL Regulation U.K.

5.  A United Kingdom competent authority may make an annual charge in respect of any costs incurred by it, or on its behalf—

(a) associated with any work carried out within the scope of Regulation 1107/2009; or

(b) arising from obligations under the MRL Regulation,

other than for collecting and processing information, or monitoring the effect of the use of plant protection products, for which a charge has been made under section 18(2)(b) or (c) of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985(7).

Charge in relation to the Directive U.K.

6.  A United Kingdom competent authority may make an annual charge in respect of any costs incurred by it, or on its behalf, in relation to carrying out work pursuant to obligations within the scope of the Directive.

Liability to pay the charge U.K.

7.—(1) In respect of a given liability period a charge shall be payable by an authorisation holder, on invoice, to a United Kingdom competent authority.

(2) A United Kingdom competent authority shall not charge for any costs under paragraph (1) in respect of which a fee is payable under regulation 4(1) and Schedule 1, or regulation 4(2) and Schedule 2.

(3) A United Kingdom competent authority may exclude an authorisation holder from the requirement to pay a charge where that authority decides it would be uneconomical to collect that charge.

(4) Where an authorisation holder becomes liable to pay a charge in accordance with paragraph (1) at any time during the liability period, that person will be liable to pay a charge for the whole of that liability period.

(5) If an authorisation holder fails to pay the charge in full, the United Kingdom competent authority may suspend any or all of the authorisations or permits for plant protection products held by the authorisation holder or for which the authorisation holder is the nominated sales representative.

(6) Any unpaid charge may be recovered by a United Kingdom competent authority as a civil debt.

Calculation of charge U.K.

8.—(1) The United Kingdom competent authorities must calculate the amounts which authorisation holders are liable to pay under regulations 5 and 6 in accordance with the following paragraphs.

(2) Where an authorisation holder is liable to pay a charge in respect of more than one plant protection product, the authorisation holder shall be treated as one authorisation holder for the purposes of calculating the charge and collecting payments.

(3) The United Kingdom competent authorities will calculate the charge payable by an authorisation holder by applying a percentage to the authorisation holder’s annual turnover. The percentage must be calculated by applying the following formula—

A/B x 100% = the percentage

where—

A

=

the total costs incurred in the liability period, and

B

=

the total annual turnover.

(4) An authorisation holder must provide a United Kingdom competent authority with evidence of its annual turnover for a given liability period on request.

(5) If insufficient evidence of annual turnover is submitted or if no evidence is submitted by an authorisation holder, the annual turnover will be such figure as the United Kingdom competent authorities consider reasonable.

(6) In this regulation—

“total costs incurred” means the costs referred to in regulations 5 and 6 excluding any costs in respect of which a fee is payable under regulation 4(1) and Schedule 1, or regulation 4(2) and Schedule 2;

“total annual turnover” means the annual turnover of all authorisation holders;

“annual turnover” means the amounts derived from sales in the financial year ending between 1^st October and 30^th September the following year, the latter date being in the calendar year in which the liability period starts by—

(a)

the holder of a valid authorisation or permit for a plant protection product issued in accordance with Regulation 1107/2009 or of a valid authorisation or permit for a plant protection product deemed to be issued in accordance with that Regulation, and

(b)

any nominated sales representative for the authorised or permitted plant protection product;

“amounts derived from sales” includes the costs of packaging, containers and labelling and excludes value added tax and returned products;

“sales” means the sales of authorised or permitted plant protection products in the United Kingdom.

Revocation U.K.

9.  The following regulations are revoked—

(a) The Fees for Assessment of Active Substances (Third Stage Review) Regulations 2005(8);

(b) The Fees for Assessment of Active Substances (Fourth Stage Review) Regulations 2005(9); and

(c) The Plant Protection Products (Fees) Regulations 2007.

Signed by the authority of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Henley

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

20th August 2011

We consent

James Duddridge

Angela Watkinson

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

25th August 2011