S.I. No. 345/1973:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (DAIRY HERDS CONVERSION PREMIUM) REGULATIONS, 1973.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (DAIRY HERDS CONVERSION PREMIUM) REGULATIONS, 1973.

I, MARK CLINTON, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), hereby make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Dairy Herds Conversion Premium) Regulations, 1973.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

"authorised officer" means a person appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations;

"the Department" means the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries;

"the Regulation of the Council" means Regulation (EEC) No. 1353/73 of the Council¹;

"the Regulation of the Commission" means Regulation (EEC) No. 1821/73 of the Commission , as amended by Regulation (EEC) No. 2522/73 of the Commission³.

(2) Any other word or expression used in these Regulations to which a meaning has been assigned by the Regulation of the Council or the Regulation of the Commission shall have the meaning so assigned.

3. In implementation of the Regulation of the Council and the Regulation of the Commission, the Minister shall operate a scheme which shall be known as the EEC Dairy Herds Conversion Scheme.

¹ OJ No. L141/18 of 28.5.73.

² OJ No. L184/24 of 6.7.73.

³ OJ No. L261/10 of 18.9.73.

4. The reference date referred to in Article 2 (1) of the Regulation of the Council and Article 2 (2) (a) of the Regulation of the Commission shall, except in a case to which Article 14 (a) of the Regulation of the Commission applies, be the 30th day of June, 1973.

5. For the purposes of Article 2 (2) of the Regulation of the Council, the minimum number of dairy cows to be kept by a producer on the reference date shall be eleven in the counties of Dublin, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford and five in the counties of Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

6. (1) Where a producer has applied for a premium under Article 1 of the Regulation of the Council, or has given an undertaking under Article 3 (1) or Article 11 of that Regulation, an authorised officer may enter on any land occupied by the producer or used by him for the keeping of cattle or sheep, and may inspect and count any cattle or sheep kept by the producer on the land, and require the producer to furnish for inspection any identity card in his possession or under his control and issued under the Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Scheme or the Brucellosis Eradication Scheme of the Department relating to the cattle kept, and any other document relating to the number of cattle or sheep kept (or formerly kept) by him, or relating to transactions carried out by him (or in respect of which he has or has had an interest) concerning cattle, sheep, milk or milk products.

(2) The producer or his representative on the date notified for each inspection under this Regulation shall be present on the land and have his cattle and breeding ewes collected and ready for inspection.

(3) The producer or his representative shall give all reasonable assistance to an authorised officer to enable him to exercise the powers conferred on him by paragraph (1) of this Regulation.

(4) In this Regulation "producer" includes a successor of a producer.

7. A producer whose application is approved under the Regulation of the Council shall not be eligible, during the period specified in Article 3 (1) (a) of the Regulation of the Council, to receive a grant under the Beef Cattle Incentive Scheme of the Department.

8. (1) Where any person--

( a ) with a view to obtaining the payment for himself or for any other person of a premium under the Regulation of the Council, makes a statement which is untrue or misleading in a material respect or furnishes to the Minister any inaccurate information, or

( b ) having given an undertaking under Article 3 (1) or Article 11 of the Regulation of the Council, fails to comply with the undertaking, or

( c ) fails in an appropriate case to satisfy the Minister with regard to the matters referred to in Article 3 (2) of the Regulation of the Council,

the Minister shall be entitled to recover from that person on demand as a civil debt the whole or any part of any premium paid to him or to his predecessor and to disqualify that person from further participation in the EEC Dairy Herds Conversion Scheme.

(2) Where a beneficiary ceases farming in accordance with the provisions of Council Directive No. 72/160/EEC⁴ (which contains measures designed to encourage the cessation of farming and the re-allocation for the purposes of structural improvement of the agricultural areas thus released), the Minister may recover from him on demand as a civil debt the amount of any premiums paid to him under the Regulation of the Council during the nine months immediately preceding the date on which his request to cease farming was made under that Directive.

9. (1) Any person who--

( a ) knowingly or recklessly makes a false statement for the purpose of obtaining the payment to himself or any other person of a premium under the Regulation of the Council, or

( b ) obstructs an authorised officer in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by Regulation 6 of these Regulations or fails to furnish to an authorised officer on request any document referred to in paragraph (1) of that Regulation, or

⁴OJ No. L96/9 of 23.4.72.

( c ) disposes or assists in the disposal of milk or milk products on behalf of a producer who has applied for the payment of a premium under Article 1 of the Regulation of the Council,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

(2) An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 20th day of December, 1973.

MARK CLINTON,

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations supplement EEC Regulations introducing a premium system for the conversion of dairy cattle herds to meat production and include provisions for--

( a ) the bringing into operation of the EEC Dairy Herds Conversion Scheme;

( b ) the fixing of 30th June, 1973 as the date by reference to which a producer's eligibility to participate in the Scheme, the amount of the premium to be paid to him and the number of units of adult cattle to be kept by him are to be determined;

( c ) the determining of the minimum number of dairy cows to be kept by a producer;

( d ) the provision of necessary powers for authorised officers; and

( e ) the giving of power to recover premiums paid in certain circumstances and the prescribing of penalties for offences.