UK Offence Report

The Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1989

UK Statutory Instrument 1989 No. 380 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
8 March 1989
In force from
31 March 1989
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Food, consumer protection, trading standards, product safety and age-restricted sales
Made under
European Communities Act 1972

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1986, the Dairy Produce Quotas (Amendment) Regulations 1988 and the Dairy Produce Quotas (Amendment) Regulations 1989. The Regulations apply throughout the United Kingdom, with the minor exception of regulation 21 which applies only to Northern Ireland, and come into force on 31 March 1989. The main amendments are as follows– Minor changes have been made to certain of the definitions in order to update them (regulation 2). Article 12(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 1546/88 gives Member States a discretion to permit certain producers to choose an alternative base year in respect of which to calculate the fat content of their milk for levy purposes. The Regulations specifically enable the Minister to implement a producer’s choice of an alternative base year (regulation 6). Any change of occupation of a holding must be notified to the Minister within 2 months on a form which is to be prescribed for the purpose. Certain changes of occupation of small areas of land in England and Wales are no longer exempt from the application of the transfer rules. Also those transfer rules no longer apply where a person occupied land under such an agreement and lawfully continued in occupation until a date one month after the termination of his interest in the land (regulation 9). Transfers which take place immediately before the end of a quota year cause problems as regards the calculation of levy liability unless they are promptly notified to the Minister, as otherwise it is impossible to assess how much unused quota is available for re-allocation amongst over-quota producers. In order to minimise these problems the Minister may set a date after the end of the quota year in question by which the person to whom quota is transferred must notify him of the transfer. Anyone who fails to notify the Minister by that date may only make use of the transferred quota to offset his levy liability in the following quota year, not the year in which the transfer actually took place. Such quota is nevertheless to be treated as being available for re-allocation by the Minister in the year in which the transfer took place (regulation 9(2)(a)). The provision which previously allowed a purchaser and producer to agree a change in the identification of that producer’s holding for the purpose of management of wholesale quotas by purchasers has not been re-enacted. The Minister has been given the power to make a temporary reallocation of quota, in certain circumstances, to producers to whom the Dairy Produce Quota Tribunal or one of its local panels has made an award of quota, or to whom the Minister has allocated quota under Schedule 12 to the 1986 Regulations, where that award or allocation of quota has been entered incorrectly in the quota register maintained by the Minister (regulation 16). New arbitration procedures have been introduced which are similar to those which operate under the agricultural holdings legislation, and contain in particular new statutory time limits within which certain steps in the arbitration must be taken (Schedule 4, 5 and 6). Supplementary levy liability is calculated at purchaser level for wholesale producers and nationally for direct sellers, which allows the unused quota of under quota producers to be used to offset over-production by over quota producers. The Minister is given a power to instruct purchasers of the optimum amount to convert to keep the United Kingdom’s levy to a minimum (Schedule 7). The provisions in relation to calculation of levy liability have been replaced to take into account the fact that deliveries of milk against a purchaser’s quota must be adjusted having regard to any increase in the butterfat content before the process for calculating the liability for levy may commence (Schedule 8). Certain provisions which previously applied throughout the United Kingdom, and which enabled the Minister to make allocations of quota to producers in a number of different circumstances, have been deleted because they are no longer relevant. In relation to Northern Ireland only, however, provisions have been retained to enable the Minister to make any additional allocation of quota in cases of exceptional hardship and to certain small producers (Schedule 9).

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