European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2014

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 134/2014

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 18th March, 2014.

I, PHIL HOGAN, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Commmunities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving further effect to Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 19911 , Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 20002 , Directive 2003/35/EC of 26 May 20033 , Directive 2006/11/EC of 15 February 20064 , Directive 2006/118/EC of 12 December 20065 and Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 20086 hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and application

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations:

(i)“Commission Decision” means the Commission Implementing Decision of 27 February 2014 on granting a derogation requested by Ireland pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources;

(ii)“The 2014 Regulations” means the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014 ( S.I. No. 31 of 2014 ).

Amendment of 2014 Regulations

3. Article 17(11) of the 2014 Regulations is deleted.

4. The following Article 26(1) is substituted for Article 26(1) of the 2014 Regulations:

“26.(1) A person who contravenes a provision of Parts 2 to 5 and Schedule 5 of these Regulations, excluding Article 17 (5), (6), (7), (10) and (12), is guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a Class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both or,

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”

5. The 2014 Regulations are amended by the insertion of the following after Part 6:

“Part 7

Implementation of Commission Decision

35. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine shall be the competent authority for the purposes of verifying compliance with a derogation granted under the Commission Decision.

36. (1) The application to land on a holding in any year of livestock manure in excess of the amount specified in Article 20(1) shall be deemed not to be a contravention of that sub-article where all of the following conditions are met—

(a) the occupier of the holding has made application in respect of that year to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for authorisation of a derogation from the requirements of that sub-article;

(b) the application under paragraph (a) is duly completed in the form and on or before the date specified for the time being by that Minister;

(c) the application under paragraph (a) is accompanied by an undertaking in writing by the occupier to comply with all the conditions specified in Schedule 5, and

(d) all the conditions set out in Schedule 5 are met by the occupier in relation to the holding.

(2) Where an application is made to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in accordance with this Article that Minister shall consider the application and, where that Minister considers that the application does not comply with the conditions therein, shall issue a notice of refusal to the occupier.

37. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine shall carry out, or arrange for the carrying out of, such monitoring, controls and reporting as are necessary for the purposes of Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Commission Decision.

38. The Agency shall prepare annually a report of the results of water quality monitoring carried out by local authorities for the purposes of Article 7(3) of the Commission Decision and, where appropriate and as agreed from time to time between the Agency and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, shall assist that Minister in compiling water quality data for reporting in accordance with the requirements of the Commission Decision.

39. The Agency shall make such recommendations...