Farm Advisory Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2008

L.N. 41 of 2008

SUPPLIES AND SERVICES ACT

(CAP. 117)

Farm Advisory Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2008

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 3 of the Supplies

and Services Act, the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment

has made the following regulations>-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Farm Advisory

Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2008.

(2) The objective is to assist farmers and livestock breeders

by providing professional advice on statutory management requirements,

good agricultural and environmental conditions, occupational safety

standards and all associated European Community legislation for the

improvement of the overall performance of their holding.

The primary objective shall be to provide support to farmers

and livestock breeders for the use of advisory services for the

improvement of the overall performance of their holding. Such minimum

advisory service to farmers shall cover>

(a) the statutory management requirements and the good

agricultural and environmental conditions provided for in Articles

4 and 5 and in Annexes III and IV to Regulation EC 1782#2003

(GAEC Measures for each EC Issue)<

(b) occupational safety standards based on Community

legislation<

(c)

observance, by farmers and livestock breeders, of -

(i) good farming practices,

(ii) code of good agricultural practices,

(iii) health and safety standards,

(iv) awareness and above all compliance with all

Directives falling under cross compliance,

(v) developments and obligations on current and future

CAP payments and rural development measures<

(d) aid in the compilation of application forms and, or whole

farm management plans of rural development measures.

FOR FARM ADVISORY SERVICES

The following fees shall apply for registration of Farm Advisory Entities>

DESCRIPTION OF FEE

Euro

Recognition Fee

Registration Fee

Yearly Renewal Fee

Support for the use of advisory services shall be granted in Aim of advisory

services.

order to help farmers, livestock breeders and forest holders to meet

costs arising from the use of recognised services.

(1) The Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Register of farm

advisory entities.

hereinafter referred to as “the Ministry”, shall keep a Register of Farm

Advisory entities, hereinafter referred to as “the Register”. The Ministry

shall establish and make known the Directorate keeping the Register.

The Directorate shall keep a Register of Farm Advisory entities,

hereinafter referred to as “the Register”. The registrar within such

Directorate keeping the register shall issue a certificate of registration

in the Register, and shall also note therein all suspensions, cancellations

and reinstatements of those certificates. The list of the registered entities

shall be made public and shall be updated regularly with any changes

therein.

(2) Only farmers and livestock breeders who shall make

use of services provided by a recognised farm advisory entity shall be

eligible for funding support in accordance with regulation 2 and 3 hereof.

(3) The Directorate shall refuse to accept any farm advisory

statements or an agricultural consultancy-related planning statement

pertaining to funding support from an entity that is not registered in the

Register.

There shall be a board, to be known as the “Farm Advisory Issue of certificates

by Farm Advisory

Registration Board”, hereinafter referred to as “the Board”, which shall Registration Board.

be appointed in accordance with the provisions of these regulations,

and which shall, recommend the issue of certification for an entity to

the registrar.

(1) Decisions on applications for registration shall be taken The Board.

by the Board composed of three persons, being a representative from

the Department of Agriculture, a representative from the department

responsible for the register and a representative from the Rural

Development Department. The representative from the department

responsible for the register shall be appointed as chairperson of the

Board. All these members shall be appointed by the Permanent Secretary

at the Ministry responsible for agriculture.

(2) The Board shall assess applications for recognition and

for registration and shall prepare a list of entities that, in the opinion of

the Registration Board, meet the requirements for registration and are

therefore to be issued with a certificate of registration. The Board shall

also provide reasons for its decisions.

(3) The decision of the Board to accept or to refuse an

application for registration in the Register shall be notified in writing to

the applicant within 30 days from the decision.

(4) Applicants who do not agree with the outcome of the

registration process will have the right to appeal from such decision in

writing to the Board of Disputes referred to in the Dispute Resolution

Board Regulations, 2007 within fifteen days from the date of the

communication of the decision< the result of the appeal shall be

communicated within thirty days from the lodging of the appeal and

the decision of such Board shall be final.

Entities shall undertake to allow access to members or persons

authorized by the Board for the purpose of carrying out an inspection in

order to verify the accuracy of any information provided or any

declarations made to ensure compliance with these regulations.

Application for registration shall be submitted to the

Directorate in terms of a notice to be published in the Government

Gazette.

(1) In order to be registered as farm advisory entity, the entity

shall have to demonstrate that it has a core of competent, experienced

and qualified technical experts or consultants with an appropriate level

of technical and economics-based training, and proven knowledge of

CAP policies, cross compliance, as well as good farming practices,

CoGAP, health and safety, rural development measures and applications,

and agricultural production (livestock and crop husbandry). A single

expert or consultant with the same requirements as above can also be

considered. The technical support team to any expert and, or consultant,

must also be registered. Such experts and consultants can also be

supported by a team of technical administrative team. Any report issued

by the entity selected would have to be signed by such experts and

consultants not by a member of the support team. A curriculum vitae

of the core experts is to be presented with the application by the entity

for registration. The experts cannot be part of more than one Farm

Advisory Service entity. Furthermore, applying entities must

demonstrate that they are in a position to organize training courses in

cross compliance, codes of good agricultural practices, health and safety

and other technical or related issues to their staff and clients.

(2) The entity must undertake to organize training courses

in all technical areas covered by regulation 2 hereof.

(3) The entity shall first apply for recognition and shall pay

the appropriate recognition fee as outlined in the Schedule. This

recognition fee is unrefundable. A schedule of the proposed client fees

shall also be submitted to the Board for its approval as part of the

recognition process.

(4) The Board may, after this preliminary assessment, invite

the entity to submit a formal registration application, which must be

accompanied by the appropriate fee as set out in the Schedule.

(5) The entity shall provide a declaration indicating that

there is no conflict of interest with their clients. The entity shall be

bound to ensure that the advisory officials who provide client advice

shall not have the same evaluating status of applicants.

(6) All entity or client data, record or status changes shall

be reported to the Registration Board within ten days. The report shall

include the clients’ visits and other correlated data.

The Board shall register an entity if it is satisfied that it meets Registration by the

Board.

the criteria established in regulation 9 (1), (2) and (3).

(1) Registered farm advisory entities shall be obliged to Obligations of the

Registered Farm

follow advice and recommendations given by the Rural Affairs and the Advisory Services.

Paying Agency Division< moreover, such entities are bound to ensure

that correlated work shall not be rediverted to, or requested, from the

Rural Affairs and Paying Agency Division.

(2) Farm advisory entities shall take full responsibility of

all the information provided and services rendered to their clients by

their personnel, and must provide a signed declaration to this effect

when submitting the relevant registration documentation.

(3) All entity or client data, record or status changes shall

be reported to the Registration Board within ten working days.

(4) Insofar as public access to documents is concerned,

private bodies and designated authorities shall not disclose personal or

individual information which they obtain in their advisory activity to

persons other than the farmer managing the holding concerned, except

where any irregularity or infringement is found during their activity,

which irregularity or infringement is covered by an obligation to inform

a public authority, in particular in the case of criminal offences.

(5) The farm advisory service entity shall each year provide

a copy of the status report of each client to the Directorate.

(1) The certificate of registration shall contain the following

information>

(a)

the name of the entity or other means of identification<

(b) the date when the certificate is issued<

(2) certificates issued to eligible farm advisory entities shall

be valid for one year but will be renewed by the Board upon payment

of the relevant renewal fee according to the Schedule, except where an

entity has been found guilty of any of the offences referred to in

regulation 11.

The Board may cancel any certificate granted under the

provisions of these regulations when the holder of that certificate>

(a) is found guilty by a court of criminal jurisdiction of a

crime, being a crime committed through imprudence, carelessness,

unskilfulness in an art or profession, or non-observance of these

regulations< or

(b) is found guilty by a court of criminal jurisdiction of any

offence under the provisions of the Supplies and Services Act,

hereinafter referred to as “the Act”, or of any regulations made

thereunder< or

(c) has, in the opinion of the Board, submitted substandard

or deliberately misleading work in any farm advisory procedure<

or

(d) was the recipient of a certificate issued under the

provisions of these regulations based on information given by the

applicant which is false or misleading< or

(e)

fails to pay the yearly renewal fee.

(1) Any entity which, for the purposes of obtaining the

certificate for registration in the Register, gives any wrong information

or otherwise acts in a deceitful or fraudulent manner, shall be guilty of

an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine (multa) not

exceeding two thousand and three hundred and twenty-nine euros

(2,329.00 euros). Furthermore, that entity shall automatically become

ineligible for current and future funding assistance under the European

Agricultural Fund for Rural Development for a period of at least two

years.

(2) The offences and fines mentioned in this regulation shall

be without prejudice to any other offences and penalties in terms of the

Act or of any other law.

For the purposes of these regulations the term “entity” Definition of entity.

includes any company, association, co-operative, trade union,

partnership, or any other recognised legal form of two or more persons

working together.

Farm advisory entities shall undertake to comply with or Changes to

commitments.

accept any changes to the commitments, undertaken in accordance with

these regulations, that may be necessary as a result of European Union

legislation, in particular but not limited to Commission Regulations EC

1698#2005, 1974#2006 and 1975#2006 on the European Agricultural

Fund for Rural Development.

The rules and procedures as well as the minimum Publication of rules

requirements for an entity to be accepted as a registered farm advisory and procedures

entity shall be published in the Gazette.

The Farm Advisory Services Regulations, 2007 are hereby Revokes

of 2007.

being revoked.

SCHEDULE (Regulations 9, 12)