Farm Advisory Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2024

L.N. 189 of 2024

SUPPLIES AND SERVICES ACT

(CAP. 117)

Farm Advisory Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2024

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 3 of the

Supplies and Services Act, the Minister responsible for trade has made

the following regulations:-

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

Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and these regulations commencement.

shall be read and construed as one with the Farm Advisory Services S.L. 117.39.

Regulations, hereinafter referred to as the "principal regulations".

(2) These regulations shall come into force within two (2)

months from their publication in the Gazette.

Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 1 of the principal Amends

regulations shall be substituted by the following new sub-regulation: regulation

the principal

regulations.

"(2) These regulations shall regulate the setting up of the

farm advisory services system and the recognition and

registration of farm advisory service providers and any ancillary

matters in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013

on the financing, management and monitoring of the common

agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No

352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000,

(EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008, and Regulation (EU)

2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2

December 2021 establishing rules on support for strategic plans

to be drawn up by Member States under the common agricultural

policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and financed by the European

Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European

Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and

repealing Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/

2013, as both in force from time to time.".

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 2 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) in the definition "the Board" thereof, the word

"Registration" shall be substituted by the word "Recognition";

(b) in the definition "competent authority" thereof, the

words "and rural affairs" shall be deleted;

(c) in the definition "main issue" thereof, immediately

after the words "1306/2013" there shall be added the words "and

Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, as in force from time

to time";

(d) immediately after the definition "person" thereof

there shall be added the following new definition

"register" means the list of recognised entities which

shall be public and which shall include the information

listed in regulation 6(1);";

(e) immediately after the definition "Registrar" thereof

there shall be added the following new definition

"Regulations" means Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013

of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17

December 2013 on the financing, management and

monitoring of the common agricultural policy and

repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No

165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No

1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008, and Regulation (EU)

2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 2 December 2021 establishing rules on support for

strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the

common agricultural policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and

financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund

(EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural

Development (EAFRD) and repealing Regulations (EU)

No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013, as in force from

time to time;"; and

(f)

the definition "the Regulation" thereof shall be

deleted.

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

3. For the purposes of these regulations, the

competent authority shall be the Paying Agency as

established by Regulation 3 of the Paying Agency

Regulations.".

Regulation 4 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 4 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) the marginal note thereof shall be substituted by the

following new marginal note

"Farm Advisory Services Recognition Board.";

(b) sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(1) There shall be a board which shall be known as

the Farm Advisory Services Recognition Board.";

(c) immediately after sub-regulation (1) thereof, as

substituted, there shall be added the following new sub-

regulations

"(1A) The members of the Board shall be

appointed by the Permanent Secretary within the

Ministry responsible for agriculture.

(1B) The Board shall be composed of five (5)

members being representatives from the Ministry

responsible for agriculture, and one (1) of whom shall

be appointed as Chairperson.

(1C) The secretary to the Board shall be appointed

by the Head of the competent authority.";

(d) in sub-regulation (3) thereof, the word "registration"

shall be substituted by the word "recognition";

(e) in sub-regulation (5) thereof, the word "who" shall be

substituted by the word "that";

(f) in sub-regulation (6) thereof, the word "reasoned"

shall be deleted; and

(g) in the proviso to sub-regulation (7) thereof,

immediately after the words "submitted by the applicant" there

shall be added the words "to the satisfaction of the Board".

In regulation 5 of the principal regulations, the words Amends

"registration" and "registrations", wherever they occur, shall be regulation

the principal

substituted by the words "recognition" and "recognitions" respectively. regulations.

Regulation 6 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 6 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a)

sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be amended as

follows

(i) in paragraph (a) thereof, the word "recognized"

shall be substituted by the word "recognised";

(ii) in paragraph (b) thereof,

the

word

"consecutive" shall be deleted; and

(iii) in paragraph (c) thereof, the word "registration"

shall be substituted by the word "recognition"; and

(b) in sub-regulation (2) thereof, the word "registered"

shall be substituted by the word "recognised".

In regulation 7 of the principal regulations, the word

"registered" shall be substituted by the word "recognised".

Regulation 8 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) in paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (1) thereof, the

words "in at least one advisory area or sub-area as set out in

Schedule I" shall be substituted by the words "as provided in the

Regulations";

(b) in sub-regulation (2) thereof, the word "recognized"

shall be substituted by the word "recognised"; and

(c) in sub-regulation (3) thereof, the word "registration"

shall be substituted by the word "recognition".

Regulation 9 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(1) Recognised Farm Advisory Services Providers

shall provide advisory services to farmers or operators in

the agricultural sectors in the areas set out in the

Regulations."; and

(b) sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(2) The Board shall recognise farm advisory

services providing advice on the areas referred to in Article

12(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the

financing, management and monitoring of the common

agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations

(EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC)

No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008,

and Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) No 2021/2115 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December

2021 establishing rules on support for strategic plans to be

drawn up by Member States under the common agricultural

policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and financed by the European

Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European

Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and

repealing Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No

1307/2013, as in force from time to time.".

In paragraph (d) of sub-regulation (1) of regulation 10 of Amends

regulation 10 of

the principal regulations, the word "annual" shall be deleted.

the principal

regulations.

Regulation 11 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

regulation 11 of

substituted by the following new regulation

the principal

regulations.

" Advisory services

11. (1) The

Board

shall

not

accept

applications for the provision of advisory services related

to rules on cross compliance, unless all requirements and

standards for the main issues applied for are provided

comprehensively according to the Regulations.

(2) The decision of the Board shall be based on

rules on cross compliance and, or conditionality

according to the Regulations

Provided that the Board has to be satisfied

that the beneficiaries shall receive sufficient

comprehensive advice in relation to the specific main

issues referred to in the Regulations.".

Regulation 14 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 14 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a)

sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be amended as

follows

(i) in paragraph (c) thereof, the words "of the

recognition" shall be substituted by the words "of the

recognition, unless those individuals are public officers";

(ii) in paragraph (d) thereof, the word "sub-areas"

shall be substituted by the words "sub-areas as established

in the Regulations"; and

(iii) in paragraph (g) thereof, the words "listed in

Schedule I" shall be substituted by the words "established

in the Regulations"; and

(b) in sub-regulation (3) thereof, the word "registered"

shall be substituted by the word "recognised".

In regulation 15 of the principal regulations, the words

"whether engaged under a contract of employment or under a contract

of service" shall be substituted by the words ", whether engaged under

a contract of employment or under a contract of service,".

Regulation 17 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) in paragraph (d) of sub-regulation (1) thereof, the

word "registration" shall be substituted by the word

"recognition"; and

(b) sub-regulation (2) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new sub-regulation

"(2) Certificates issued to recognised farm advisory

service providers shall be valid for five (5) years from the

date of recognition and may be renewed by means of an

official requests made in writing by the same service

providers.".

Regulation 19 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) the word "Recognized" shall be substituted by the

word "Recognised"; and

(b) in paragraph (b) thereof, the word "registration" shall

be substituted by the word "recognition".

In regulation 20 of the principal regulations, the word

"recognized" shall be substituted by the word "recognised".

In regulation 21 of the principal regulations, the word

"operators" shall be substituted by the word "operations".

Regulation 22 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

(1) The farm advisory service providers

shall treat all information obtained during the advisory

activity as strictly confidential and any personal data

that such service providers may process shall fully

comply with the principles relating to the processing of

personal data pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU)

2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons

with regard to the processing of personal data and on the

free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/

46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)

(2) The obligations referred under sub-

regulation (1) shall continue to apply in the event that a

farm advisory service provider loses recognition or is

de-listed from the registry

Provided that any personal data which is

being processed and is no longer necessary shall be

erased by the farm advisory service provider without

undue delay.".

20. Regulation 24 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 24 of

the principal

regulations.

(a) the words "Registered" and "registered", wherever

they occur, shall be substituted by the words "Recognised" and

"recognised" respectively; and

(b)

sub-regulation (3) thereof shall be amended as

follows

(i) the words "December of each year" shall be

substituted by the words "January of the following year,";

and

(ii) the words "twelve (12) months" shall be

substituted by the words "calendar year".

21. In regulation 25 of the principal regulations, the words Amends

"registered" and "registration", wherever they occur, shall be regulation

the principal

substituted by the words "recognised" and "recognition" respectively. regulations.

22. Schedule I to the principal regulations shall be deleted.

Deletes Schedule

I to the principal

regulations.

In Schedule II to the principal regulations, the words

Amends

Schedule II to

"Registration" and "registration" shall be substituted by the words

the principal

"Recognition" and "recognition" respectively.

regulations.

€0.72