This article is from page 40 of the 2008-07-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 40 JPG
A NEW dawn for milk production in Ireland was heralded last Wednesday as Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, signed the new regulations governing milk quotas into law.
The introduction of the new Eu- ropean Communities Milk Quota Regulations effectively revokes the current national regulations govern- ing the super levy/milk quota regime and replaces them with new consoll- dated regulations.
Despite reservations 1n some quar- ters about the new regulations, Min- ister Smith emphasised that the new laws were the product of an extensive review of legislation on milk quotas, and that the principle of simplifica-
tion was at the heart of the laws.
“The clear focus of the review of the milk quota regulations has been on the need to bring legislation in this area up to date at a time of great change in the dairy sector,’ he an- nounced.
‘As market conditions change and the abolition of quotas draws nearer, it is now time to make the function- ing of the quota regime more flex- ible and, in particular, to remove any unnecessary obstacles to consolida- n(oyn a
The new regulations give effect to the changes previously announced in the areas of quota transfers and milk production partnerships.
These include, in the case of trans- fers, greater flexibility in the consoli-
dation of holdings and the transfer of quota within families, a broadening of the definition of qualified relatives to include relations of spouses, re- moval of the restriction on the sale of land and quota out of disadvantaged areas and the facilitation of quota leases to companies.
Regarding milk production part- nerships, the new regulations remove restrictive criteria such as distance between holdings, age limits and off-farm income thresholds, and fa- cilitate the participation of non-dairy farmers and farm managers in part- nership arrangements.
The new regulations aim to sim- plify, and in some cases remove, no- tification and application procedures for producers.
They also remove restrictions placed on producers as a result of their participation in restructuring schemes up to 2006.
Those wishing to sell quota with land may now include quota pur- 1 E:T exe MON N(6(o) ar: RoI DMOLOL RED U DETSanYel OCs) pOLom while those who had disposed of quota under previous restructuring schemes will not now be excluded from quota trading and temporary leasing schemes.
“IT want to take this opportunity to thank the farming organisations and ICOS for their constructive input to the review of milk quota legislation, and I look forward to their feedback on the implementation of the new regulations in the coming months,” concluded Minister Smith.