Thirty Fifth Report Contents

Instruments of interest

Draft Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (Amendment) Order 2020

36.These draft Regulations propose to assign additional functions to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). The functions relate to collecting, managing and making available information regarding the identification, movement and health of animals, and allocating unique identification codes for identifying animals. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says that this is to enable the AHDB to run a new Livestock Information Service (LIS). According to Defra, LIS will replace the current species-specific databases with a multi-species traceability system in England and facilitate the tracing of livestock movements across the UK.

37.As no further information is provided in the Explanatory Memorandum, we asked Defra about the practical introduction of LIS. The Department told us that they “are taking an incremental approach to transition in England where current and future services will work side by side. Data will be migrated as part of that process, and livestock keepers should only ever have to enter their data onto one system. Scotland and Wales have their own transition plans.” Asked about timing, Defra told us that the plan is to transition the existing sheep service in England to the new arrangements in spring 2021, while cattle and pig services are due to transition in 2022.

Draft Direct Payments to Farmers (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

38.These draft Regulations have been laid under the Agriculture Act 2020 and need to come into force on 1 January 2021 to ensure that Direct Payment support will be available for farmers in England for the 2021 claim year. Direct Payment schemes in England include the basic payment scheme as well as the greening payment and young farmer payment and are currently worth around £1.8 billion per year. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) explains that this instrument sets rules about the financial ceilings used to calculate farmers’ Direct Payments, giving the Secretary of State time to determine the ceilings for the 2021 claim year before the start of that year. The current financial ceilings only extend up to the 2020 claim year.

39.According to Defra, the instrument seeks to maintain the status quo as far as possible and farmers will not see any changes on the ground. Defra says that while the Government remain committed to “beginning ambitious agricultural reforms in England in 2021, including beginning to apply reductions to Direct Payments to phase them out over a seven year agricultural transition period” and to simplifying Direct Payment schemes from 2021, separate legislation will be required for these reforms.

Draft Prohibition on Quantitative Restrictions (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

40.The purpose of this instrument is to end the application of directly effective rights that flow from EU Treaty provisions17 which prohibit the imposition of quantitative restrictions, such as administrative or regulatory requirements, that restrict free movement of non-harmonised goods18 within the EU, or between the EU and Switzerland or the EU and Turkey. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) says that Great Britain (GB) intends to have its own regulatory regime for goods after the end of the Transition Period (TP) and that the intention of this instrument is to ensure that there is no barrier to diverging from EU rules should GB chose to do so after the end of the TP. BEIS adds that repealing the rights that flow from the prohibition of quantitative restrictions is necessary as the rights could otherwise form the basis for claims by GB manufacturers against the UK Government if regulatory divergence does create trade barriers. The rights that the instrument will disapply in GB will continue to apply in Northern Ireland (NI) by virtue of the NI Protocol.

41.We recommended an upgrade of these draft Regulations to the affirmative procedure when the instrument was initially laid for sifting as a proposed negative instrument.19 This was in the light of the political significance of any future diversion from EU regulations and potential trade barriers and because, at the time, the Department told us that NI had questioned how this instrument would impact on the flow of goods between NI and GB. The Explanatory Memorandum of this instrument now states that the UK Internal Market Bill makes provision for unfettered access for NI Qualifying Goods to the GB market and for the application of the market access principles of mutual recognition and non-discrimination. We note that this Bill has yet to complete its passage through Parliament, and if the Bill were to be amended this might impact on these provisions.


17 These are Articles 34 and 35 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.

18 Non-harmonised goods are not subject to common EU rules but may be subject to national rules.

19 24th Report, Session 2019-21 (HL Paper 116).




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