Nitrate Sensitive Areas (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1998 (S.I. No. 2138 of 1998).

The principal Regulations allow the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to make payments of aid to farmers in nitrate sensitive areas who give undertakings to manage their land in accordance with a scheme as described therein. These Regulations limit the acceptance of new applications to those meeting the requirements of Article 13 of Commission Regulation (EC) 746/96 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) 2078/92 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside. Article 13 authorizes replacement of an agri-environment programme, undertaking or agreement by another such undertaking or agreement, where the Minister is satisfied that the conditions set out in Article 13 are fulfilled - the primary conditions being that the transfer is of unquestionable benefit to the environment and that the existing undertaking is significantly reinforced) (reg. 4). This complements the existing power of the Minister, under regulation 12 of the principal Regulations and again pursuant to article 13 of the Commission Regulation, to accept an application from a farmer to transfer from his participation in one scheme to participation in a more environmentally beneficial scheme for the remainder of the original five-year period.