S.I. No. 120/2025 - European Union (de minimis aid in the agriculture sector) Regulations 2025
Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in | ||
“Iris Oifigiúil” of 11th April, 2025. | ||
I, Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) for the purpose of giving effect to Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 20131 , Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/316 of 21 February 20192 , Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2046 of 24 October 20223 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2391 of 4 October 20234 , hereby make the following regulations: | ||
Citation | ||
1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (de minimis aid in the agriculture sector) Regulations 2025. | ||
Interpretation | ||
2. (1) In these Regulations- | ||
“Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 20165 ; | ||
“EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector (as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/316 of 21 February 2019, Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2046 of 24 October 2022 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2391 of 4 October 2023); | ||
“Minister” means Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; | ||
“Relevant authority” means– | ||
(a) the Minister, | ||
(b) an authority referred to in Regulation 4, and | ||
(c) an institution or body of the European Union. | ||
(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and that is also used in the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations that it has in the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation. | ||
Agriculture De Minimis aid database | ||
3. (1) The Minister shall establish and maintain a database (“Agriculture De Minimis aid database”) on which aid to undertakings active in the primary production of agricultural products and subject to the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation shall be recorded. | ||
(2) The Agriculture De Minimis aid database shall contain the information referred to in Regulation 5 that is– | ||
(a) held by the Minister, or | ||
(b) submitted to the Minister by an authority referred to in Regulation 4. | ||
Authorities to submit or transmit data | ||
4. (1) The following authorities shall record on, or cause to be transmitted to the Minister for recording on, the Agriculture De Minimis aid database details referred to in Regulation 5 of aid granted to undertakings where such aid is subject to the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation– | ||
(a) the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, | ||
(b) Microfinance Ireland, | ||
(c) any other third party organisation (including any central bank approved financial institution) that grants aid subject to the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation, or | ||
(d) any other Minister of Government or public body. | ||
(2) Details referred to in paragraph (1) shall be in a format and communicated by a means of transmission determined by the Minister. | ||
Details to be submitted by authority | ||
5. The following details shall be submitted or transmitted by an authority referred to in Regulation 4– | ||
(a) name of applicant; | ||
(b) address of applicant; | ||
(c) where applicable, date of birth of applicant; | ||
(d) Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine unique identifier (which may include, but not limited to, herd number, establishment number or Registered Farm Partnership number); | ||
(e) amount of loan or relief; | ||
(f) amount of State Aid element of loan or relief; | ||
(g) date of granting of aid. | ||
Data sharing | ||
6. (1) Data collected or held by a relevant authority for the purposes of the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation, which include personal data (within the meaning of Article 4 of the Data Protection Regulation and section 69 of the Data Protection Act 2018 ), may be shared by that relevant authority with another relevant authority if such exchange is necessary for the performance, by the relevant authority holding or seeking the information, of functions under the EU agriculture de minimis aid Regulation. | ||
(2) Where information shared between one relevant authority and another is found to be inaccurate, the relevant authority on making the discovery shall confirm the correct information and advise the other relevant authority of the amended information. | ||
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GIVEN under my Official Seal, | ||
4 April, 2025. | ||
MARTIN HEYDON, | ||
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. | ||
EXPLANATORY NOTE | ||
(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.) | ||
These Regulations provide for the creation of the Agriculture De Minimis aid database and for the sharing of data for recording on the database. | ||
The purpose of the EU Agriculture De Minimis Aid Regulation 1408/2013 (as amended) is to ensure that state funded financial supports granted (e.g discounted interest rates, loan guarantees or taxation reliefs etc) to primary producers do not have a negative impact on competition or fair-trade principles across the European Union. | ||
Where a Member State grants aid under 1408/2013 (as amended) it is required to maintain a central register of the aid granted covering a period of 3 years. The purpose of the database is to monitor both the primary producers individual aid threshold and the national cap limits regarding Agriculture De Minimis Aid granted by Ireland as an EU Member State. | ||
4 OJ L, 2023/2391, 5.10.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2391/oj |
