A new EC Regulation (Commission Regulation (EC) 259/2008) requires Member States to publish on the internet every year, certain information about those who have received rural subsidy payments. The information will be available on a single UK website for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The public can access the information directly on the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs website
or alternatively through a link from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development website
A first set of data under the new requirement must be published by 30 September 2008 and will cover payments made under the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) during the period 1 January 2007 to 15 October 2007. A second set of data to be published on 30 April 2009 will cover rural grant subsidy payments made under the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund ( EAGF) in the preceding European financial year 16 October 2007 to 15 October 2008. Information will be published annually thereafter and will remain on the DEFRA website for at least two years.
Given the information to be disclosed, the Department draws recipients’ attention to their rights under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 as set out in Annex A.
Notes to Editors:
1. CAP subsidy information paid by DARD as a UK Paying Agency has been published on DARD’s website for EC financial years 2002 to 2007. The EC financial year runs from 16 October to 15 October each year. Those arrangements are superseded by the new EU requirement.
2. Examples of payments made under the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) are Countryside Management Scheme (CMS), Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowances Scheme (LFACA) and Forestry Woodland Premium Scheme (FWPS). Grant payments to projects under the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme (NIRDP) 2007-13 will be disclosed in due course.
3. Examples of payments made under the European Agriculture Guarantee Fund (EAGF) are Single Farm Payment and legacy subsidy schemes ie Suckler Cow Premium Scheme (SCPS) and Beef Special Premium Scheme (BSPS).
4. The Department will also advise recipients of subsidy payments of the new requirements when it issues its annual end of year payment statements at the end of August 2008.
5. The lists will cover recipients in Northern Ireland, as well as those in England, Wales and Scotland.
The lists will include the following information for each recipient:
(a) The trading title under which they make their claim. So, for example, if a person is a sole trader, their first name and surname will appear on the list;
(b) Their local town and the first part of their postcode (eg BT82); and
(c) The amount of money they have received in the period from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and /or the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
6. Information about recipients and the payments they have received from these two funds may be used by auditing and investigating bodies for the purposes of safeguarding the European Communities' financial interests.
7. All media enquiries to DARD Press Office, tel: 028 9052 4619. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.
Annex A
Rights under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998
Some of the information which will appear in the published lists may be considered to be the personal data of individuals.
Subject to some exceptions, a person or organisation which makes decisions about the purposes for which or the way in which, an individual's personal data is to be held or used is called a data controller. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is the data controller of the personal data which appears on the lists in respect of recipients in Northern Ireland.
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires data controllers to comply with certain "data protection principles" when holding or using personal data. These principles are set out in Schedule 1 to that Act, and include the principles that personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully, and must be accurate and kept up to date.
In addition, the Data Protection Act gives individuals certain rights which they can exercise by contacting a data controller. An individual is entitled (subject to some exceptions):
- to be informed by a data controller whether that data controller is holding or using their personal data;
- to be given by the data controller a description of their personal data which is being held or used, the purposes for which it is being held or used, and any recipients, or types of recipients, to whom it may be disclosed;
- to have communicated to them in an intelligible form their personal data which is being held or used;
- in some circumstances, to prevent a data controller holding or using their personal data if doing so will cause them damage or distress;
- in some circumstances, to have incorrect personal data put right.
If an individual wishes to exercise the above rights in respect of their personal data for which the Department of Agriculture is the data controller, they should contact Information Management Branch, Room 507 Dundonald House, Belfast BT4 3SB.
An individual may also ask the Information Commissioner, who enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act, to assess whether or not the holding or use of their personal data by a particular data controller is likely to comply with that Act. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF; Telephone 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45 or visit the Information Commissioners Office website.
