S.L. 146.7 Art. 2Interpretation.

In these regulations, words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

"active herd book" or "flock register" means a register of live bovines or ovines of a particular holding registered with the Veterinary Services Department;

"agricultural activity" means the production, rearing or growing of agricultural products including harvesting, milking, breeding animals and keeping animals for farming purposes, or maintaining the land in good agricultural and environmental condition; "agricultural parcel" means a continuous area of land declared by one farmer, which does not cover more than one single crop group; "animal keeper" means any natural or legal person responsible for rearing animals whether on a permanent or on a temporary basis, including at the time of transportation or at a market;

"animal passport" means the animal passport referred to in Articles 3(c) and 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000;

"authorised person"” means any person, whether or not an officer of the Paying Agency, who is authorised by the Paying Agency, either generally or specifically, to act in matters arising under these regulations; "beneficiary" means the farmer registered and coded in a unique manner of identification and who applies for aid using the IACS; "computerised database for bovine animals" means the computerised database referred to in Articles 3(b) and 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000;

"crop group", in relation to the use of areas, means a set of distinct parcels in the application that have the same relevant cultivation for the purposes of the calculation of the financial assistance under the relevant aid scheme; "dairy producer" means a farmer registered with the competent authority for milk, who has been allocated a reference quantity of milk and has an active dairy herd book;

"ear tag" means the ear tag to identify animals individually referred to in Articles 3(a) and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000; "eligible land" means any agricultural area of the holding taken up by arable land, permanent pasture and areas under permanent crops, except forests, or used for non-agricultural activities;

"farmer" means a natural or legal person, or a group of natural or legal persons, who exercise an agricultural activity;

"fully decoupled" means when financial aid to farmers and breeders is no longer linked to either production or quotas;

"Geographical Information System (GIS)" means the computerised geographical information system techniques referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No. 73/2009; "holding" means all the production units situated in Malta managed by the same farm; "Integrated Administration and Control System" or "IACS" shall have the same meaning as that assigned to it in the Paying Agency Regulations; "Land Parcel Identification System" or "LPIS" means a Geographical Information System (GIS) which identifies reference parcels, assigning to each of them a unique identification code, referred to as the reference parcel number; "land use" means the use of area in terms of the type of crop or ground cover or the absence of a crop; "lease" means lease or similar types of temporary transactions;

"LFA" means the Less Favoured Area; "livestock breeder" means a farmer who breeds bovines or ovines and has an active herd book or flock register; "the Minister" means the Minister responsible for the agricultural activities; "National Reserve" means a fund set up in terms of Article 41 of Regulation (EC) No. 73 of 2009; "Paying Agency" means the body established in terms of the Paying Agency Regulations;

"payment claim" means an application for direct payment in respect of entitlements submitted in terms of regulation 26;

"payment entitlement" means a right for payment related to the Single Payment Scheme in terms of these regulations;

"premium period" means the period to which a single application refers irrespective of the moment of its submission;

"reference parcel" means a geographically delimited area retaining a unique identification as registered in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) and available in the IACS database, which refers to an area of land on which more than one crop may be raised by more than one farmer;

"Register" means the register kept by the keepers of animals in accordance with Article 4 of Council Directive 92/102/EEC, Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004, or Articles 3(d) and 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 respectively; "sale" means the sale or any other definitive transfer of ownership of land or payment entitlements; the definition shall not include the sale of land where land is transferred to public authorities and, or for use in the public interest and the transfer is carried out for non-agricultural purposes; "Single Application" means an application for direct payments in respect of the Single Payment Scheme; "SPS" means the Single Payment Scheme; "transfer or sale or lease of payment entitlement with land" shall mean the sale or lease of payment entitlements with, respectively, the sale or lease of a corresponding number of hectares of eligible land within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No. 73/2009 held by the transferor; "used entitlements" means an entitlement which has been activated for payment.