Commentary on Provisions Part 2 – Collection and processing of data Section 13 – Defined terms
135.Subsection (2) defines “agricultural activity” to have the same meaning as in Article 4(1)(c) of the Direct Payments Regulation.(25) However, this is subject to subsection (10) which enables the Scottish Ministers to amend this definition by regulations subject to the affirmative procedure.
136.Subsection (3) defines “animal” as meaning a vertebrate (other than a human) or invertebrate but does not include fish.
137.Subsection (4) defines an “agri-food supply chain” as a supply chain for providing individuals with items of food or drink. It further provides that the products in such a supply chain must have been produced using anything grown, or any animal kept, for agriculture or any animal taken from the wild.
138.Subsection (5) defines the persons who are in an agri-food supply chain. These are the persons who originally farmed (or took from the wild) the raw agricultural products, the persons who finally consume the products, and every person in between.
139.Subsection (6) defines the persons who are “closely connected” with an agri-food supply chain. These are persons who provide goods as specified, persons who provide services relating to animal or plant health or the safety or quality of food and drink, persons carrying on activities capable of affecting such health, safety or quality, and representative bodies.
140.Subsection (7) provides that persons carrying out activities capable of affecting such health, safety or quality as is mentioned in subsection (6)(b), are to be treated as connected with the supply chain for the purposes of section 14(1) and (2), but does not limit the generality of what is meant by “connected” with the supply chain.
141.Subsection (8) defines “processing” by reference to an operation performed on information, and sets out a non-exhaustive list of the types of such operations.
142.Subsection (9) provides definitions for “agriculture”, “plants”, and “seeds” in relation to this section of the Act.
143.Subsection (10) provides that the Scottish Ministers may, by regulations subject to the affirmative procedure, amend the definition of “agricultural activity”.