The Single Payment Scheme and other EU-funded Schemes are governing by relevant EU legislation. The financial ceilings under the Single Payment Scheme are assigned to the individual Member States, for use within those individual Member States. Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) 73/2009, which establishes the common rules on direct payments, including the Single Payment, defines a ‘holding' as all the production units managed by a farmer within the territory of the same Member State.
However, when the Single Payment Scheme was implemented in the EU, special provision was made for farmers with land situated in more than one Member State. In Ireland, for example, farmers with land situated in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and who were claiming aid under the Livestock Premia and Arable Aid Schemes in the Republic had the number of entitlements allocated to them based solely on the land situated in the Republic. That means that they can receive their full Single Farm Payment by only declaring the land situated in the Republic irrespective of whether they continued to farm the land situated in Northern Ireland. These farmers are entitled to continue to farm the land situated in Northern Ireland but they do not require this land to benefit from the Single Farm Payment.