Welsh Ministers have made the Closure of European Union Legacy Agriculture Schemes (Wales) Regulations 2026 (WSI 2026/44) under sections 23 and 50(3) of the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 and section 14(1) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. The instrument was made on 11 February 2026, approved by Senedd Cymru under the procedure in section 50(6) of the 2023 Act, and comes into force on Monday, 16 February 2026, in relation to Wales.
According to the Explanatory Note to WSI 2026/44, the Regulations close three EU‑derived schemes in Wales: the fruit and vegetables aid scheme, public intervention, and private storage aid. No replacement programme is created by this instrument, and the text does not set out transitional or saving provisions.
Part 2 of the Regulations terminates the EU fruit and vegetables aid framework in Wales by revoking Articles 32 to 38 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the Common Organisation of the Markets (CMO) Regulation, insofar as they apply to Wales. These provisions relate to the fruit and vegetables regime within the CMO.
For public intervention, WSI 2026/44 disapplies key CMO provisions in Wales. Articles 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 are modified so that rules on eligible origins and products, intervention periods, buying‑in at fixed price or by tender, intervention prices, and disposal of stocks do not apply in relation to Wales.
The instrument also disapplies the CMO private storage aid framework. Articles 17 and 18 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 are amended so that eligibility and conditions for granting aid do not apply in Wales, and Articles 19 and 20 on delegated and implementing powers are disapplied for both public intervention and private storage aid insofar as they would otherwise operate in Wales.
Council Regulation (EU) No 1370/2013, which determines certain aids and refunds linked to the CMO, is amended so that provision on reference thresholds, public intervention prices, buying‑in prices and quantitative limits no longer applies for Welsh public intervention. Article 4 on private storage aid is disapplied in relation to Wales.
Across the CAP financing and control regime, Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 is amended so that Welsh public intervention is outside the scope of the designation, Commission powers, public intervention expenditure, and certain checking powers, with Article 62 expressly removing the relevant checks for both public intervention and private storage aid in Wales. This withdraws EU‑derived accounting and oversight rules previously carried over as assimilated law.
The Regulations restructure paying‑agency obligations accordingly. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014 is amended so that obligations on public intervention inventory management, storers’ responsibilities, tolerance limits, other amounts and prices, and exchange‑rate rules do not apply in Wales; several annexes are disapplied for Welsh public intervention. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 is amended so that declarations of expenditure for public storage, the content and dating of public storage accounts, and certain annex measures do not apply in Wales.
On the operational rules for intervention and private storage, the instrument turns off large parts of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1238 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1240 for Wales. Eligibility of operators and products, security requirements, tendering procedures, price‑setting, delivery and storage rules, payments, checks and penalties for private storage, and numerous annexes on technical standards are all disapplied for Welsh schemes.
Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 on public intervention expenditure is revoked in relation to Wales. Taken together, these changes remove the legal basis in Wales for buying‑in, holding and disposing of public intervention stocks, or paying private storage aid under assimilated EU law from 16 February 2026.
The affected product areas, as reflected in the disapplied annexes and articles, include cereals, rice, beef, butter, skimmed milk powder, olive oil and certain cheeses. For fruit and vegetables, the revocation of Articles 32 to 38 of the CMO closes the EU‑derived aid architecture for that sector in Wales.
Jurisdictionally, the Regulations apply in relation to Wales only. Operations in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland continue to be governed by each administration’s legislation. The text is signed by Huw Irranca‑Davies, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, on 11 February 2026, and the Welsh Government notes that a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and published.