Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2010:485
Date: 2010-09-02
Language of the case: German
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;General provisions
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 1. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes – Single payment scheme – Eligibility for set aside – Use of set-aside entitlements (Council Regulation No 1782/2003, Arts 46, 54(6), 57 and 63(1)) 2. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes – Single payment scheme – Use of set-aside entitlements (Commission Regulation No 796/2004, Arts 50(4), and 51) 1. Article 54(6) of Regulation No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, must be interpreted as meaning that a farmer may apply for aid under the payment entitlements at his disposal, including in conjunction with areas that are not eligible for set-aside, only if he has first activated all his set-aside entitlements. It follows from the structure and objectives of Regulation No 1782/2003 that the obligation to claim the set-aside entitlements before any other entitlement, set out in Article 54(6) of that regulation, is absolute in nature, in the sense that it relates to all the area at the disposal of the farmer in question. In order to preserve the effectiveness of that provision, it is essential that set-aside entitlements should be activated before other rights, whether or not these are based on areas eligible for set-aside. Otherwise, the effective setting aside of agricultural land would be jeopardised in so far as a part of the set-aside entitlements would remain unused, either because some farmers had transferred part of the area eligible for set-aside, or because they had received by transfer – in accordance with Article 46 of that regulation, read in conjunction with Article 57 thereof or, in the case of regionalisation of the single payment scheme, in accordance with Article 63(1) of that regulation – set-aside entitlements without the corresponding land. (see paras 35, 39, 43-44, operative part 1) 2. Article 51 of Regulation No 796/2004, laying down detailed rules for the implementation of cross-compliance, modulation and the integrated administration and control system provided for in Regulation No 1782/2003, as amended by Regulation No 659/2006, read in conjunction with Article 50(4) of that regulation, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the light of the principle of legal certainty, the sanction set out in Article 51(1) is not applicable to a farmer who, while having failed to activate all of his set-aside entitlements, on the ground that he did not have a sufficient number of hectares eligible for set-aside, activated payment entitlements based on permanent pasture. (see para. 53, operative part 2)