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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 1017/94
of 26 April 1994
concerning the conversion of land currently under arable crops to extensive livestock farming in
Portugal
(OJ L 112, 3.5.1994, p. 2)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 1461/95 of 22 June 1995 L 144 4 28.6.1995
►M2Council Regulation (EC) No 2582/2001 of 19 December 2001 L 345 5 29.12.2001
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 1017/94
of 26 April 1994
concerning the conversion of land currently under arable crops to
extensive livestock farming in Portugal
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, andin particular Article 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(
1),
Whereas more than one million hectares in several regions of Portugal
have been collectivized in the context of the ‘Reform Agraria’; whereasmuch of this land has been or is being redistributed to the former owners
of their successors; whereas part of this land was dedicated to livestock
production before collectivization; whereas, following collectivization,this land was largerly used for the cultivation of arable crops; whereas, ifthe viability of the holdings concerned is not to be endangered, theconversion of the said land to traditional farming activities, namely
extensive farming of cattle and/or sheep and goats, as recommended by
Portugal in the regions concerned, requires the existence of a sufficientnumber of premium rights as referred to in Article 4d of CouncilRegulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the commonorganization of the market in beef and veal(
2) and Article 5a of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 3013/89 of 25 September 1989 on the common
organization of the market in sheepmeat and goatmeat(3); whereas
Portugal should be enabled to implement a programme for theconversion of this land by providing it with a specific national reserveof premium rights; whereas, so as not to disturb the situation on themarket in Portugal, the maximum number of livestock units (LU) which
may be the subject of the conversion programme must be restricted;
Whereas the land collectivization process, because of its nature and
scale, has affected all farming activity, and therefore all farms, in theregions concerned; whereas all the agricultural areas in the collectivizedregions should therefore be eligible for the conversion programme;
Whereas access to the conversion programme should be restricted to
producers with all or part of their plots in the regions affected bycollectivization, provided they fulfil certain conditions and undertake toconvert such plots to extensive livestock farming with a maximum
stocking density per converted hectare, in accordance with a conversion
plan approved by the competent authorities;
Whereas male cattle born to new suckler cows installed under the
conversion programme must also be eligible for the special premium
provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68, without
prejudice to current producers; whereas it is therefore appropriate thatpart of the premium rights arising from the conversion of arable crops tothe raising of suckler cows should be used to incerease the regionalceiling on premiums referred to in the abovementioned Regulation;
Whereas, in order to prevent abuses of the system, the transfer and
temporary transfer of rights obtained as a result of conversion should berestricted and provision should be made for penalties where producersdo not fulfil their undertakings;
Whereas the conversion programme must be completed within a time
limit; whereas it should therefore be stipulated that, at the end of the1994R1017 — EN — 29.12.2001 — 002.001 — 2
(1) Opinion delivered on 22 April 1994 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(2) OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24. Regulation as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 3611/93 ( OJ No L 328, 29. 12. 1993, p. 7 ).
(3) OJ No L 289, 7. 10. 1989, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 233/94 (OJ No L 30, 3. 2. 1994, p. 9).
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programme, the specific reserve created pursuant to this Regulation as
well as any rights not yet allocated should lapse;
Whereas the arable areas converted to extensive livestock farming must
cease to be eligible for compensatory payments under the scheme set up
by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 of 30 June 1992 establishing asupport system for producers of certain arable crops(
1); whereas such
land should therefore be considered as permanent pasture as referred toin Article 9 of that Regulation and Portugal's regional base area shouldtherefore be reduced by the total area of land converted,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Portugal shall be authorised to carry out, for a period of 11 years, in the
regions listed in the Annex to this Regulation, a programme for theconversion of land currently under arable crops to extensive livestockproduction, up to a maximum of 200 000 hectares.
Article 2
Without prejudice to Article 4f of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 and
Article 5b of Regulation (EEC) No 3013/89, Portugal shall be allotted a
specific autonomous national reserve (hereinafter called ‘specific
reserve’) comprising atota l number of rights to the suckler cowpremium within the meaning of Article 4d of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 and/or the ewe premium within the meaning of Article 5 ofRegulation (EEC) No 3013/89 (hereinafter called ‘premium rights’)equivalent to 100 000 livestock units (LU).
For the purposes of this Regulation, the conversion of LU into premium
rights shall be carried out using the conversion table in Annex 1 toCouncil Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 of 15 July 1991 on improving theefficiency of agricultural structures(
2). This end, account shall be taken
of suckler cows and sheep and/for goats covered by an application forparticipation in the conversion programme.
Article 3
1. The premium rights in the specific reserve shall be allocated to
farmers having farmland which is entirely or partly used to produce the
arable crops referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92.
Parcels shall be eligible only:
— if they are located in the regions listed in the Annex,
— if the producers have received compensatory payments as provided
for in Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 in respect thereof, and
— if they are the subject of a programme for conversion to extensive
livestock production.
However, previously collectivized land redistributed to its former
owners or those entitled from 1 January 1990 to which producers were
unable to restore its arable nature prior to the deadline of 31 December1991 may be deemed to have benefited from the compensatorypayments referred to in Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 provided thatthe land is deducted from the basic area referred to in Article 9 of that
Regulation. Furthermore, in specifically substantiated cases brought
before the competent authorities, the abovementioned date of 1 January1990 may be backdated to 1 January 1989.1994R1017 — EN — 29.12.2001 — 002.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 199, p. 12. Regulation as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 231/94 (OJ No L 30, 3. 2. 1994, p. 2).
(2) OJ No L 218, 6. 8. 1991, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 3669/93 (OJ No L 338, 31. 12. 1993, p. 26).▼M2
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2. Allocation of rights shall be subject to the requirement that the
stocking density on the declared area, calculated in accordance withArticle 4g (1), (2) and (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68, must be
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M11,0◄LU per hectare or less.
3. A number of premium rights equivalent to 0,5 LU shall be
allocated per hectare converted to extensive livestock production. Inaddition, where land is converted to the rearing of suckler cows, anumber of animals equal to 45 % of the number of suckler cow premiumrights allocated each year under this Regulation shall be added witheffect from the next calendar year to the regional ceiling referred to in
Article 4b of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.
Article 4
In order to obtain premium rights, producers must submit an application
specifying in particular the type of rights required, accompanied by:
— a development plan for extensive production of suckler cows and/or
goats, demonstrating to the competent authority that the conversionwill be completed wihtin the time limit laid down in that themaximum stocking density referred to in Article 3 (2) will becomplied with,
— an undertaking to use the converted land for extensive livestock
production;
— a declaration that the producer is aware of the conditions for
allocating premium rights.
Article 5
On the basis of the applications submitted, the competent authorities
shall decide on the number of rights to be allocated and shall inform
applicants thereof each year, not later than two months before the first
day of the first period for submission of premium applications stipulatedby Portugal for suckler cows and/or sheep and/or goats.
Article 6
1. Premium rights allocated in accordance with this Regulation shall
be added to the rights already held by the beneficiary and shall besubject to the relevant provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 andRegulation (EEC) No 3013/89 respectively. However, such rights maynot be transferred definitively or temporarily for five years or marketingyears following the date on which they were allocated.
2. Where the areas covered by an application for allocation of rights
are not converted in accordance with the development plan referred to inArticle 4 (a), the rights allocated in respect of those areas shall bewithdrawn and returned to the specific reserve.
Article 7
At the end of the 11 year following the entry into force of this
Regulation, unallocated premium rights shall lapse and the specific
reserve shall be abolished.
Article 8
The Portuguese authorities shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that this Regulation is complied with.Such measures shall include, inparticular:
(a) verification of the eligibility of declared areas;1994R1017 — EN — 29.12.2001 — 002.001 — 4
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(b) checks to ascertain that the land declared eligible under this
Regulation is duly converted to extensive livestock productionwithin the time limit laid down.
Article 9
1. The area converted under this Regulation and corresponding to all
admissible applications during each marketing year shall, from the
following marketing year, be deducted from the regional base area or,where applicable, the individual base area provided for in Article 2 (2)or (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92.
2. In addition to the deduction referred to in paragraph 1, where the
land is converted to the rearing of suckler cows, a number of hectaresequal to 54 % of the number of suckler cow premium rights allocated
each year to producers shall, from the following marketing year, be
deducted from the base area.
3. The Portuguese authorities shall notify the Commission each year
of the total area converted under this Regulation so that the regional basearea can be amended in good time.
4. Converted land shall be considered as permanent pasture as
referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92.
Article 10
The Commission shall, if necessary, adopt detailed rules for the
application of this Regulation in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 and Article 30 ofRegulation (EEC) No 3013/89.
Article 11
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.1994R1017 — EN — 29.12.2001 — 002.001 — 5
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ANNEX
List of regions referred to in Article 1
Castelo Branco, Santarém, Lisboa, Setubal, Evora, Beja, Faro and Portalegre.1994R1017 — EN — 29.12.2001 — 002.001 — 6