1994R1017 — EN — 01.07.1995 — 001.001 — 1
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►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
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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,
Havingreg ard to the Treaty establishingthe European Community, andin particular Article 43 thereof,
Havingreg ard to the proposal from the Commission,Havingreg ard 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 beingredistributed to the formerowners of their successors; whereas part of this land was dedicated tolivestock production before collectivization; whereas, followingcollecti-vization, this land was largerly used for the cultivation of arable crops;whereas, if the viability of the holdings concerned is not to be endan-gered, the conversion of the said land to traditional farming activities,namely extensive farmingof cattle and/or sheep and g oats, as recom-mended by Portugal in the regions concerned, requires the existence ofa sufficient number of premium rights as referred to in Article 4d ofCouncil Regulation (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 commonorganization of the market in sheepmeat and goatmeat(
3); whereas
Portugal should be enabled to implement a programme for the conver-sion of this land by providingit with a specific national reserve ofpremium rights; whereas, so as not to disturb the situation on the marketin Portugal, the maximum number of livestock units (LU) which may bethe subject of the conversion programme must be restricted;
Whereas the land collectivization process, because of its nature and
scale, has affected all farmingactivity, 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 farmingwith a maximumstockingdensity per converted hectare, in accordance with a conversionplan 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 premiumprovided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68, withoutprejudice to current producers; whereas it is therefore appropriate thatpart of the premium rights arising from the conversion of arable cropsto the raisingof suckler cows should be used to incerease the reg ionalceilingon premiums referred to in the abovementioned Reg ulation;
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;
(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 Commis-
sion 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 Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 233/94 (OJ No L 30, 3. 2. 1994, p. 9).
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Whereas the conversion programme must be completed within a time
limit; whereas it should therefore be stipulated that, at the end of theprogramme, the specific reserve created pursuant to this Regulation aswell as any rights not yet allocated should lapse;
Whereas the arable areas converted to extensive livestock farmingmust
cease to be eligible for compensatory payments under the scheme set upby Council Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 of 30 June 1992 establishinga support 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 authorized to carry out, for a period of eight 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 aspecific autonomous national reserve (hereinafter called ‘specificreserve') comprisinga total number of rig hts to the suckler cowpremium within the meaningof Article 4d of Reg ulation (EEC) No805/68 and/or the ewe premium within the meaningof 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 improvingthe efficiency of agricultural structures(
2). This end, account shall be
taken of suckler cows and sheep and/for goats covered by an applicationfor participation in the conversion programme.
Article 3
1. The premium rights in the specific reserve shall be allocated to
farmers havingfarmland which is entirely or partly used to produce thearable 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.
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However, previously collectivized land redistributed to its formerowners or those entitled from 1 January 1990 to which producers wereunable 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 that theland is deducted from the basic area referred to in Article 9 of thatRegulation. Furthermore, in specifically substantiated cases broughtbefore the competent authorities, the abovementioned date of 1 January1990 may be backdated to 1 January 1989.
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 199, p. 12. Regulation as last amended by Commis-
sion 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 Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 3669/93 (OJ No L 338, 31. 12. 1993, p. 26).
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2. Allocation of rights shall be subject to the requirement that thestockingdensity on the declared area, calculated in accordance withArticle 4g(1), (2) and (3) of Reg ulation (EEC) No 805/68, must be►
M11,0◄LU per hectare or less.
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3. A number of premium rights equivalent to 0,5 LU shall be allo-cated per hectare converted to extensive livestock production. In addi-tion, where land is converted to the rearingof suckler cows, a numberof animals equal to 45 % of the number of suckler cow premium rightsallocated each year under this Regulation shall be added with effectfrom the next calendar year to the regional ceiling referred to in Article4b of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.
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Article 4
In order to obtain premium rights, producers must submit an application
specifyingin particular the type of rig hts 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 stockingdensity referred to in Article 3 (2) will becomplied with,
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— an undertakingto use the converted land for extensive livestock
production;
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— a declaration that the producer is aware of the conditions for allo-
catingpremium rig hts.
Article 5
On the basis of the applications submitted, the competent authorities
shall decide on the number of rights to be allocated and shall informapplicants thereof each year, not later than two months before the firstday 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 followingthe 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 toin Article 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 eight year following the entry into force of this
Regulation, unallocated premium rights shall lapse and the specificreserve 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:
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(a) verification of the eligibility of declared areas;
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(b) checks to ascertain that the land declared eligible under this Regula-
tion is duly converted to extensive livestock production within thetime limit laid down.
Article 9
1. The area converted under this Regulation and corresponding to all
admissible applications duringeach marketingyear shall, from thefollowingmarketingyear, be deducted from the reg ional 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 rearingof suckler cows, a number of hectaresequal to 54 % of the number of suckler cow premium rights allocatedeach year to producers shall, from the followingmarketingyear, bededucted 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 regionalbase area 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.
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Article 10
The Commission shall, if necessary, adopt detailed rules for the applica-
tion of this Regulation in accordance with the procedure laid down inArticle 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 and Article 30 of Regulation(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.
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ANNEX
List of regions referred to in Article 1
Castelo Branco, Santarém, Lisboa, Setubal, Evora, Beja, Faro and Portalegre.