(6)

Article 47 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 47 Union contribution 1. Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, the Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall amount to: (a) 75 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and (b) 50 % in other regions. The Member State may pay its national aid as a flat-rate payment. The aid application shall not be required to include evidence as to the use of the aid. 2. The Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, expressed in terms of a capital grant or capital-grant equivalent, shall not exceed, as a percentage of eligible investment costs: (a) 50 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and (b) 30 % in other regions. The Member States concerned shall undertake to contribute at least 5 % of eligible investment costs. Beneficiaries of aid towards eligible investment costs shall pay at least: (a) 25 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and (b) 45 % in other regions. 3. Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, the Union contribution to the aid referred to in Article 103a(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall be determined for each producer group on the basis of its value of marketed production and shall be subject to the following rules: (a) in respect of producer groups in Member States which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004 or thereafter, no ceiling shall apply in the first two years of implementation of their recognition plan, and a ceiling of 70 %, 50 % and 20 % of the value of the marketed production shall apply in the third, fourth and fifth year of implementation of their recognition plan respectively; (b) in respect of producer groups in the outermost regions of the Union as referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty or in the smaller Aegean Islands as referred to in Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 (3), the Union contribution shall be capped at 25 %, 20 %, 15 %, 10 % and 5 % of the value of the marketed production in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth year of implementation of their recognition plan respectively. 4. The total expenditure for the Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall not exceed EUR 10 000 000 per calendar year. On the basis of the notifications referred to in Article 38(4) the Commission shall set allocation coefficients and establish the total available Union contribution per Member State per year on the basis of those coefficients. If for any year the total amount resulting from the notifications referred to in Article 38(4) does not exceed the maximum amount of the Union contribution, the allocation coefficient shall be set at 100 %. The Union contribution shall be granted in accordance with the allocation coefficient referred to in the second subparagraph. No Union contribution shall be granted in respect of recognition plans that were not notified in accordance with Article 38(4). The exchange rate applicable to the Union contribution per Member State shall be the rate most recently published by the European Central Bank prior to the date provided for in Article 38(4).