Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulations (EEC) No 2328/91 and (EEC) No 866/90 with a view to speeding up the adjustment of production, processing and marketing structures within the framework of the reform of the common agricultural policy (94/C 152/04) COM(94) 166 final - 94/0120(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 29 April 1994)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 of 15 July 1991 on improving the efficiency of agricultural structures (1), Council Regulation (EEC) No 866/90 of 29 March 1990 on improving the processing and marketing conditions for agricultural products (2) were amended by Regulation (EC) No 3669/93 (3), particularly as concerns the introduction of financing rules in view of the ceiling on resources available under Objective No 5 (a);

Whereas, in the context of the implementation of the reform of the common agricultural policy and taking account, in particular, of current developments in farming conditions, the measures to improve production, processing and marketing structures should be adjusted to give the Member States greater leeway in choosing the specific conditions for implementing this Objective;

Whereas, keeping within the limits of the resources available for Objective No 5 (a), the aid amounts provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 should be brought up to date;

Whereas the investment aid scheme should be made more flexible and optional, while maintaining the obligation for all State aid granted in this area to comply with the prohibitions and sectoral restrictions as well as with the rules on State aid laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91;

Whereas the conditions of access to aid should be relaxed, with particular attention to measures to assist young farmers;

Whereas it is necessary to ensure that the measures provided for by the present Regulation fully respect the current environmental provisions; that in this context it is particularly opportune to introduce a certain flexibility to the sectoral limitations provided for investment aids in the case of investments in the area of the protection of the environment, hygiene on livestock holdings and animal welfare;

Whereas care should be taken to ensure that the measures envisaged are compatible with the reform of the common agricultural policy and that, in particular, they do not result in an overall increse in production capacity in sectors where there are surpluses,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 is hereby amended as follows:

1. The amounts laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 and listed in Annex 1 to this Regulation are amended as indicated therein.

2. Article 5 is amended as follows:

(a) The first subparagraph of paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

'1. In order to contribute to the improvement of agricultural incomes and of living, working and production conditions on agricultural holdings, Member States may introduce, pursuant to the common measure referred to in Article 1, a system of investment aid to agricultural holdings where the farmer:`.

(b) Paragraph 1 (c) is replaced by the following:

'(c) submits a plan for materially improving his holding. This plan must show that the investments are justified from the point of view of the situation of the holding and its economy and that implementation of the plan will bring about a lasting improvement of that situation;`.

(c) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

'2. The aid system referred to in paragraph 1 shall be limited to agricultural holdings where labour income per man work unit does not exceed the reference income referred to in paragraph 3. Member States may restrict the aid system referred to in paragraph 1 to agricultural holdings which have a family character.`

3. Article 6 is amended as follows:

(a) The first subparagraph of paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

'5. Aid referred to in paragraph 1 and granted for investments relating to the beef sector, other than aid for safeguarding the environment, improvement of hygiene conditions on livestock enterprises and animal welfare, provided there is no increase in capacity, shall be restricted to livestock enterprises where the beef-cattle stocking rate does not, in the final year of the plan, exceed the following number of livestock units (LU) per hectare of forage area used for feeding the cattle: 3, 2,5 and LU/ha for the plans ending respectively in 1994, 1995 and 1996 or later. The limits of 2,5 and 2 LU/ha shall apply only to applications submitted as from 1 January 1994.`

(b) Paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

'6. The investment aid referred to in paragraph 1 may not be granted in the egg and poultry sector, with the exception of aid for safeguarding the environment, improvement of hygiene conditions on livestock enterprises and animal welfare, provided there is no increase in capacity.`

4. The last paragraph of Article 7 is deleted.

5. Article 9 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

'3. Member States may grant the aid referred to in Article 7 to group-operated holdings if at least three or four of the members of the group holding satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 5 (4).`

(b) The second subparagraph of paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

'However, these ceilings may not exceed:

- 160 cows,

- four times the amount per holding indicated in the first subparagraph of Article 7 (2),

- per group-operated holding, including any parts of holdings which continue to be run by the group members.`

(c) Paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

'5. In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30, the Commission may authorize a Member State to grant the aid referred to in Article 7, under the conditions stipulated in paragraph 4, to agricultural cooperatives and other similar associations whose sole objective is to manage an agricultural holding. At the same time, the Commission shall lay down specific conditions for the granting of aid to such cooperatives, as well as the conditions under which and the limits within which the volume of investment provided for in paragraph 4 may be exceeded.`

6. Article 10 is amended as follows:

(a) The second indent of paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

'- the young farmer sets up as a farmer practising farming as his main occupation or begins, after having set up as a part-time farmer, to practise farming as his main occupation; however, Member States may grant this aid to young farmers who set up as part time farmers deriving at least 50 % of their total income from farming, forestry, tourism or craft activities or activities for maintaining the countryside which qualify for public aid, carried out on the holding, provided that the proportion of income deriving directly from farming on the holding is not less than 25 % of the farmer's total income and that off-farm activities do not account for more than half the farmer's total working time,`.

(b) The second subparagraph of paragraph 2 (b) is replaced by the following:

'The duration of the interest subsidy shall not exceed 15 years; the capitalized value of the interest subsidy may not exceed the value of the single premium fixed at (a).`

7. Article 12 is modified as follows:

(a) At paragraph 2 the first indent is replaced by the following text:

'Where Member States grant aid for investments in holdings which do not satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 5, such aid must be at least one quarter less than the aid granted pursuant to Article 7, with the exception of aid for:

- energy saving,

- land improvement,

- aid for investment in the protection and improvement of the environment, provided that it does not entail an increase in production capacity,

- measures in respect of investments for the purpose of improvement of hygiene conditions on livestock enterprises or of compliance with Community animal welfare standards where these are stricter than Community standards, provided that these investments do not give rise to an increase in production capacity,

which may reach the amount laid down in Article 7 (2).`

(b) At paragraph 5 the fifth and sixth indents are replaced by the following text:

' - aid for investment in the protection and improvement of the environment, providing that it does not entail an increase in production capacity,

- measures in respect of investment for the purpose of improvement of hygiene conditions on livestock enterprises or of compliance with Community animal welfare standards where these are stricter than Community standards, provided that these investments do not give rise to an increase in production capacity,`.

(c) A new paragraph is added as follows:

'6. The present article applies even if the Member States do not institute a system of investment aids as foreseen under Title IV.`

Article 2

Regulation (EEC) No 866/90 is hereby amended as follows:

1. The following points are added at the end of Article 1 (2):

' (f) contributing to the adjustment of sectors facing new situations as a result of the reform of the common agricultural policy;

(g) helping to facilitate the adoption of new technologies relating to environmental protection;

(h) encouraging the improvement and monitoring of quality and of health conditions`

2. The first indent of Article 11 (1) is replaced by the following:

'- rationalizing or developing the preparation, preservation, treatment and processing of agricultural products or recycling of by-products or manufacturing waste and eliminating or treating waste,`

3. The second subparagraph of Article 17 (2) is deleted.

Article 3

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.

(1) OJ No L 218, 6. 8. 1991, p. 1.

(2) OJ No L 91, 6. 4. 1990, p. 1.

(3) OJ No L 338, 31. 12. 1993, p. 26.

ANNEX

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