Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes - Area-linked aid for arable crops and set-aside - Area declared in good faith but exceeding that actually determined by more than 20% - Penalty imposed under the rules in Regulation No 3887/92 - Preclusion of any payment - Penalty under the rules in Regulation No 1648/95, applying retroactively - Calculation of compensatory payments on the basis of the area of set-aside actually determined

(Council Regulation No 2988/95, Arts 1(2) and 2(2); Commission Regulations No 3887/92, Art. 9(2) to (4), and No 1648/95)

2 Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes - Area-linked aid for forage areas used for bovine animals or for areas under a specific arable crop - Area declared in good faith but exceeding that actually determined by more than 20% - Penalty - Preclusion of any payment - Breach of the principles of proportionality, legal certainty or non-discrimination - None

(Commission Regulations No 3887/92, Art. 9(2) to (4), and No 1648/95)

Summary

3 Article 9(2) to (4) of Regulation No 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes, prior to the entry into force of Regulation No 1648/95 amending it, must be interpreted as precluding any payment linked to the arable areas when the difference between the area of set-aside land declared and that determined on inspection by the competent authorities exceeds 20% and there is no false intention or serious negligence. However, in the light of Articles 1(2) and 2(2) of Regulation No 2988/95 on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, under which less severe penalties introduced by subsequent amendments to Community provisions must be applied retroactively, the amendments made to Article 9(4) of Regulation No 3887/92 by Regulation No 1648/95 apply to circumstances which occurred before its entry into force. Consequently, the calculation of the maximum eligible area for the compensatory payments for arable crop producers must be made, under Article 9(4) of Regulation No 3887/92, as amended by Regulation No 1648/95, on the basis of the area of set-aside land actually determined and on a pro rata basis for each crop concerned.

4 Article 9(2) to (4) of Regulation No 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes, even after the entry into force of Regulation No 1648/95 amending it, must be interpreted as precluding the payment of any premium for bovine animals to farmers when the forage area as actually determined is found to be more than 20% smaller than that declared in the `area' aid application and there is no false intention or serious negligence.

Those rules do not infringe the principles of proportionality, legal certainty or non-discrimination. As regards the first, given the wide measure of discretion enjoyed by the Community institutions in the area in question, it cannot be regarded as unjustified or disproportionate to impose in respect of such an error, the extent of which is considerable, a dissuasive and effective penalty, particularly since the system established by Article 9(2) to (4) provides for sanctions graded according to the seriousness of the irregularity committed and is therefore commensurate with the objectives pursued and necessary in order to achieve them. As regards the principle of legal certainty, whilst Regulation No 3887/92 may present some difficulties of interpretation, they are due to the complexity of the matters involved and if the regulation is read carefully, the sense and consequences of the application of its provisions, which are intended for those involved professionally in the area, can be grasped. As regards, finally, the principle of non-discrimination, the penalties imposed, on the one hand, on farmers who have committed the error in question and, on the other hand, on farmers who have made a false declaration intentionally or as a result of serious negligence are different, so that different situations are not treated in the same way.

Nor, for the same reasons, do the rules in question infringe those principles in so far as they impose the sanction of loss of the entire payment linked to a specific area, namely an area devoted to a particular arable crop, on a farmer when the area of land as actually determined is found to be more than 20% smaller than that declared in his aid application and there is no false intention or serious negligence.