Commission Regulation (EC) No 317/98 of 6 February 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1350/72 on rules for granting aid to hop producers
Date: 1998-02-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid per hectare, aid system, hops, production aid

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Official Journal of the European Communities

7. 2. 98

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 317/98

of 6 February 1998

amending Regulation (EEC) No 1350/72 on rules for granting aid to hop
producers

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1696/71
of 26 July 1971 on the common organisation of the
market in hops (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
1554/97 (2), and in particular Article 13(4) thereof,

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1696/71 as amended has
set the aid for a period of five years; whereas an annual
Council Regulation will therefore no longer be required;
whereas payment
is in the same year as the harvest;
whereas the time limit for submission of aid applications
should therefore be shortened; whereas as in the past the
aid is granted exclusively for hop-cone production and
does not extend to whole plants grown in nurseries;
whereas Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
1350/72 (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No
2640/91 (4) should therefore be amended;

Whereas effective arrangements are required to ensure
that aid is paid on the basis of proper entitlement and no
double payments are made; whereas these should be
modelled on the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 3508/92 of 27 November 1992 establishing an in-
tegrated administration and control system for certain
Community aid schemes (5), as last amended by Regula-
tion (EC) No 820/97 (6), and Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 3887/92 of 23 December 1992 laying down
detailed rules for applying the integrated administration
aid
and
schemes (7), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2015/95 (8); whereas Article 3 should therefore be
amended accordingly;

certain Community

system for

control

Whereas the date of 31 March given in Article 4 for
Member States’ notifications relating to aid management
by producer groups is no longer appropriate under the
new market organisation and should therefore be altered;
whereas some Member States need a transition period for

(1) OJ L 175, 4. 8. 1971, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 208, 2. 8. 1997, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 148, 30. 6. 1972, p. 11.
(4) OJ L 247, 5. 9. 1991, p. 9.
(5) OJ L 355, 5. 12. 1992, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 117, 7. 5. 1997, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 391, 31. 12. 1992, p. 36.
(8) OJ L 197, 22. 8. 1995, p. 2.

implementation of the administrative checks required on
all hop parcels; whereas a derogation should therefore be
made for the 1998 crop to allow these to be effected on a
sample basis; whereas it is important that checks on the
spot cover a significant sample of applications;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Hops,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 1350/72 is amended as follows:

1. Article 1(1) is replaced by the following:

All hop producers shall declare the areas which

‘1.
they have planted by 31 May of the year of harvest’.

2. Article 2 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 2

The application for aid shall be made by the indi-
1.
vidual producer not later than 31 October of the year
of harvest or through the producer-group by a date set
by the Member State.

Aid shall be granted only for areas that, for the

2.
harvest in question

(a) were planted, as regards the areas referred to in
Article 1(3)(a), at a uniform density of at least:

— 1 500 plants per hectare in the case of double

staking,

— 2 000 plants per hectare in the case of single

staking,

(b) were declared as required pursuant to Article 1;

(c) were cultivated and harvested in the normal way;
this excludes hop plants cultivated principally as
nursery products’.

3. In Article 3,

(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

The aid application shall include for the area
‘1.
in question at
the information required
pursuant to Article 1(2) and a statement that the
crop has been harvested.’;

least

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(b) the following is added after paragraph 2:

The following provisions of Regulation (EEC)

‘3.
No 3887/92 shall apply:

groups located in their territory all relevant
in-
formation on their management of the aid paid to
them,
including if appropriate full details of
measures as referred to in Article 7(1)(e) of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 1696/71. Notifications shall be
made by 31 December of the year following that of
the harvest in question.’

— the last subparagraph of Article 6(3) (detection
of significant irregularities in a region or part of
one),

5. The following Article 4a is added:

— the first

subparagraph of Article 8(1)

(late
lodging of area declaration and/or aid applica-
tion),

— Article 11 (force majeure),

— Article 12 (inspection visit report),

— Article 13 (refusal of visit by farmer),

— Article 14 (undue payment)’.

‘Article 4a

1.
If the actual area is found to be higher than that
stated in the area the latter shall be used for calculation
of the aid.

2.
If the area declared is higher than the area found
the latter shall be used for calculation of the aid. It
shall, however, except in cases of force majeure, be
reduced by twice the difference found, should that be
more than two hectares or 3 % and no more than
20 % of the actual area.

If the difference is more than 20 % of the area found
no area-related aid shall be granted.

4. In Article 4,

(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

If a false declaration was made deliberately or by
serious negligence:

shall

that properly verify respect

‘1.
Each Member State shall notify to the
Commission the names and addresses of the bodies
designated under
the second subparagraph of
Article 13(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1696/71 and
the aid scheme.
its measures for operation of
Administrative and on-the-spot checks shall be
carried out
for the
terms on which aid is granted. The administrative
checks
include cross-checks on the hop
parcels declared, including checks against the data-
base provided for in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC)
No 3508/92 (*),
in order to forestall any double
payment of the aid for the harvest in question. For
the 1998 harvest, however, cross-checks may be
effected on a sample basis. Checks on the spot,
effected following a risk analysis, shall cover a
significant sample of declarations and applications
amounting to at least 5 % of the area declarations
and 5 % of the aid applications.

(*) OJ L 355, 5. 12. 1992, p. 1.’;

(b) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

— the applicant

shall be excluded from the aid

scheme for the harvest in question, and

— if the false declaration was made deliberately, for

the following harvest also.

The above reductions shall not be applied if the ap-
plicant shows that for determination of the area he
used information recognised by the competent au-
thority.

For the purposes of this Article the “area found” is that
for which all regulatory requirements have been met’.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

‘2. Member States
send the
Commission in respect of the recognised producer

shall each year

It shall apply from the 1998 harvest.

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This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 6 February 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission