Commission Regulation (EC) No 1763/2001 of 6 September 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Date: 2001-09-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EAGGF Guidance Section, aid system, aid to agriculture, rural development, young farmer

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1763/2001

of 6 September 2001

amending Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

flexibility where compliance with the condition on the
age of the young farmer is concerned.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17
May 1999 on support for rural development from the Euro-
pean Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and
amending and repealing certain Regulations (1), and in partic-
ular Articles 34 and 50 thereof,

Whereas:

In the first year in which the provisions on rural devel-
opment applied it was found that some provisions of
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 (2), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 672/2001 (3), did not
cover all the situations which can arise.

Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 provides for
aid to help young farmers to set up in farming. If this
aid is to constitute a real incentive to young people to
take over an agricultural holding the decision to grant
the aid must be taken close to when the young farmer
takes over the holding. To enable the Member States to
implement this new requirement it should not apply
until 1 January 2002.

States'

programming

Some Member
documents
approved by the Commission provide for setting-up aid
to be granted to young farmers who have set up in
farming several years before the grant decision. In view
of the new deadline for individual decisions from 1
January 2002,
those Member States which wish to
provide support in such cases before the new condition
applies must take the necessary steps before the end of
2002.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 provides
for farmers to receive support to offset the costs and loss
of income resulting, in areas where there are environ-
mental constraints, from the imposition of restrictions
based on Community provisions to protect the environ-
ment. Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December
1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollu-
tion caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (4) is
intended to reduce the pollution of waters by nitrates
from agriculture and to prevent it spreading. In line with
the ‘polluter pays’ principle in Article 174(2) of the
Treaty, there should be no compensation for the costs
and income losses resulting from the application of the
restrictions imposed by that Directive, which should
therefore be excluded from the scope of Article 16 of
Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

Under Article 39(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999,
for each Member State, expenditure declared for any
given financial year is financed up to the limit of the
amounts notified to the Commission under Article
37(1)(b) which are covered by the appropriations
entered in the budget for the financial year in question.
Where the total of the expenditure forecasts notified
under Article 37 exceeds the appropriations entered in
the budget for the financial year in question it is neces-
sary to lay down a method for determining the
maximum amounts which can be financed by the appro-
priations available for each Member State, based on the
amount of the annual allocation as defined in Commis-
sion Decision 1999/659/EC (5), as amended by Decision
2000/426/EC (6).

Furthermore, for budget or administrative reasons due to
the end of the old programming period and the start of
the new one, some young farmers who set up in 1999,
2000 or 2001 have not yet received setting-up aid.
Member States should be authorised to take the neces-
sary steps to grant such support before the end of 2001
or, as appropriate, not more than 12 months after the
young farmers have set up, and to provide for some

(7)

in particular agri-
Some rural development measures,
environmental measures, are multiannual. In the interest
of sound management and for control purposes, it is
necessary to specify that the beneficiary must apply for
support each year, unless the Member State provides for
another procedure for verifying the conditions for the
grant of aid.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.
(2) OJ L 214, 13.8.1999, p. 31.
(3) OJ L 93, 3.4.2001, p. 28.

(4) OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 259, 6.10.1999, p. 27.
(6) OJ L 165, 6.7.2000, p. 33.

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(8)

(9)

Article 48 of Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 refers, as
regards support granted on the basis of areas and on the
basis of livestock, to Article 14 of Commission Regula-
tion (EEC) No 3887/92 of 23 December 1992 laying
down detailed rules for applying the integrated adminis-
tration and control system for certain Community aid
schemes (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2721/2000 (2), which, in the event of undue payments,
makes
amounts
involved, plus interest. For the sake of consistency, this
procedure should be made compulsory in the case of all
rural development support measures financed by the
EAGGF Guarantee Section.

compulsory to reimburse

the

it

Article 55(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 lays
down that the Directives adopting or amending lists of
less-favoured areas are to remain in force unless further
amended in the framework of programmes. Point 9 of
the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 specifies
the descriptive information, broken down into main
features and other elements, which must be given for
each measure in the programming document. The
amendments made to the lists of less-favoured areas
adopted by the Council and the Commission, and the
list of areas with environmental constraints, must appear
under ‘other elements’.

(10)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Agri-
cultural Structures and Rural Development,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

vidual decision to grant support no later than 31
December 2002.

Where young farmers have set up in 1999, 2000 or
2001 and have not yet received support for budget or
administrative reasons, Member States may take the
individual decision to grant support no later than 31
December 2001 or within not more than twelve
months after the farmers have set up.’;

(b) The second sentence in the first paragraph is replaced

by the following:

‘In the case of applications lodged no later than 31
farmers who have set up as
December 2001 for
described in the third paragraph,
the condition laid
down in the first indent of Article 8(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1257/1999 must be met when the farmer sets
up.’;

2. the following Article is added to Section 5 of Chapter II:

‘Article 11a

The support provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EC)
No 1257/1999 cannot offset the costs and loss of income
resulting from the implementation of restrictions based on
Council Directive 91/676/EEC (*) concerning the protection
of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricul-
tural sources.

(*) OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1.’;

3. Article 39 is amended as follows:

Article 1

(a) The following paragraph 1(a) is inserted:

Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 is amended as follows:

1. Article 5 is amended as follows:

(a) The following paragraphs are inserted before the first

paragraph:

‘The individual decision to grant aid for the setting-up of
young farmers under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No
1257/1999 must be taken no later than 12 months
after they have set up as defined by the provisions in
force in the Member States.

Where young farmers have set up before the date from
which the above paragraph applies and could receive
support more than 12 months after setting up under the
arrangements in the programming document approved
by the Commission, Member States may take the indi-

(1) OJ L 391, 31.12.1992, p. 36.
(2) OJ L 314, 14.12.2000, p. 8.

‘1(a) Where the total amount of the forecasts noti-
fied under Article 37(1)(b) exceeds the total of
the
appropriations entered in the budget for the financial
year in question the maximum amount of expenditure
to be financed by each Member State shall be limited
based on the allocation formula used to establish the
the corresponding annual allocation as
amount of
defined in Commission Decision 1999/659/EC (*).

If, after this reduction, appropriations remain available
because some Member States have made forecasts
which are below their annual allocation the surplus
amount shall be distributed in proportion to their
respective annual allocations while ensuring that the
amount forecast for each Member State in the first
paragraph is not exceeded. The Commission shall
thus adjusted to the Member
notify the forecasts
States in the month following the adoption of
the
budget for the financial year in question.

(*) OJ L 259, 6.10.1999, p. 27.’;

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(b) Article 39(2) is replaced by the following:

by

actually

incurred

expenditure

the amounts

‘2. Where
a
Member State in any given financial year exceeds the
amounts notified in accordance with Article 37(1)(b)
resulting from the application of
or
paragraph 1(a), the overruns on expenditure in that
financial year shall be entered in the accounts on a
pro rata basis, up to the limit of the appropriations
remaining available after reimbursing the expenditure
incurred by the other Member States.’;

(c) Article 39(3) is replaced by the following:

by

actually

incurred

expenditure

‘3. Where
a
Member State in a given financial year is less than
75 % of the amounts referred to in paragraph 1, the
expenditure to be recognised for the following finan-
cial year shall be reduced by a third of the difference
between this threshold, or the amounts resulting from
the application of paragraph 1(a) if they are below it,
and the actual expenditure incurred during the finan-
cial year in question.

submitted shall be made on the basis of an annual
application for payment, except where a procedure for
effective annual verification as referred to in Article 47(1)
of this Regulation has been introduced by the Member
State.’;

5. Article 48(1) is amended as follows:

(a) The second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘In addition, Article 11(1a) of Regulation (EEC) No
3887/92 shall apply to such support.’

(b) The following subparagraph is added:

‘In the event of undue payment, the individual benefi-
ciary of a rural development measure shall be obliged
to repay the amount in accordance with Article 14 of
Regulation (EEC) No 3887/92.’;

6. the following indent

is added to point 9.3.V.B of

the

Annex:

‘— amendments

to the

less-favoured areas
lists of
adopted or amended by Council and Commission
Directives, and the list of areas with environmental
constraints.’

This reduction shall not be taken into account when
establishing actual expenditure in the financial year
following that in which the reduction was made.’;

4. the following paragraph 5 is added to Article 46:

Article 2

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

‘5. Where the support is multiannual, payments subse-
quent to that made in the first year an application was

The first paragraph of Article 1(1)(a) shall apply from 1
January 2002.

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

Done at Brussels, 6 September 2001.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission