Corrigendum to 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) (OJ L 239 of 7.9.2001)
Date: 2002-02-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EAGGF Guidance Section, aid system, aid to agriculture, rural development, young farmer

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CORRIGENDA

Corrigendum to 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)

(Official Journal of the European Communities L 239 of 7 September 2001)

The following text annuls and replaces Regulation (EC) No 1763/2001 published on pages 10 to 12 of Official Journal of
the European Communities L 239 of 7 September 2001.

‘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,

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
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations (1), and in
particular Articles 34 and 50 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

In the first year in which the provisions on rural development 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
make it possible to respond to all the situations which may arise.

Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 provides for aid to help young farmers to set up in farming. If such
aid is to constitute a real incentive to young people to set up on an agricultural holding, the decision to grant the
aid must be taken close to when the farmer actually sets up. To enable the Member States to implement that new
obligation,

it should not apply until 1 January 2002.

Some Member States' programming 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 obligation is implemented must take the necessary steps before the end of 2002.

Furthermore, for budgetary 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 necessary 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 flexibility
where compliance with the condition on the age of the young farmer is concerned.

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 environmental constraints, from the imposition of restrictions based on
Community provisions to protect
the environment. Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991
concerning the protection of waters against pollution 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 Directive 91/676/EEC, which should therefore be
excluded from the scope of Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

(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.

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(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

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 necessary to lay down a method for determining the maximum amounts which can be
financed by the appropriations available for each Member State, based on the amount of the annual allocation as
defined in Commission Decision 1999/659/EC of 8 September 1999 fixing an indicative allocation by Member
State of the allocations under the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund Guarantee Section for rural
development measures for the period 2000 to 2006 (1), as amended by Decision 2000/426/EC (2).

Some rural development measures, in particular agri-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.

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 Regulation (EEC) No 3887/92 of 23 December 1992 laying down
detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid
schemes (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2721/2000 (4), which, in the event of undue payments, makes
it compulsory to reimburse the 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.

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)

Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of
Agricultural Structures and Rural Development,

the Committee on

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

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

1. Article 5 is replaced by the following:

“Article 5

The conditions laid down in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 must be fulfilled at the time when the
individual decision to grant support is taken. In the case of applications lodged no later than 31 December 2001 for
farmers who have set up as described in the fifth 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.

However, as far as occupational skill and competence, economic viability and minimum standards regarding the
environment, hygiene and animal welfare are concerned, a time period not exceeding three years after setting-up may
be foreseen for the fulfilment of these conditions, in so far as an adaptation period is necessary to facilitate the
establishment of the young farmer or the structural adjustment of his holding.

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 1 January 2002 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
individual decision to grant support no later than 31 December 2002.

(1) OJ L 259, 6.10.1999, p. 27.
(2) OJ L 165, 6.7.2000, p. 33.
(3) OJ L 391, 31.12.1992, p. 36.
(4) OJ L 314, 14.12.2000, p. 8.

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Where young farmers have set up in 1999, 2000 or 2001 and have not yet been granted support for budgetary or
administrative reasons, Member States may take the individual decision to grant support no later than 31 December
2001 or within not more than 12 months after the farmers have set up.”;

2.

in Section 5 of Chapter II, the following Article 11a is inserted:

“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 (*).

(*) OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1.”;

3. Article 39 is replaced by the following:

“Article 39

1.
For each Member State, expenditure declared for any given financial year shall be financed up to the limit
of the amounts notified to the Commission under point (b) of Article 37(1) which are covered by the appropria-
tions entered in the budget for the financial year in question.

1a. Where the total amount of the forecasts notified under Article 37(1)(b) exceeds the total of the appropria-
tions entered in the budget
the maximum amount of expenditure to be
financed by each Member State shall be limited on the basis of the allocation formula used to establish the
amount of the corresponding annual allocation as defined in Commission Decision 1999/659/EC (*).

for the financial year in question,

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 the annual allocations
while ensuring that the amount forecast for each Member State in the first subparagraph is not exceeded. The
Commission shall notify the forecasts thus adjusted to the Member States in the month following the adoption of
the budget for the financial year in question.

2. Where expenditure actually incurred by a Member State in any given financial year exceeds the amounts
notified in accordance with Article 37(1)(b) or the amounts resulting from the application of paragraph 1a of this
Article, 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.

3. Where expenditure actually incurred by 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 financial year shall be
reduced by one third of the difference between that threshold, or the amounts resulting from the application of
paragraph 1a if they are below it, and the actual expenditure incurred during the financial year in question.

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.
Paragraph 3 shall not apply to the first statement of expenditure under the Rural Development Program-
ming Document or the Single Programming Document under Objective 2 in the case of rural development meas-
ures financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section.

(*) OJ L 259, 6.10.1999, p. 27.”;

4.

in Article 46, the following paragraph 5 is added:

“5. Where the support is multiannual, payments subsequent to that made in the first year an application was
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.

in Article 48, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

“1.
Article 9(1), (2) and (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 3887/92 shall apply to support granted on the basis of
areas and Article 10(2) to (5), Article 10b and Article 10f of that Regulation shall apply to support granted on
the basis of animals.

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

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

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6.

in Article 50, the following paragraph is added:

“The third paragraph of Article 5 shall apply as from 1 January 2002.”;

7.

in the Annex, the following indent is added to point 9.3.V.B:

“— amendments to the lists of less favoured areas adopted or amended by Council and Commission Directives,

and the list of areas with environmental constraints.”

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

Article 2

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’

Corrigendum to Council Decision 2002/60/EC of 22 January 2002 appointing the members and alternate
members of the Committee of the Regions for the period 26 January 2002 to 25 January 2006

(Official Journal of the European Communities L 24 of 26 January 2002)

On page 57,

in Annex II under ‘SVERIGE’:

for:

‘Endrick SCHUBERG
Västra Götalands läns landsting’,

read:

‘Endrick SCHUBERT
Västra Götalands läns landsting’.