2006/664/EC: Council Decision of 19 June 2006 adapting Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania
Date: 2006-06-19
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Bulgaria, EU aid, Romania, accession to the European Union, aid to agriculture, rural development

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Official Journal of the European Union

9.10.2006

COUNCIL DECISION

of 19 June 2006

adapting Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania

(2006/664/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of Bulgaria and Roma-
nia, signed at Luxembourg on 25 April 2005, and in particular
Article 4(3) thereof,

Having regard to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania,
and in particular Article 34(4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(5)

(6)

(7)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 Septem-
ber 2005 on support for rural development by the Euro-
pean Agricultural
for Rural Development
(EAFRD) (2) introduces changes to the acquis on which the
accession negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania were
based.

Fund

There is therefore a need to adapt the Act of Accession of
Bulgaria and Romania so that it is compatible with Regu-
lation (EC) No 1698/2005.

(8)

In making the necessary adaptations to the Act of Acces-
sion of Bulgaria and Romania the fundamental character
and principles of the negotiation results should be main-
tained and applied to new elements. Moreover, the adap-
tations to the Act of Accession should be limited to what
is absolutely necessary.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The provisions on technical assistance provided for in
Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Roma-
nia are covered by Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 and
should consequently be deleted.

Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 establishes a compulsory
Leader axis within the rural development programme,
which must account for a minimum percentage of EAFRD
contribution to the programme. In addition, Article 59 of
that Regulation establishes a measure aimed at support-
ing capacity building, which differs from the arrangements
that were negotiated for Bulgaria and Romania. Therefore
it is necessary to harmonise the provisions on Leader set
out in Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and
Romania with the new provisions provided for in Regula-
tion (EC) No 1698/2005.

Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 provides for a support for
the use of advisory services. However, there are differences
between the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania
and that Regulation in the scope of that measure. So as to
avoid, notably, double financing, for the three first years
of the programme, Bulgaria and Romania should be given
the choice of implementing either the measure provided
for in Annex VIII to the Act of Accession or the measure
provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.

Furthermore, when reaching political agreement on Regu-
lation (EC) No 1698/2005, the Council and the Commis-
sion agreed in a joint declaration regarding Bulgaria and
Romania to extend the measure on advisory services pro-
vided for in Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bul-
garia and Romania until 2013 as regards the provision of
advisory services to farmers receiving semi-subsistence
support. Annex VIII to the Act of Accession should be
adapted to take this agreement into account.

The ‘semi-subsistence’ and ‘producer group’ measures pro-
vided for in Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bul-
garia and Romania are covered by Regulation (EC)
No 1698/2005 as transitional measures for Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hun-
gary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
Therefore, the provisions set out in the Act of Accession
of Bulgaria and Romania in these areas should be deleted.

(9)

Given that Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of
21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricul-
tural policy (3) has established a single Fund for Commu-
nity support for rural development replacing the previous
two sources of funding, it is necessary to clarify the basis
on which the 20 % ceiling specified in the complement to
direct payments measure provided for in point E of Sec-
tion I of Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria
and Romania should be calculated.

(1) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(2) OJ L 277, 21.10.2005, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(3) OJ L 209, 11.8.2005, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC)

(EC) No 1463/2006 (see page 1 of this Official Journal).

No 320/2006 (OJ L 58, 28.2.2006, p. 42).

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Community support provided for in point E of Section I
of Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and
Romania aims at co-financing national direct payments or
aids under Article 143c of Council Regulation (EC)
No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing com-
mon rules for direct support schemes under the common
agricultural policy and establishing certain support
schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC)
No 2019/93, (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001,
(EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999,
(EC)
1673/2000,
(EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001 (1). For this
reason, that support should not be taken into account for
the calculation of the balance between objectives described
in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.

1254/1999,

(EC)

No

No

(b) point C shall be replaced by the following:

‘C. Leader+ type measures

in
In addition to the measures provided for
Article 63(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005, a
support may be granted to the following measures:

(a) building representative local development

partnerships;

(b) drawing up integrated development strategies;

(c)

financing research and preparing applications
for support.’;

Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 no longer includes eco-
nomic viability as an eligibility condition of the measure
concerning investment support. The related derogation
provided for Bulgaria and Romania in Annex VIII to the
Act of Accession should consequently be deleted.

(c) point D shall be replaced by the following:

‘D. Farm advisory and extension services

(10)

(11)

(12)

Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 establishes new rules con-
cerning the financing of expenditure on rural develop-
ment. Since those provisions follow the same principles
as Articles 31 and 32 of Council Regulation (EC)
No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general pro-
visions on the Structural Funds (2), which are referred to in
the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania, the spe-
cific financial provisions provided in Annex VIII to the
Act of Accession are no longer necessary. In addition,
there is a need to modify in that Annex the financial con-
tribution of the Community for agri-environment and ani-
mal welfare measures since, in accordance with Article 70
of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005, the co-financing rates
are no longer set at measure but at axis level,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Annex VIII to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania
shall be amended as follows:

(1) Support shall be granted for the provision of

farm advisory and extension services.

For the period 2007 to 2009, that support
may not be included in the rural development
programme if support as provided for in
Article 24 of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005
is foreseen.

(2) For the period 2010 to 2013, support shall be
granted only for the provision of services to
farmers receiving semi-subsistence support as
referred to in Article 20(d)(i) of Regulation (EC)
No 1698/2005.

As a minimum the advisory services to farm-
ers referred to in point 1 shall cover:

(a)

the statutory management requirements
and the good agricultural and environ-
mental conditions referred to in Articles 4
and 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003
and in Annexes III and IV thereto;

(b) occupational safety standards based on

Community legislation.’;

(d) point E shall be amended as follows:

1.

Section I shall be amended as follows:

(i)

in point 3, the first sentence shall be replaced by
the following:

(a) points A and B shall be deleted;

(1) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula-

tion (EC) No 953/2006 (OJ L 175, 29.6.2006, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 173/2005 (OJ L 29, 2.2.2005, p. 3).

‘The Community contribution to support granted
under this subsection in Bulgaria or Romania in
respect of each of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009
shall not exceed 20 % of its respective annual allo-
cation originating from the EAGGF Guarantee Sec-
tion as referred to in Article 34(2) of the this Act
of Accession.’;

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(ii)

the following point shall be added:

Article 2

‘(5) The Community financial contribution to this
measure shall not be taken into account for
the calculation of the balance between objec-
tives under Article 17 of Regulation (EC)
No 1698/2005.’;

This Decision shall be drawn up in the Czech, Danish, Dutch,
English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian,
Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slo-
vak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Bulgarian and Romanian lan-
guages, all 23 texts being equally authentic.

(e) points F and G shall be deleted.

In Section II, point 1 shall be deleted.

Section IV shall be replaced by the following:

2.

3.

‘By way of derogation from Article 70(3)(a) of Regulation
(EC) No 1698/2005, the financial contribution of the Com-
munity may amount to 80 % for axis 1 and 3 as well as for
the technical assistance.

By way of derogation from Article 70(3)(b) of Regulation
(EC) No 1698/2005, the financial contribution of the Com-
munity may amount to 82 % for axis 2.’.

Article 3

This Decision shall take effect on 1 January 2007 subject to the
entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of Bulgaria and
Romania.

Done at Luxembourg, 19 June 2006.

For the Council

The President

J. PRÖLL