Commission Regulation (EC) No 434/2007 of 20 April 2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 by reason of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union
Date: 2007-04-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Bulgaria, EU aid, Romania, aid to agriculture, fund (EU), rural development, transitional period (EU)

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Official Journal of the European Union

21.4.2007

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 434/2007

of 20 April 2007

amending Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 by reason of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the
European Union

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

ination and approval by the Commission, common rules
relating to their structure and content should be laid
down on the basis of Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No
1698/2005 in particular.

Having regard to the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and
Romania (1), and in particular Articles 34(3) and 56 thereof,

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 should be amended
accordingly.

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20
for rural development by the
September 2005 on support
Rural Development
European
(EAFRD) (2) and in particular Article 91 thereof,

Agricultural

Fund

for

(6)

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

Whereas:

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

terms

in general

Article 34 and Annex VIII of the Act of Accession of
the
Bulgaria and Romania defines
conditions under which temporary additional support is
to be granted for transitional rural development measures
in these new Member States. Implementing rules should
be adopted to supplement those conditions and adapt
certain rules foreseen by Commission Regulation (EC)
No 1974/2006 of 15 December 2006 laying down
detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation
(EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by
the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
(EAFRD) (3).

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 is amended as follows:

1. In Chapter III, section I, subsection 1, the following Article

25a is added:

‘Article 25a

Those rules should conform to the principles of sub-
sidiarity and proportionality and should therefore be
limited to what is necessary to achieve the objectives
pursued.

Conditions of eligibility for certain transitional measures
should therefore be specified.

To facilitate the establishment of
rural development
programmes comprising those measures, and their exam-

for

Support

1.
farm advisory and
the provision of
extension services referred to in Annex VIII Section I D of
the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania can be
granted to the authorities and bodies delivering these
services to farmers. This concerns in particular drawing up
business plans, assistance in making applications for rural
development measures, advice and extension related to
respect of good agricultural and environmental conditions
and statutory management requirements provided for in
Articles 4 and 5 of and in Annexes III and IV to Regulation
(EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct
the common agricultural policy
support schemes under
and establishing certain support schemes for farmers;

(1) The Act of Accession was

adapted by Council Decisions
2006/663/EC (OJ L 277, 9.10.2006, p. 2) and 2006/664/EC (OJ
L 277, 9.10.2006, p. 4).

(2) OJ L 277, 21.10.2005, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 2012/2006 (OJ L 384, 29.12.2006, p. 8).

(3) OJ L 368, 23.12.2006, p. 15.

2.
The authorities and bodies selected to provide advisory
and extension services to farmers shall avail of appropriate
resources in the form of qualified staff, administrative and
technical
facilities and advisory experience and reliability
with respect to the services to be provided.

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For the period 2007-09, Bulgaria and Romania may
3.
implement, as regards the provision of advisory services to
farmers, either this measure, or the measure “use of advisory
services by farmers and forest holders” referred to in Article
20(a)(iv) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.’;

2. In Chapter III, section I, subsection 4, the following sentence

is added to Article 37(2):

‘In Bulgaria and Romania the first call for proposals shall be
organised no later than three years after the approval of the
programme.’;

3. In Chapter III, section I, subsection 4, the following Article

37a is added:

‘Article 37a

In Bulgaria and Romania acquiring skills as referred to in
Article 63(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 may cover
also the costs related to building representative local devel-
opment partnerships, drawing up integrated development
strategies, financing research and preparing applications for
the selection of local action groups. Such costs are eligible
for potential local action groups.’;

4. In Chapter III, Section 1, the following subsection 4a is

added:

‘ S u b s e c t i o n 4 a

T e m p o r a r y
B u l g a r i a a n d R o m a n i a

a d d i t i o n a l

m e a s u r e

f o r

Article 39a

Eligibility conditions for granting support under the measure
foreseen in Section I point E of Annex VIII to the Act of
Accession of Bulgaria and Romania “complements to direct
payments”
the Commission decision
approving the complementary national direct payments.’;

are defined by

5. Annex II

is amended in accordance with Annex to this

Regulation.

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2007.

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

Done at Brussels, 20 April 2007.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission

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ANNEX

Annex IIA to Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

in point 3.4, a new paragraph is inserted after the first paragraph:

‘For Bulgaria and Romania the description under the previous paragraph shall address the impact of the Sapard
financial resources.’;

2.

in point 5.2, the first indent is completed by the following sentence:

‘For Bulgaria and Romania, reference to all ongoing operations/contracts,
including in financial terms, and the
procedures/rules (including the transitional ones) which apply to these in accordance with Commission Regulation
(EC) No 248/2007 (*) on measures concerning the Multiannual Financing Agreements and the Annual Financing
Agreements concluded under the Sapard programme and the transition from Sapard to rural development.
___________
(*) OJ L 69, 9.3.2007, p. 5.’;

3.

in point 5.3.1.2.3, the following sixth indent is added:

‘— list of enterprises benefiting from a period of transition as referred to in section II paragraph 3 of Annex VIII of

the Act of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania.’;

4. the title of point 5.3.1.4 is replaced by the following text

‘5.3.1.4. T r a n s i t i o n a l m e a s u r e s

E s t o n i a ,
C y p r u s , L a t v i a , L i t h u a n i a , H u n g a r y , M a l t a , P o l a n d , R o m a n i a , S l o v e n i a
a n d S l o v a k i a ’ ;

t h e C z e c h R e p u b l i c ,

f o r B u l g a r i a ,

5.

in point 5.3.1.4, the following point is introduced:

‘5.3.1.4.3. P r o v i s i o n o f f a r m a d v i s o r y a n d e x t e n s i o n s e r v i c e s i n B u l g a r i a a n d R o m a n i a
— description of the type of advisory and extension services to be provided;

— the minimum requirements for the bodies responsible for the provision of these services;

— the procedures for the selection of these bodies.’;

6.

in point 5.3.4.3, the following third indent is added:

‘— For Bulgaria and Romania the minimum criteria for the definition of potential local action groups as referred to

in Article 37a.’;

7. the following point 5.3.5 is added:

‘5.3.5. Complements to direct payments
— Community contribution for each of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

— Designation of paying agency.’;

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8. the following table is added for Bulgaria and Romania after point 6.2:

‘6.2 a. Financial plans by axis for Bulgaria and Romania (in EUR total period)

Axis

Total public

EAFRD contribution rate
(%)

EAFRD amount

Public contribution

Axis 1

Axis 2

Axis 3

Axis 4

Technical Assistance

Complements to direct payments

Total’

9.

in the nota bene after table 6.2a the following sentence is added:

‘For Bulgaria and Romania the correlation table in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 248/2007 shall be
used for the identification of such expenditures’;

10. the following table is inserted for Bulgaria and Romania after table 7:

‘7a. Indicative breakdown by Rural Development Measure for Bulgaria and Romania (in EUR, total period)

Measure/Axis

Public expenditure

Private expenditure

Total cost

Measure 111

Measure 112

Measure 121

Measure 1…

Measure 211

Measure 212

Measure 221

Measure 2 …

Measure 311

Measure 312

Measure 321

Measure 3…

Total Axis 1

Total Axis 2

Total Axis 3

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Measure/Axis

Public expenditure

Private expenditure

Total cost

41

Local development strategies:

— 411 Competitiveness
— 412 Environment/land

management

— 413 Quality of life/diversification

421 Cooperation:

431 Running

costs,

skills

acquisition,

animation

Total Axis 4 (*)

511 Technical Assistance

of which amount for the national
rural network (where relevant):

(a) running costs

(b) action plan

611 Complements to direct payments

Grand total

(*) In order to verify compliance with Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 the distribution key between axes resulting

from the local development strategies will be applied to the total allocation of Axis 4.’;

11. the following measure codes (143) and (611) are added to the table under point 7:

‘(143)

provision of farm advisory and extension services in Bulgaria and Romania

(611)

complementary direct payments in Bulgaria and Romania.’