Case C-625/23, Società Agricola Circe: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 13 February 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Corte suprema di cassazione – Italy) – Società Agricola Circe di OL Società Semplice v ST, in his own name and as manager of the independent business Agricola Case Rosse di ST, Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura (AGEA) (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 – Single payment scheme – Article 33 – Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 – Payment entitlements – Eligibility – Article 15 – Concept of scission – Reduction of the agricultural area after the provisional allocation of payment entitlements – Relevance of that reduction for the definitive allocation of the aid)
Date: 2025-02-13
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: agricultural holding, aid per hectare, aid to agriculture, demerger, eligibility criteria, single payment scheme, transfer of property








C_202501868EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1868


7.4.2025






Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 13 February 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Corte suprema di cassazione – Italy) – Società Agricola Circe di OL Società Semplice v ST, in his own name and as manager of the independent business Agricola Case Rosse di ST, Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura (AGEA)


(Case C-625/23,
                (1)
Società Agricola Circe)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 - Single payment scheme - Article 33 - Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 - Payment entitlements - Eligibility - Article 15 - Concept of ‘scission’ - Reduction of the agricultural area after the provisional allocation of payment entitlements - Relevance of that reduction for the definitive allocation of the aid)
(C/2025/1868)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Corte suprema di cassazione

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Società Agricola Circe di OL Società Semplice

Defendants: ST, in his own name and as manager of the independent business Agricola Case Rosse di ST, Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura (AGEA)

Operative part of the judgment

The second subparagraph of Article 33(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common 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) No 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001, read in conjunction with Article 15(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 of 21 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the single payment scheme provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers
must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘scission’, within the meaning of those provisions, covers a situation in which related legal transactions that took place between several farmers during the reference period, including the transfer of shares and cultivated agricultural areas, have the effect that the original property of one farmer and all of those areas are allocated to two new separate farmers, even where such a situation does not constitute a ‘division’ within the meaning of EU company law, inter alia Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019, amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions.


(1)  OJ C C/2024/627.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1868/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)