CELEX: 51986PC0199(01)
Language: en
Date: 1986-04-21
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) AMENDING REGULATIONS NOS 797/85, 270/79, 1360/78 AND 355/77 ON AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURES AND ON THE ADJUSTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO THE NEW MARKET SITUATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

29.10.86                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 273/3
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulations (EEC) No 797/85, (EEC) No 270/79,
              (EEC) No 1360/78 and (EEC) No 355/77 as regards agricultural structures, the adjustment of
                       agriculture to the new market situation and the preservation of the countryside
                                                       COM(86) 199 final 2
                                 (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 22 April 1986)
                                                          (86/C 273/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             1985 on improving the efficieny of agricultural struc-
                                                                     tures (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No . ..,
                                                                     should be adjusted and amplified;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and
43 thereof,
                                                                     Whereas a 'prepension' scheme to encourage early
                                                                     retirement from farming by persons over the age of 55
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   years who would take farmed land out of production or
                                                                     transfer it to a young successor related in the first degree
                                                                     will not only provide farmers who are no longer in a
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                    position to adjust to the new situation with an alternative
liament,                                                             source of income but would also help reduce production
                                                                     potential and rejuvenate the farming population, so faci-
                                                                     litating the adjustments and reorientations which must be
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                     made;
Social Committee,
Whereas the situation of the agricultural markets has                Whereas such a prepension scheme must enable farmers
changed and will change further as a result of the re-               more than 55 years old, who generally find it very
orientation of the common agricultural policy caused by              difficult to convert to other occupations, to leave
the need to secure a gradual drop in output in those                 farming and must therefore provide them with an
sectors where surpluses are now being produced;                      adequate annual allowance;
Whereas the policy on structures must be used to help
farmers adapt to this new situation and to cushion the               Whereas in cases where the farmland is withdrawn from
effects that the new markets and prices policy is likely to          production, the annual allowance must be supplemented
have on agricultural incomes in particular;                          by an annual premium per hectare if it is assigned for
                                                                     afforestation;
Whereas, so that the objectives of the policy on
structures can be realized, certain commom measures
covered by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EEC) No                  Whereas it should be left to the Member States to fix the
729/70 of 21 April 1970 on the financing of the                      amount and the duration of the allowance and of the
common agricultural policy ('), as last amended by                   premium according to the use to which the land is put
Regulation (EEC) No 3769/85 (2), introduced in order                 and to the economic and social situation in the Member
to achieve the objectives of Articles 39 of the Treaty,              State;
should be adjusted;
Whereas in particular the common measure introduced                  Whereas the elimination of holdings upon which elderly
by Council Regulation (EEC) No 797/85 of 12 March                    family members have worked permanently or elderly
                                                                     paid workers have been permanently employed may
(') OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
O OJ No L 362, 31. 12. 1985, p. 17.                                  (3) O J N o L 9 3 , 30. 3. 1985, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 273/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                29.10.86
involve for these persons loss of their employment and             introduce or retain production methods that are
incomes; whereas the should also be provided with an               compatible with the increased need to protect or preserve
alternative income in the form of an annual allowance;             the countryside and at the same time help, by means of
                                                                   reorientation of their farms, towards realization of the
                                                                   agricultural policy objective of restoring balance on the
                                                                   market in certain products;
Whereas young farmers who take over a farm for the
first time should be helped to adapt and reorganize their
farms to improve quality or convert or extensify
production in line with market requirements; whereas
                                                                   Whereas the measures to encourage the afforestation of
they should be compensated for any drop in production
                                                                   agricultural land must be amplified to enable
so that their incomes do not fall;
                                                                   beneficiaries under the prepension scheme to afforest
                                                                   areas withdrawn from agricultural production;
Whereas the compensatory allowance for permanent
natural handicaps in the area covered by Council
Directive 75/268/EEC ('), as last amended by Regu-                 Whereas existing agricultural training schemes should be
lation (EEC) No 797/85 ( 2 ), is indispensable both to help        stepped up so that farmers can receive the services they
maintain farmers' incomes, and thus the maintenance of             require if they are to reorient production, apply
farming itself, in these areas and, at the same time, to           production methods compatible with protection of the
facilitate the adaptation and reorganization of farms;             countryside and afforest agricultural areas;
Whereas amplification and strengthening of this
                                                                   Whereas the commom measure introduced by Council
measure would further increase its effects and allow
                                                                   Regulation (EEC) No 270/79 of 6 February 1979 on the
more account to be taken of the relative severity of
                                                                   development of agricultural advisory services in Italy (3),
permanent natural handicaps and the importance of the
                                                                   as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3768/85 (4), has
services provided by farmers;
                                                                   not produced the desired results indispensable for the
                                                                   adaptation of agriculture in that Member State; whereas
                                                                   the measure should therefore be adjusted to render more
                                                                   flexible the present systems for training and installing
Whereas payment of the compensatory allowance must                 advisers;
continue if the recipient stops farming under the
prepension scheme;
                                                                   Whereas the commom measure introduced by Council
Whereas it should be left to the Member States to set the          Regulation (EEC) No 1360/78 of 19 June 1978 on
amounts of this allowance not only according to the                producer groups and associations thereof (5), as last
severity of the permanent natural handicaps in question            amended by Regulation (EEC) N o 3827/85 (6), can be
but also with due regard to the economic situation and             used to help secure the improvement of product quality
the incomes of the holdings;                                       in certain regions that is one element of the changes
                                                                   required in the Community's agriculture; whereas the
                                                                   duration of the measure should therefore be extended
                                                                   and it should be strengthened at the same time;
Whereas the Community's financial contribution to the
compensatory allowance must be a function purely of the
income objectives of this Regulation;
                                                                   Whereas the introduction of specific provisions on
                                                                   contributions from the fund to the development of
                                                                   alternative production and of organically grown crops
Whereas farmers in areas that are sensitive from the               will increase the effectiveness of the common measure
point of view of protection of the environment or preser-          introduced by Council Regulation (EEC) No 355/77 of
vation of the countryside are in a position to perform a           15 February 1977 on a common measure to improve the
valuable service to society as a whole; whereas the intro-
duction of specific measures will encourage farmers to
                                                                   0   O J N o L 3 8 , 14.2. 1979, p. 6.
                                                                   (4) OJ No L 362, 31. 13. 1985, p. 8.
(') O J N o L 128, 19. 5. 1975, p. 1.                              (») OJ No L 166, 23. 6. 1978, p. 1.
O O J N o L 9 3 , 30. 3. 1985, p. 1.                               (6) OJ No L 372, 31. 12. 1985, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 29. 10. 86                                Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 273/5
conditions under which agricultural and fishery products                 (e) specific measures to assist mountain and hill
are processed and marketed ('), as last amended by                            farming and farming in certain less-favoured
Regulation (EEC) No 3827/85, in respect of the                                areas;
adjustment and reorientation of agriculture made
necessary by the economic consequences of the common                     (f) specific measures to protect the environment and
agricultural policy,                                                          preserve the countryside;
                                                                         (g) forestry measures that are to the advantage of
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                              agricultural holdings;
                                                                         (h) adjustment of vocational training            to  the
                             CHAPTER I                                        requirements of modern agriculture.'
    AMENDMENT OF REGULATION (EEC) No 797/85
                                                                      2. The following Title la is inserted after Article 1.
                              Article 1                                                           'TITLE la
Regulation (EEC) No 797/85 is hereby amended as
follows :                                                                                   Prepension scheme
  1. Article 1 is replaced by the following:                             Article la
                                                                         The Member States shall introduce for a period of
      'Article 1
                                                                         five years a prepension scheme to encourage
                                                                         retirement from farming, under which:
     1.     With a view to assisting the adaptation and
     reorientation of agriculture and so permitting its                  — an annual allowance shall be paid to farmers on
     steady development, a common measure within the                         the terms set out in Articles lb to If,
     meaning of Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No
     729/70, to be implemented by the Member States, is                  — an additional annual premium per hectare shall
     hereby introduced in order to help improve the                          be paid on the terms set out in Article lg,
     efficiency of holdings by the development and reor-
     ganization of farm structures and at the same time to               — an annual allowance shall be paid to permanent
     contribute to the protection of the environment and                     employees and permanent family workers on the
     the permanent conservation of the natural resources                     terms set out in Article li.
     of agriculture.
                                                                         Article lb
     2.      In accordance with Title VIII, the Guidance
                                                                         The annual allowance mentioned in the first indent
     Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and
                                                                         of Article la shall be paid to farmers practising
     Guarantee Fund, hereinafter referred to as the "the
                                                                         farming as their main occupation, as these are
     fund", shall make a contribution to the measure
                                                                         defined in Article 2 (5) below, who are more than 55
     referred to in paragraph 1 concering:
                                                                         years old and on condition that:
     (a) prepension schemes for the encouragement of                     (a) production on the farm is abandoned for the
          retirement from farming;                                            period, which may not be less than five years,
                                                                              between the date on which the farmer ceases
     (b) investments in agricultural holdings and the                         farming and that on which he reaches the
           installation of young farmers;                                     retirement age fixed by the social security system
                                                                              applicable in agriculture; or
     (c) measures to help improve quality and to convert
           to other forms of and extensify agricultural                  (b) a successor related in the first degree           of
           production;                                                        succession is installed as head of holding.
     (d) other measures to assist agricultural holdings,                 Article lc
           such as the introduction of proper accounts and
           the establishment and operation of groups,                    1.     "Abandonment of        agricultural  production"
           services and other facilities for the benefit of              shall be taken to mean:
          several holdings;
                                                                         — either allocation of the agricultural area of the
                                                                             holding to afforestation or a non-agricultural use
                                                                             compatible with the preservation of the quality of
(') O J N o L 5 1 , 23. 2. 1977, p. 1.                                       the environment,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 273/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  29.10.86
   — or cessation of cultivation of the agricultutal area             ECU per year in the case of recipients living alone
        of the holding.                                               for a maximum period of 10 years but in no case
                                                                      after the 70th birthday of the recipient.
    2.    In the case of cessation of cultivation, the                Any pension that the recipient receives under
    outgoing farmer may be required to ensure that the                national social security arrangements shall be
    land is maintained, notably with a view to the pres-              deducted from the annual amount in respect of
    ervation of the countryside.                                      which assistance from the fund may be given.
                                                                      Article lg
    3.    Production must be abandoned on the entire
    area of the farm. Member States may however                        1.    The additional annual premium per hectare
   permit that:                                                       mentioned in the second indent of Article la shall be
                                                                      granted to recipients of the annual allowance who
                                                                      undertake to abandon agricultural production on the
   — in the case of leased holdings, a proportion of
                                                                      terms set out in Article lc.
        the agricultural area not exceeding 20 % may be
        taken over by the owner without being                         It shall be paid per hectare of area            actually
        abandoned as defined in paragraph 1,                          withdrawn from agricultural production.
   — recipients of the allowance may retain up to 5 %                 2.     In fixing the amount of the annual premium,
        or two hectares, whichever is less, of the agri-              Member States shall take account of rent levels in
        cultural area, provided that production for                   the relevant area and of the costs of maintaining the
        marketing purposes is definitely discontinued.                area on which production is abandoned.
                                                                      In the case of tenancies, Member States may also
   Article Id                                                         specify terms on which the additional annual
                                                                      premium shall be paid in whole or in part to the
                                                                      owner of the area on which production has been
   Should a successor take over the holding, the annual               abandoned.
   allowance shall not be granted unless:
                                                                      3. (a) The maximum premium amount in respect of
   — the farm has a labour requirement of at least one                         which assistance from the fund shall be
        man-work unit (MWU),                                                   granted shall be 150 ECU per hectare per
                                                                               year. Assistance shall be granted for the
   — the successor takes over as head of holding                               actual duration of non-cultivation of the land
       practising farming as his main occupation, as this                      but only for the period for which the annual
       is defined in Article 2 (5),                                            allowance referred to in Article lb is being
                                                                               paid.
   — the successor is under 40 years of age.                              (b) If the recipient of the annual premium per
                                                                               hectare referred to in the second indent of
                                                                              Article la afforests the agricultural area
   Article le                                                                  released, the maximum period for which the
                                                                               premium may be assisted shall be extended to
    1.    Member States shall set the amount of the                            20 years and, in the case of areas not covered
   allowance and the period of time for which it will be                       by Article 15(3), the amount that may be
   paid in accordance with the age of the recipient and                        assisted shall be increased by 50 ECU per
   the uses specified in Article lc or in Article Id to                        year.
   which the land is put, due regard being given to the
   economic and social situation of the Member State.                 Article ih
                                                                      Member States may grant recipients of the annual
   2.     Where a Member State operates a prepension                  allowance mentioned in Article la investment aid for
   scheme for the purposes of securing agricultural land              non-agricultural utilization of the area freed that is
   for restructuring the annual allowance granted for                 compatible with protection of the environment.
   abandonment of production must be at least 25 %
                                                                     Assistance from the fund shall be granted for such
   higher than the amount granted in return for release
                                                                      aids within the limits set in Article 4 (2) for a
   of the land for restructuring.
                                                                      maximum investment amount of 60 000 ECU per
                                                                      recipient.
   Article If
                                                                     Article li
   The maximum amount in respect of which assistance                  1.    The annual allowance provided for at the third
   from the fund may be granted shall be 4 000 ECU                   indent of Article la shall be granted to permanent
   per year in the case of married farmers and 2 500                 paid workers and permanent family helpers on the
 ---pagebreak--- 29.10.86                                Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 273/7
    farm, excluding the spouse of the recipient, aged                       The maximum amount in respect of which aid
    between 55 and 65 years who undertake to do no                          from the fund may be granted shall be 100 ECU
    further agricultural work and                                           per year per hectare of productive land in respect
                                                                            of which the young farmer has given an under-
    — have worked in agriculture on at least a half time                    taking as specified in the second subparagraph.'
        basis for at least five years before submission of
        the application,
                                                                    4. In Article 8:
    — have worked on a holding the head of which
        received an annual allowance under Article lb
        (a) for at least two years before submission of the              (i) in paragraph 1 the words following the third
        application,                                                         indent are replaced by the following:
    — are covered by the          national  social   security                '— for investments for the purposes of environ-
        arrangements.                                                             mental     protection   and    improvement,
                                                                                  provided that the granting of these higher
    2.    In fixing the amount of the annual allowance,                           amounts does not infringe the provisions of
    Member States shall take due account of the                                   Article 3 of this Regulation or of Articles
    economic and social situation of their country.                               92, 93 and 94 of the Treaty.';
    Member States may replace the allowance               by
                                                                        (ii) the second indent in paragraph 2 is deleted;
    payment of a lump sum of equivalent value.
    3.    The maximum allowance amount for which aid                   (iii) the first indent in the second subparagraph of
    may be granted from the fund shall be 3 000 ECU                          paragraph 4 is deleted;
    per year. Aid from the fund shall be limited to two
    allowances per holding withdrawn from agricultural                 (iv) the following indent is added after the fourth
    production.                                                              indent in paragraph 5:
    Article lk                                                               '— aid schemes for investment in protection
                                                                                  and improvement of the environment,
    Member States shall take whatever action is                                   provided that they do not entail an increase
    necessary to ensure that recipients of the allowances                         in production,'.
    provided for in Articles lb and li receive the same
    social security benefits as they would have received
    had they continued to work in agriculture and that              5. In Article 12 (5), '12 000 ECU' is replaced by
    their social security contributions are not unduly                 '36 000 ECU'.
    increased.
    If a recipient of the allowance provided for in Article         6. In Article 15:
    li receives unemployment benefit the Member State
    may reduce the allowance accordingly.                                (i) the beginning of paragraph 1, '20,3 ECU' is
                                                                             replaced by'30 ECU';
    Article ll
    Articles lb (b) and Id shall not apply in Portugal.'                (ii) the following sentence is added to the first
                                                                             subsection of point (a) in paragraph 1:
 3. The following point 3 is added to Article 7:
                                                                             'However, in less-favoured agricultural areas in
    '3. An annual premium per hectare, provided that                         which the severity of the permanent natural
        the young farmer undertakes that for at least five                   handicaps is great enough so to justify, the total
        years he will:                                                        allowance granted may be increased to 120
        — make        qualitative  improvements      in    or                ECU per MWU and per hectare.';
            reorientate his production in line with market
            requirements,                                              (iii) point (b) of paragraph 1 is replaced by the
        — proceed to a significantly extensified system                      following:
            of farming on his holding.
        Member States shall lay down the rules and                           '(b) In the case of production other than of
        criteria to be observed in regard to qualitative                           cattle, equines, sheep and goats, the
        improvement, reorientation and extensification of                          allowance shall be proportional to the area
        production, determining, in particular, that the                           farmed, less that devoted to the feeding of
        extensification yields a substantial reduction in                          livestock and:
        production per hectare. They shall also fix the                            — in all less-favoured agricultural areas,
        amount and the duration of the premium, to be                                  less that given over to wheat (apart
        dependent on the commitment undertaken by the                                  from durum wheat in areas not
        young farmer and the actual reduction in                                       included in those specified in Council
        production.                                                                    Regulation (EEC) No 3103/76 ( l ) and
 ---pagebreak--- No C 273/8                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  29.10.86
                    that in excess of 0,5 hectares per                8. Title V is replaced by the following:
                    holding fully planted with apple, pear
                    or peach trees,
                — in the less-favoured agricultural areas                                         TITLE V
                    specified in Article 3 (4) and (5), less
                    that given over to grapes for wine
                    production, sugar beet and intensive                 Aid in areas sensitive as regards protection of the
                    cropping.                                               environment and preservation of the countryside
                The allowance may not exceed 101 ECU
                per hectare. However, in less-favoured
                agricultural areas in which the severity of              Article 19
                the permanent natural handicaps is great
                enough so to justify the total amount
                granted may be increased to 120 ECU per                  Member States may, in order to contribute towards
                hectare.;                                                the introduction or maintenance of agricultural
                                                                         practice compatible with protection             of the
          0) OJ No L 351, 21. 12. 1976, p. 1.'                           environment and preservation of the countryside and
                                                                         so contribute to adjustment and orientation of agri-
    (iv) in paragraph 3, T 5 ' is replaced by '20';                      cultural production        to market      requirements,
      (v) the following       subparagraph      is    added   to         introduce a specific aid scheme for areas that are
          paragraph 3:                                                   sensitive in either of these regards.
          'In addition, where the recipient of a
          compensatory allowance abandons agricultural
          production on the agricultural area of his                     Article 19a
          holding, as this is defined in Article lb, the
          compensatory allowance shall continue to be
                                                                         The aid scheme mentioned in Article 19 shall consist
          paid in respect of the area actually taken out of
                                                                         of an annual premium per hectare granted to farmers
          production, less any area covered by the
                                                                         in areas that are sensitive as regards protection of
          previous subparagraph, for the period during
                                                                         the environment and preservation of the countryside
          which the annual allowance specified in Article
                                                                         who:
           lb is paid.
          In such cases Article 14 (2) shall not apply.';
    (vi) the following paragraph 4 is added:                                 undertake that for a period of at least five years
                                                                             they will introduce or continue to use production
          '4.    The maximum compensatory allowance                          practices compatible with protection of the
          granted under this Article that shall be aided                      environment and of natural resources, and
          from the fund shall be 3 000 ECU per MWU or
           1 500 ECU per holding in the case referred to
          in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3.'                         shall be obliged to observe in future specific rules
                                                                             on extensification of production designed to
 7. The following Article 15a is added:
                                                                             protect the environment and natural resources.
     'Article 15a
    The total compensatory allowance shall be increased                  Article 19b
    by 50 % where a recipient who does not receive the
    premium specified in Article 7 (3) undertakes, for a
    period of at least five years,                                        Member States shall determine which areas are
                                                                         sensitive as regards protection of the environment
    — to make qualitative improvements or reorientate                     and preservation of the countryside, having due
         production, in line with market requirements,                   regard, in particular, to relevant Community
    — to reduce the intensity of production on his                       legislation.
         holding to a significant extent.
    The allowance shall be increased in respect of the                   They shall define those production practices
    area of the holding in respect of which the recipient                compatible with protection of the environment and
    has given the undertaking specified above.                           of natural resources on the basis of the individual
                                                                         objectives to be obtained in the areas concerned, and
    Member States shall determine the conditions and                     also the obligations that farmers receiving aid under
    criteria      concerning     qualitative       improvement,          the specific scheme must in future comply with as
    conversion       or extensification      of      production,         regards maintenance or reduction of production
    showing, in particular, that the extensification does                intensity and the cattle density that is compatible
    in fact yield a substantial reduction in production per              with the protection requirements of the individual
    hectare.'                                                             area concerned.
 ---pagebreak--- 29.10.86                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 273/9
    Article 19c                                                                The rate shall be:
    The maximum amount of the annual premium per
    hectare specified in Article 19a that may be aided                             50 % in the      case of investment aid as
    from the fund shall be 100 ECU per hectare covered                             provided for    in Articles 3 and 4 when
    by the undertaking and obligation referred to in that                          granted in the less-favoured areas of the west
    Article. In the areas referred to in Article 3 of                              of Ireland,      of Greece and of the
    Directive 75/268/EEC in which the compensatory                                 Mezzogiorno,    including the islands, and in
    allowance specified in Article 15 is paid the                                  Portugal,
    maximum amount that may be aided from the fund
    shall be 50 % of the maximum amount of that
    allowance that may be aided.'                                                  50 % in the case of the special aid to young
                                                                                   farmers under 40 years of age provided for
 9. In Article 20:                                                                 in Article 7(1) and (2),
     (i) the following subparagraph is added after the
         first subparagraph of paragraph 1:
                                                                                   50 % in the case of the compensatory
         'The afforestation aid referred to in the previous                        allowance provided for in Article 14 when
         subparagraph may also be paid to farmers                                  granted in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal
         receiving the annual allowance specified at (a) of                        and the French overseas departments,
         Article lb and to forestry associations or
         cooperatives or communities which afforest agri-
         cultural areas belonging to the categories of                             50 % in the case of the aids provided for in
         farmers covered by this Article';                                         Articles la to li, 7 (3) and 17 when granted
                                                                                   in regions as referred to in Article 13 (1) of
    (ii) in paragraph 2, '1 400 ECU' is replaced by                                Greece, Ireland, Italy and the French
         '1 800 ECU'.                                                              overseas departments, and in Portugal.
10. In Article 2 1 :
     (i) the following is added to the first indent in                        The fund may repay Member States up to 25 %
         paragraph 1:                                                          of their eligible expenditure on operations as
                                                                               provided for in Articles 9 to 12 and 21; in the
         '. . . and courses of additional training for such
                                                                               regions as referred to in Article 13 (1) of
         persons, intended to prepare them for qualitative
                                                                               Greece, Ireland, Italy and the French overseas
         reorientation of production, the application of
                                                                               departments and in Portugal the rate shall be up
         production methods compatible with protection
                                                                               to 50 % of their eligible expenditure on the
         of the countryside and acquisition of skills
                                                                               operations specified in Article 21.'
         needed to enable them to manage their
         woodlands';
    (ii) the first sentence of paragraph 3 is replaced by                (ii) paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:
         the following:
         '3.      Expenditure incurred by Member States                        '4.    When adopting for Spain the list of less-
         on aid for the purposes specified at (a) and (b)                      favoured farming areas as defined in Article 3 of
         of paragraph 2 shall be assisted from the fund up                     Directive 75/268/EEC, the Council shall decide
         to an amount of 7 000 ECU per person who has                          in which of those areas the rate of
         followed a full course of training. Of this                          reimbursement for the aid schemes provided for
         amount 2 500 ECU must have been given for                             in Articles la to li, 3, 4, 14, 17 and 21 is to be
         further courses on reorientation of production,                       50 %.'
         production methods compatible with protection
         of the countryside and management of
         woodlands.'                                                 12. Article 31 is replaced by the following:
11. In Article 26:
     (i) paragraphs     1 and     2   are  replaced   by   the            'Article 31
         following:
         '1.      Expenditure incurred by Member States                  1.      This Regulation shall be without prejudice to
         on the measures provided for in Articles la to li,              the Member States' right to adopt additional aid
         3 to 7, 9 to 17 and 19 to 21 shall be assisted                  measures in the areas covered by this Regulation,
         from the fund.                                                  with the exception of those covered by Articles 3 to
                                                                         6, 7 (2), 8 (2), (3) and (4) and 13 on terms differing
         2.      The fund shall repay Member States 25 %                 from or in amounts exceeding the ceilings laid down
         of eligible expenditure on the aids provided for                in this Regulation, provided that Articles 92, 93 and
         in Articles la to li, 3 to 7, 13 to 17, 19 and 20.              94 of the Treaty are not infringed.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 273/10                                 Official Journal of th( European Communities                                    29.10.86
      2.     The provisions of Articles 92, 93 and 94 of the           4. Article 8 is replaced by the following:
      Treaty, with the exception of Article 92 (2) shall not
      apply to the aid measures covered by Articles 3 to 6,
      7 (2), 8 (2), (3) and (4) and 13.'                                   'Article 8
                           CHAPTER II                                     1.       Advisers given the training specified in Article 7
                                                                          shall be used for the implementation of the
     AMENDMENT OF REGULATION (EEC) No 270/79                              programmes and measures specified at Article 3 (2)
                                                                          (a).
                             Article 2
Regulation (EEC) No 270/79 is hereby amended as                           2.       Italy shall ensure that at least 60 % of the
follows:                                                                  advisers given the training specified in Article 7 (1)
1. The following words are added to (a) of Article 2 (1):                 work in the Mezzogiorno. It shall also ensure that the
                                                                          trained advisers are properly distributed in the various
   '. . . or by other agricultural organizations recognized               areas on the basis of the actual requirements for
   by the State.'                                                         advisory services.
2. In Article 3:
                                                                          3.       Italy shall notify, where appropriate every year,
      (i) the following point (bb) is inserted after (b) in
          point 1:
                                                                          — the action taken to ensure that the activities of the
          '(bb) the other agricultural organizations auth-
                                                                                advisers are wholly devoted to the provision of
                 orized to train advisers.';
                                                                                advice, to the exclusion of all administrative or
     (ii) (c) of point 2 is replaced by the following:                          other unrelated work,
          '(c) the advisory services and other organizations
                employing the advisers, and details of the                — the distribution of the advisers trained each year
                way in which they are to be supervized;'                        to the different areas, with separate figures for
                                                                                general advisers, specialist advisers and advisory
    (iii) (d) of point 2 shall end as fallows:                                  service managers.
          '. .. by the services and organizations referred to
          at (c).'
                                                                          4.       The Commission shall, in accordance with the
                                                                          procedure laid down in Article 14, issue an opinion
3. Article 7 (1) is replaced by the following:
                                                                          on the action taken in the areas covered by paragraph
    '1.     The training courses referred to in Articles 3 (1)            3.'
    (d) shall enable persons meeting the requirements set
    out in Article 6 to acquire adequate knowledge
    corresponding to their tasks, in the following areas in            5. Article 9 is repealed.
    particular:
   — the provision of advice to farmers,
                                                                       6. In Article 11:
   — farm management,
    — the preparation of plans for materially improving                     (i) the following is added at the end of the second
         holdings as specified in Council Regulation (EEC)                       indent in point (b) of paragraph 1:
         No 797/85 O ,                                                           '. . . trained by the centres or       organizations
                                                                                 mentioned in Article 2 (1) (a).';
    — improvment of production quality,
   — production practices compatible with environ-
         mental      and     natural     resource      protection         (ii) the first sentence of paragraph 3 is replaced by
         requirements,                                                           the following:
   — preparation          and      implementation       of    the
         programmes and measures mentioned in Article 3                          '3.    The fund shall reimburse Italy for the costs
         (2) (a) and other measures related thereto,                             of employing the advisers on the following terms:
                                                                                 the maximum qualifying amount per adviser
   — psychology and rural sociology.                                             trained as specified in Article 7 (1) and newly
                                                                                 installed as specified in Article 8 shall be 12 500
   O O J N o L 9 3 , 30. 3. 1985, p. 1.'                                         ECU (remainder unchanged).'
 ---pagebreak--- 29.10.86                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 273/11
                           CHAPTER III                                             the area covered, including the minimum
                                                                                   crop area, turnover and proportion of the
   AMENDMENT OF REGULATION (EEC) No 1360/78                                        national volume of production for the
                                                                                   product or product group in question coming
                                                                                   from the groups which the associations are to
                            Article 3
                                                                                   represent, and if necessary the minimum
Regulation (EEC) No 1360/78 is hereby amended as                                   number of producer groups in the
follows:                                                                           membership.'
1. In Article 6:
                                                                     2. The following new paragraph 3 is inserted            after
     (i) the first indent at point (b) of paragraph 1 is                 Article 10 (2):
          replaced by the following:
          '— common rules on production, in particular
               on product quality                                        '3.    However, the aid granted to producer groups
                                                                         recognized after 1 July 1986 for the first five years
               or use of biological practices,';                         following the date on which they are recognized:
    (ii) point (c) in paragraph 1 is replaced by the
          following:                                                         shall, for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth
                                                                             years be respectively 5 %, 5 %, 4 %, 3 % and
          '(c) the articles of association shall at least                    2 % of the value of the production in respect of
               require producers who are members of                          which they are recognized and which is marketed
               groups and recognized producer groups that                    that comes from the members as defined in the
               are members of the association to place on                    second indent of Article 5(1),
               the market all of the production for
               marketing of the products in respect of
               which they belong to the group or                         — may not exceed the actual cost of setting up and
               association in accordance with the rules on                   running the group,
               supply and placing on the market drawn up
               and supervized by the group or by the
               association.                                              — shall be paid in annual instalments over at the
                                                                             most seven years following the date of
               Member States may authorize this obligation                   recognition.'
               to be replaced by an obligation to have all
               the production for marketing of the products
               in respect of which they are recognized                   Paragraphs 3 and 4 become paragraphs 4 and 5.
               placed on the market by the group or by the
               association either in their name and on their
               behalf, or on their behalf but in the name of         3. Article 13 (1) shall read as follows:
               the group or the association, or in the name
               and on behalf of the group or the
               association. The group or association may                 '1.    The period anticipated for implementation of
               however authorize its members to place part               the common measure shall run to 31 December 1991.'
               of their production on the market in the
               manner specified in the first subparagraph.
               As far as producer groups are concerned                                         CHAPTER IV
                these obligations shall not apply to that part
                of their production for which producers have               AMENDMENT OF REGULATION (EEC) No 355/77
                included sales contracts or granted options
                before they join the group, provided that the
                group was informed before they joined of
                                                                                                  Article 4
                the scope and the duration of the obligations
                contracted;';                                         Regulation (EEC) No 355/77 is hereby amended as
                                                                     follows:
    (iii) in paragraph 3 the second indent is replaced by
           the following:
           '— the minimum cultivated area, turnover or                1. The following paragraph is added to Article 10:
               volume of production for the product or
               product group in question coming from the
               members whom under the terms of                            'Conditions (a) and (c) need not however be met if
               paragraph 1 (e) the groups are to represent,              the project is for the marketing or processing of
               and if necessary the minimum number of                    organically grown products and is a pilot or
               members they must have,                                   experimental project.'
 ---pagebreak--- No C 273/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                29.10.86
2. In Article 17:                                                           in Article 22, increase these rates by five points
                                                                            for the products in question.'
    (i) the following subparagraph is added to point (a)
        in paragraph 2:
                                                                                             CHAPTER V
        'If a programme as defined in Article 2 provides
        for the creation of marketing or processing
        structures for alternative or organically grown                                GENERAL PROVISIONS
        crops evidence of the existence of genuine outlets
        for which is shown in the programme, the                                               Article 5
        Commission may, after following the procedure               The Member States shall bring into force the measures
        provided for in Article 22, authorize the Member            that they require to adopt in order to conform with this
        State to reduce the recipient's contribution by five        Regulation within six months of the date of its entry into
        points for the projects in question.'                       force.
   (ii) the following is added to point (b) of paragraph
        2:                                                                                     Article 6
        'If a programme as defined in Article 2 provides            This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
        for the creation of marketing or processing                 following publication in the Official Journal of the
        structures for alternative or organically grown             European Communities.
        crops evidence of the existence of real outlets for
        which is given in the programme the Commission              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
        may, after following the procedure provided for             directly applicable in all Member States.
              Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 83/641/EEC adopting joint research
                             programmes and programmes for coordinating agricultural research
                                                      COM(86) 199 final/2
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 22 April 1986)
                                                         (86/C 273/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            to the promotion and coordination of agricultural
                                                                    research and experimenting, with a strengthening of the
                                                                    policy on agricultural reserach and more efficient organi-
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               zation of the transfer technology;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43
thereof,
                                                                    Whereas these measures are contemplated as the best
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  means of encouraging changes in production on the farm
                                                                    prompted by changes in the common agricultural policy;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,
                                                                    Whereas, in this connection, farmers must be helped to
                                                                    adapt by switching to other products to the new
                                                                    conditions resulting from the surpluses combined with a
Whereas the Commission has stressed that current trends             policy of restrictive pricing;
in respect of many agricultural products are inevitably
tending to boost surpluses at heavy cost to the budget;
                                                                    Whereas, in this connection, production should be
Whereas this entails an unjustified waste of resources              adapted to the qualities required by the markets and the
and is generating a climate of uncertainty hampering the            consumers;
work and the decisions of Community farmers;
Whereas, accordingly, the Commission has stated its                 Whereas the efficiency of farms should be improved,
intention to step up sharply its commitment with regard             given the need to control production and cut prices;