CELEX: 51993PC0417
Language: en
Date: 1993-09-06
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 of 30 June 1992 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops

No C 265 / 6                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                30 . 9 . 93
                                                                   II
                                                           (Preparatory Acts)
                                                      COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 establishing a
                                          support system for producers of certain arable crops
                                                             (93 /C 265 / 06)
                                                       -  COM(93) 417 final
                                                                »
                                          (Submitted by the Commission on 7 September 1993)
THE- COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                             Whereas combination of rotational and non-rotational
                                                                        set-aside must be permitted ; whereas given the lower
                                                                        effectiveness  of this   combination  for  reduction     of
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                   production a higher set-aside rate than the normal
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and                   should be imposed ;
43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                       Whereas the compensation for set-aside should be
                                                                        increased ;
Having regard to the opinion of the European
Parliament,
                                                                       Whereas in certain cases producers may wish to set aside
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                        more of their land than is compulsory; whereas this can
Social Committee,                                                       be allowed ; whereas Member States should be enabled to
                                                                       take appropriate measures to restrict this possibility
                                                                       where specific circumstances so require ;
Whereas Member States are required, for operation of
the support system for producers of certain arable crops
introduced by Regulation (EEC) No 1765 /92 ('), as last
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1552 /93 (2), to
                                                                       Whereas there may be situations where transfer of
establish regionalization plans based on objective criteria ;           set-aside obligations would allow more rational use of
whereas these criteria should be modified to give
                                                                       land and better tackling of environmental objectives ;
Member States a greater margin of manoeuvre without                    whereas given the real risk of a reduction in the impact
in any way departing from average yields in the past;                  of set- aside such transfers must be carefully supervised ;
                                                                       whereas, however, to give greater flexibility they should
Whereas given the risks involved with this greater margin              be facilitated but restricted to the immediate neigh­
                                                                       bourhood ; whereas to offset possible differences in
of manoeuvre specific provisions should be adopted
covering cases where a Member State chooses to                         productivity between the farmers involved a higher
                                                                        set-aside rate should be imposed ;
establish production regions separate from those of the
base areas , in order to ensure that past yields are in
practice respected ;
                                                                       Whereas Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 1765 /92
Whereas differentiation of yields may be permitted for                  defines what land is eligible for the compensatory
irrigated and non-irrigated areas, provided there is no                payment; whereas to take account of certain specific
extension of total irrigated area ;                                    situations where its provisions are unduly restrictive
                                                                        certain derogations from that Article must be permitted
                                                                       that should be managed by the Member States in line
                                                                       with their individual situations ; whereas these dero­
o OJ No L 181 , 1 . 7 . 1992 , p . 12 .                                gations should not involve any significant adjustment of
(2) OJ No L 154, 25 . 6 . 1993 , p . 19 .                              the area of eligible land ;
 ---pagebreak--- 30 . 9 . 93                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 265/7
Whereas, moreover, with regard to set-aside, the                    2. The third subparagraph of Article 3 (2) is replaced
Commission is to define the concept of rotation ; whereas               by :
rotation which does not satisfy the definition,
particularly with regard to the rate of rotation, may be
envisaged in return for a higher rate of set-aside ;                    'If a Member State decides to treat :
Whereas to facilitate industrial disposal of certain agri­              — maize separately from other cereals, the average
cultural products it should be made possible for them to                     cereals yield, which shall not be altered, shall be
be grown on land set aside, where appropriate without                        broken down between maize and other cereals,
compensation,
                                                                        — irrigated land separately from non-irrigated land,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                             the corresponding average yield, which shall not
                                                                             be altered, shall be broken down between the
                                                                             two types .'
                              Article 1                                    *              i
Regulation (EEC) No 1765 /92 is hereby amended as                   3. The following paragraph 6 is added to Article 3 :
follows :
                                                                        '6. Should a Member State in application of
  1 . Article 3 ( 1 ) is replaced by :                                  paragraph 1 choose to establish production regions
                                                                        the demarcation of which does not correspond to
      'Article 3                                                        that of regional base areas, it shall send the
                                                                        Commission, by 15 September of each year at the
                                              %
                                                                        latest, a summary statement of aid applications and
      1 . For the purpose of setting average yields to be               the yields pertaining to these . If it emerges from this
      used for calculation of the compensatory payment                  information that the average yield of the Member
      each Member State shall establish a regionalization               State, as determined in line with paragraph 2, is
      plan setting out the relevant objective criteria for              exceeded, all compensatory payments in that
      determination of the separate production regions in               Member State for that marketing year shall be
      order to arrive , where possible, at distinct homo­               reduced in proportion to the overrun .'
      geneous areas .
      With this in mind, Member States shall take due               4 . The second subparagraph of Article 7 ( 1 ) is replaced
      account of specific situations in drawing up their                by :
      regionalization plans . They may in particular adjust
      average yields in line with structural differences
      between production regions .                                      'The set-aside requirement shall be 15 % . The land
                                                                        set aside shall be rotated . Non-rotational or set-aside
                                                                        shall however be permitted at a higher set-aside rate
      They may also in their regionalization plans :                    set by the Council. If on a single holding rotational
                                                                        and non-rotational set-aside ("mixed" set-aside) are
                                                                        operated simultaneously, the rate for the total area
      — apply a different yield figure for maize than for               withdrawn shall be that for rotational set-aside plus
           other cereals ,                                              five percentage points.'
      — set different yields for non-irrigated and irrigated
           land .                                                   5 . Article 7 (5) is replaced by :
      In the above cases the regional or individual base                '5 . The compensation for the set-aside obligation
      areas, as mentioned in Article 2 (2) and (3), which               shall be ECU 57 multiplied by the average cereal
      must have the same boundaries as the production                   yield worked out in the regionalization plan .
      regions, shall be established separately for maize and            Compensation shall be paid on the number of
      separately for irrigated crops respectively. Should               hectares needed to meet the requirement set in
      these base areas be exceeded the provisions of                    paragraph 1 . In the case of Portugal compensation
      Article 2 (6) shall apply.                                        shall take account of the aid granted under Regu­
                                                                        lation (EEC) No 3653 / 90 .'
      The regionalization plan must in all cases ensure that
      the average yield of the Member State determined
      for the period indicated in and observing the                 6. In Article 7 paragraph 6 is deleted and the following
      requirements of Article 2 is respected.'                          paragraphs 6 and 7 are added :
 ---pagebreak---                                                                                                                /
No C 265 / 8                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                   30 . 9 . 93
    '6. To help reduce production producers may be                     Member States may on terms to be determined
    granted compensation on land set aside in excess of                depart from these provisions under certain specific
    their obligation. Member States may restrict this                  circumstances, in particular reparcelling programmes
    possibility for a specific reason such as protection of            and standard rotations of multiannual arable crops
    the environment or the risk of excessive reduction of              with those listed in Annex I. In such cases they shall
    farming in certain areas .                                         take action to prevent any significant increase in the
                                                                       total eligible agricultural area. This may in particular
    7. A producer may transfer a set-aside                             involve deeming previously eligible areas ineligible as
    requirement to another producer in the same                        an offsetting measure.'
    Member State :
    — if under national environmental rules a producer             8 . In Article 12 the first indent is replaced by the
         setting aside some of his arable land is required             following :
         to reduce his livestock. The Member State may                 '— those relating to the establishment and
         prohibit transfers across the boundaries of
         regions as indicated in Article 2 (2),                             management of base areas and those concerning
                                                                            application of Article 2 (4).'.
    — under a plan presented in advance to the
         Commission, which shall verify that it does not           9. In Article 12 the following is added to the eighth
         affect the effectiveness of the set-aside scheme .            indent :
         Transfers under such plans shall be restricted to a
         maximum distance of 10 km or be made within a                 'The rules may also provide for rotation restricted to
         particular area for which specific environmental              three years only in return for the application of the
         objectives are sought. The set-aside rate                     higher rate of set-aside as referred to in Regulation
         applicable shall be increased by five percentage              (EEC) No 1541 /93 .'
         points . The Commission may reject plans
                                                                                                                                ■
         submitted to it.                                         10 . In Article 12, the ninth indent is replaced by the
                                                                       following :
    If the transfer is made to another yield region or,
    within a region in which irrigated and non-irrigated               '— those relating to the conditions for applying :
    land is separated, to another land type the area to be                  — Article 7 (4); these conditions may include
    set aside shall be adjusted accordingly.                                    the growing of products without compen­
    The entitlement to compensation of a producer                               sation,
    transferring his set-aside obligation shall be con­                     — Article 9 ; these conditions shall specify under
     ditional on full execution of that obligation by the                       what circumstances the provisions of Article
    producer to whom it is transferred.                                         9 may be waived and Member States' obli­
    Transfer of obligations shall be subject to the rules                       gation to refer envisaged action to the
     applied to the holding on which the land is actually                       Commission for approval.'
     set aside .'
                            (
                                                                                              Article 2
 7. Article 9 is replaced by :
                                                                  This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
     'Article 9                                                   following its publication in the Official Journal of the
    Applications for the compensatory payment and                 European Communities.
     set-aside declarations may not be made in respect of         It shall apply from the 1994/95 marketing year.
     land that on 31 December 1991 was under
    permanent pasture , permanent crops or trees or was           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
     used for non-agricultural purposes .                         directly applicable in all Member States .