CELEX: 51987PC0166(03)
Language: en
Date: 1987-06-03
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY SCHEME TO ENCOURAGE THE CESSATION OF FARMING

No C 236/10                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                     2.9. 87
               Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Community scheme to encourage the cessation
                                                               of farming
                                                          COM(87) 166 final
                                   (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 15 April 1987)
                                                            (87/C 236/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                               Whereas such a scheme would not only help to reduce
                                                                       production potential and so aid market stability but also
                                                                       help to improve farm structures by increasing both the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                  size of holdings and the number of potentially viable
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43                       holdings;
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     Whereas, if agricultural production is discontinued on
                                                                       the agricultural area concerned, the annual allowance
                                                                       must be supplemented by an annual premium per
                                                                       hectare, particularly if the said area is afforested;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,
                                                                       Whereas the disappearance of holdings employing
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                       elderly family helpers and paid workers in full-time agri-
Social Committee,                                                      cultural work may entail for such persons the loss of
                                                                       their employment and income; whereas they should
                                                                       therefore be provided with a source of income by the
Whereas, given the outlook in the medium and long                      grant of an annual allowance;
term for both the Community and world markets for
agricultural products, the achievement of market balance
calls for a prices policy that is likely, during the period
of adjustment to the new situation, to entail serious                  Whereas the diversity of the causes, nature and gravity
income difficulties for that section of the farming popu-              of the structural problems in agriculture may call for
lation whose holdings are structurally weakest;                        regional differentiation         of solutions, subject to
                                                                        adjustment with the passage of time; whereas a contri-
                                                                       bution must be made to the overall economic and social
                                                                        development of each region concerned; whereas the best
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No . . ./87 of
                                                                        results will be obtained if Member States, using
establishing a Community system of aids to farm                         Community criteria, themselves implement the common
incomes (') allows for the grant of degressive aids where               measure through their own legislative, regulatory and
holdings can be adapted to suit the new situation;                      administrative mechanisms;
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) N o . . ./87 of
 establishing a framework system for national aids to                  Whereas all the measures planned are in the interest of
 farm incomes (2) specifies the circumstances in which                  the Community, being designed to attain the objectives
 such aids may be authorized in order to maintain a fair                listed in Article 39 (1) (a) of the EEC Treaty including
 standard of living for the farming population;                         the structural changes necessary for the satisfactory
                                                                        functioning of the common market; whereas these
                                                                        measures therefore constitute a common measure within
 Whereas these two Regulations should be supplemented                   the meaning of Article 6 of Council Regulation (EEC)
 by measures to help farmers more than 55 years old,                    No 729/70 of 21 April 1970 on the financing of the
 who generally have serious difficulty in adjusting to the              common agricultural policy (3), as last amended by Regu-
 new situation;                                                         lation (EEC) N o 3769/85 ( 4 ); whereas provision should
                                                                        also be made for additional Community financing of
                                                                        measures aimed at reducing production potential or for
 Whereas a scheme to encourage early retirement from                    the concentration of such financing on the regions
 farming would enable such persons to stop farming on                   referred to in Article 7 (3), first and second indents, of
 reasonable terms by providing them with an adequate                    Regulation (EEC) No . . ./87 establishing a Community
 income;                                                                system of aids to farm incomes;
 (1) See page 4 of this Official Journal.                               (») OJ N o L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
 (2) See page 8 of this Official Journal.                               (4) OJ N o L 362, 31. 12. 1985, p. 17.
 ---pagebreak--- 2.9.87                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 236/11
Whereas, since the Community will help to finance the               — the grant of an annual allowance to paid agricultural
common measure, it must be able to ascertain whether                    workers and permanent family helpers, subject to the
the action taken by the Member States to apply it is                    conditions laid down in Article 11.
consonant with the objectives to be attained; whereas, to
this end, a procedure should be introduced for close
cooperation between the Member States and the                       2.     Member States may replace the annual allowances
Commission through the agency of the Standing                       referred to in paragraph 1, depending on the age of the
Committee on Agricultural Structures instituted by                  recipient, by the payment of a single lump sum of
Article 1 of the Council Decision of 4 December 1962                equivalent effect.
on the coordination of policies on the structure of agri-
culture (*); whereas, in the case of financial matters, this
procedure should involve consultation of the EAGGF                  They may also replace the annual allowance referred to
Committee, as provided for in Articles 11 to 15 of Regu-            in the first indent of paragraph 1 by the supplementary
lation (EEC) No 729/70;                                             premium per hectare referred to in the second indent of
                                                                    paragraph 1 plus an increment to ensure equivalent
Whereas Parliament and the Council should be able to                effect.
examine annually, on the basis of a report presented by
the Commission, the results obtained from the
Community and national measures applied, so that they
can assess the need for supplementing or adjusting the                                         Article 4
arrangements introduced,                                            1.    The annual allowance referred to in the first indent
                                                                    of Article 3 (1) may be granted to farmers who practise
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                        farming as their main occupation within the meaning of
                                                                    Article 2 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 797/85, who are
                          Article 1                                 over 55 years of age and who permanently cease all
                                                                    farming activities, provided that:
With a view to assisting the adjustment and reorgani-
zation of agricultural structures and thus helping to
restore the balance between production and market                   — either agricultural production on the agricultural area
outlets, a common measure within the meaning of Article                 of the holding is halted throughout the period from
6 (l)of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70, to be implemented                   the time of cessation of farming to the time when the
by the Member States, is hereby introduced in order to                  farmer reaches the normal retirement age as fixed by
establish a scheme to encourage the cessation of farming.               the social security arrangement currently applicable
                                                                        to farming in the Member States concerned. This
                          Article 2                                     period must be not less than five years but for this
                                                                        purpose it may be extended, where appropriate,
1.    Member States may:                                                beyond the normal retirement age.
— exclude all or part of their territory from the                       In the case of leased holdings, Member States may
    application of all or some of the measures provided                 permit up to one-third of the area to be taken over
    for in Article 3,                                                   by the owner without the cessation of production on
— differentiate the application of such measures from                   that fraction of the area;
    one region to another.
                                                                    — or the agricultural area of the holding is used to
2.    This Regulation shall not restrict the freedom of
                                                                        enlarge that of one or more other agricultural
Member States to adopt, within the scope of this Regu-
                                                                        holdings, on condition that proof is furnished in
lation, additional aid measures the conditions or terms of
                                                                        accordance with Article 4 (3) of Regulation (EEC)
which differ from those laid down herein, provided that
                                                                        No . . ./87 that such holdings will be able to provide,
such measures are adopted in accordance with Articles
                                                                        after a transitional period not exceeding five years, at
92 to 94 of the Treaty.
                                                                        least the average regional income or, where appro-
                                                                        priate, 80 % of the average national income as
                          Article 3                                     defined in Article 4 (1) (b) of the said Regulation.
1.    The scheme      provided    for  in Article     1 may             The farmer(s) concerned must also undertake not to
comprise:                                                               increase production of surplus products within the
                                                                        meaning of Article la of Regulation (EEC) No
— the grant of an annual allowance to farmers                           797/85 from the total area of their holding after
    practising farming as their main occupation, subject                enlargement.
    to the conditions laid down in Articles 4 and 5,
— the grant of a supplementary annual premium
    per hectare, subject to the conditions laid down in             2.    Member States may permit the beneficiaries of the
    Article 6,                                                      annual allowance to continue to farm up to 10 %, but
                                                                    not more than one hectare of the area of the holding,
                                                                    provided that commercial production is definitively
0) OJ No L 136; 17. 12. 1962, p. 2892/62.                           halted.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 236/12                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                     2.9.87
                          Article 5                               The reference quantities withdrawn pursuant to this
                                                                  Article may not be reallocated for the duration of such
1.    'Cessation of agricultural production' shall be taken       suspension.
to mean:
                                                                  2.    The supplementary annual premium per hectare
— either allocation of the agricultural area of the               referred to in the second indent of Article 3(1) shall not
    holding to afforestation or to a non-agricultural use         be eligible for a financial contribution from the Fund if it
    compatible with the preservation of the quality of the        is paid in respect of areas for which a premium for the
    environment,                                                  definitive abandonment of areas under vines is paid
                                                                  pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 777/85 (3).
— or the halting of agricultural production on the areas
    of the holding; in this case, the farmer who ceases                                      Article 8
    farming may be required to maintain the agricultural
                                                                  Member States shall adopt decisions:
    area with a view in particular, to the preservation of
    the countryside, provided that all commercial
    production is discontinued.                                   — as regards the minimum age of recipients,
                                                                  — as regards the use of the areas on which agricultural
2.    The cessation of production within the meaning of               production is discontinued,
paragraph 1 may be effected on equivalent agricultural
areas of other holdings following an exchange of parcels          — as regards the amount and duration of the annual
as a consolidation measure which enables production                   allowance, taking into account the age of the
costs to be reduced or afforestation to proceed in a                  recipients and the economic and social situation of
rational manner.                                                      agriculture in their country,
                                                                  — as regards the amount and duration           of the sup-
                          Article 6                                   plementary premium per hectare,            taking into
                                                                      account, in particular, the value of the  land in terms
1.    The supplementary annual premium per hectare                    of yield and the cost of its maintenance  as referred to
referred to in the second indent of Article 3 (1) shall be            in the second indent of Article 5(1).
granted to beneficiaries meeting the conditions set forth
in the first indent of Article 4 (1) and in Article 5, per
hectare of agricultural area actually withdrawn from                                         Article 9
agricultural production.
                                                                  1.    The Fund shall contribute, as provided in
                                                                  paragraph 2, towards the expenditure incurred by
                                                                  Member States pursuant to the first indent of Article
2.    Member States may also lay down rules whereby,              4 (1) and Article 6, within the following limits:
in the case of a leased holding, the premium referred to
in paragraph 1 may be paid in whole or in part to the
owners of the agricultural area on which production is            — the maximum eligible amount of the allowance shall
discontinued.                                                         be 3 000 ECU per year and per farmer practising
                                                                      farming as his main occupation, in the case of a
                                                                      married farmer whose spouse has worked solely or
                                                                      mainly on the farm and has no other remunerative
                          Article 7                                   work, and 1 875 ECU per year in all other cases, for
 1.   If the recipient of the annual allowance referred to            a maximum duration of 10 years but not beyond the
in the first indent of Article 4 (1) discontinues milk                recipient's seventieth birthday.
production, the reference quantities allocated under                  Where appropriate, assistance from the Fund shall be
Council Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 (') and released                   limited to the amount of the annual allowance
under the arrangement referred to in the first indent of              granted in addition to the retirement pension paid to
Article 4 (1) shall be suspended for the duration of                  the recipient under the national social security
payment of the annual allowance, and for at least five                arrangements;
years, unless the recipient of the annual allowance
receives compensation for the definitive abandonment of           — the maximum eligible amount of the supplementary
milk production as provided for in Council Regulation                 premium shall be 250 ECU per hectare per year for
(EEC) No 1336/86 (2).                                                 the period during which agricultural production is
                                                                      actutally discontinued on the area concerned,
                                                                      provided that the said period does not exceed that
                                                                      specified in the first indent.
C) OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 1.
O OJ No L 119, 8. 5. 1986, p. 21.                                 O OJ No L 88, 28. 3. 1985, p. 8.
 ---pagebreak--- 2.9.87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 236/13
    If the agricultural area farmed by the recipient of the       — 25 % of eligible expenditure in areas where the
    supplementary premium per hectare undergoes                       indicator is more than 75 % but less than 85 % of
    afforestation, the period of eligibility for the                  the indicator referred to in Article 7 of the said
    premium shall be extended to a maximum of 20 years                Regulation.
    and, in the case of farmers who do not qualify for
    the allowance referred to in Article 15 (3) of Regu-
    lation (EEC) No 797/85, the eligible amount shall be                                     Article 11
    increased by a maximum of 50 ECU per hectare per              1.    Member. States may grant an annual allowance to
    year;                                                         paid workers and permanent family workers aged
                                                                  between 55 and the normal age of retirement fixed for
— the maximum eligible amount shall be 350 ECU per                the agricultural sector under the social security
    hectare per year or, in the case of afforestation, 400        arrangements of the Member State concerned:
    ECU per hectare per year if the annual allowance is
    replaced by the supplementary premium per hectare.            — who have been engaged in agricultural work for at
                                                                      least five years before lodging an application and
2.     The Fund shall reimburse to the Member States                  who have spent at least 50 % of their working time
50 % of the eligible expenditure referred to in para-                 in agricultural work during this period,
graph 1.
                                                                  — who have been engaged in agricultural work on the
                          Article 10                                  holding for which the farmer receives the annual
                                                                      allowance pursuant to Article 3 for at least the last
1.     The Fund shall contribute, as provided in                      two years before the application was lodged,
paragraphs 2 and 3, towards the expenditure incurred by
Member States in applying the scheme referred to in the           — who are covered by the social security arrangements,
second indent of Article 4 (1), subject to the following
limits and conditions:                                            — who undertake not to engage in any further agri-
                                                                      cultural or remunerative work.
the maximum eligible amount of the annual allowance
shall be:
                                                                  2.    Member States shall determine the amount of the
— 3 000 ECU per year per farmer practising farming as             annual allowance taking due account, inter alia, of the
    his main occupation and ceasing to farm between 55            economic and social situation of agriculture and of the
    and 60 years of age, in the case of a married farmer          recipients in their country. Member States may replace
    whose spouse has worked solely or mainly on the               this allowance by a single lump-sum payment of
    farm and has no other remunerative work, and 1 875            equivalent effect.
    ECU in all other cases,
                                                                  3.    The Fund shall contribute, as provided in
— 2 000 ECU per year per farmer practising farming as             paragraph 4, towards the expenditure incurred by
    his main occupation and ceasing to farm after his             Member States in applying the scheme referred to in
    61st birthday, in the case of a married farmer, and           paragraph 1:
    1 250 ECU in all other cases.
                                                                  — where the scheme applied to the abandoned farm is
Where appropriate, assistance from the Fund shall be                  eligible under the terms of Articles 9 or 10,
limited to the amount of the annual allowance granted in
addition to the retirement pension paid to the recipient          — up to a maximum eligible amount of 2 000 ECU per
under the national social security arrangements;                      year, in the case of the allowance for a paid worker
                                                                      or a married family worker, and 1 250 ECU in other
the maximum duration shall be 10 years, but not beyond
                                                                      cases,
the recipient's seventieth birthday.
                                                                  — provided that at most two allowances are paid per
2.     The Fund shall contribute only towards the cost of             farm,
allowances granted to recipients who meet the conditions
laid down for the granting of aids to income in Council           — subject to a maximum duration of ten years, but not
Regulation (EEC) No .. J$7 establishing a framework                   exceeding the normal age of retirement referred to in
system for national aids to farm incomes and Council
                                                                      paragraph 1.
Regulation (EEC) N o . . ./87 establishing a Community
system of aids to farm incomes.
                                                                  4.    The Fund shall refund to the Member States:
3.     The Fund shall reimburse to Member States:
                                                                  — 50 % of eligible expenditure in the cases referred to
— 50 % of eligible expenditure in areas where the                     in Article 9,
    indicator is less than 75 % of the indicator referred
    to in Article 7 of Council Regulation (EEC) No                — in the case referred to in Article 10:
    . . ./87 establishing a Community system of aids to               — 50 % of eligible expenditure in the areas referred
    farm incomes;                                                         to in the first indent of Article 10 (3),
 ---pagebreak--- No C 236/14                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    2. 9. 87
    — 25 % of eligible expenditure in the areas referred            the Commission representative shall, after consulting the
         to in the second indent of Article 10 (3).                 EAGGF Committee on the financial aspects, submit a
                                                                    draft decision thereon to the Standing Committee on
                          Article 12                                Agricultural Structure.
 1.    The estimated period of time required for carrying           2.    The Committee shall issue its opinion within a time
out the common measure shall be ten years.                          limit to be fixed by its Chairman according to the
                                                                    urgency of the matters for examination. It shall decide
2.     Five years after the entry into force of this Regu-
                                                                    by a majority of 54 votes, the votes of Member States
lation, the detailed rules for its application shall be
                                                                    being weighted as laid down in Article 148 (2) of the
reviewed by the Council, on a proposal from the
                                                                    EEC Treaty. The Chairman shall not vote.
Commission.
3.     The Fund's total contribution to the cost of the             3.    The Commission shall adopt the decision.
common measure is estimated at 465 million ECU for                  However, if the decision is not in accordance with the
the first five years.                                               opinion issued by the Committee, it shall immediately be
                                                                    communicated to the Council. In that event, the
                                                                    Commission may defer application of the decision for a
                          Article 13
                                                                    period not exceeding one month from the date of its
1.     The Member        States   shall   forward    to   the       communication.
Commission:
                                                                    The Council, voting as provided for in Article 43 (2) of
— drafts of all laws, regulations or administrative                 the EEC Treaty, may adopt a different decision within
    provisions which they propose to adopt pursuant to              one month.
    this Regulation,
— the texts of any existing provisions which may make                                         Article 15
    it possible to implement this Regulation.
                                                                    1.    Measures taken by Member States shall not be
2.    When submitting, pursuant to paragraph 1, drafts              eligible for a financial contribution from the Community
of laws, regulations or administrative provisions or the            unless a favourable decision under Article 14 has been
text of existing provisions, the Member States shall also           taken in respect of the provisions relating thereto.
submit an explanatory memorandum^ showing the
relationship at regional level between the measures in              2.    The financial contribution     from the Community
question and economic and structural conditions in the              shall be provided only in respect    of eligible expenditure
agricultural sector together with proof that the measures           arising in connection with aid        granted pursuant to
conform to the aim of avoiding stimulating agricultural             decisions taken after the date on    which this Regulation
production through aid granted under this Regulation.               enters into force.
3.     The Commission shall examine drafts forwarded in                                       Article 16
accordance with the first indent of paragraph 1 for the
                                                                    Detailed rules for the application of Articles 9 (2), 10 (3)
purpose of determining whether, having regard to the
                                                                    and 11 (4) shall be adopted in accordance with the
objectives of this Regulation and to the need for a
proper connection between the various measures, such                procedure laid down in Article 13 of Regulation (EEC)
drafts comply with the Regulation and thus satisfy the              No 729/70.
conditions for a financial contribution by the
Community to the measures referred to in Article 1.                                           Article 17
Within two months of the receipt of any draft, the                  1.    Applications for reimbursement shall relate to
Commission shall, after consulting the Standing                     expenditure incurred by Member States in the course of
Committee on Agricultural Structure, issue an opinion               a given calendar year and shall be submitted to the
thereon.                                                            Commission before 1 July of the following year.
4.     Member States shall, on enactment of any law,                2.    The grant of aid from the Fund shall be decided on
regulation or administrative provision as referred to in            in accordance with Article 7 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No
paragraph 3, forward the text thereof to the                        729/70.
Commission.
                                                                    3.    Payments on account may be authorized by the
                          Article 14                                Commission.
1.     With regard to provisions the texts of which are             4.    Detailed rules for the application of this Article
forwarded pursuant to the second indent of Article                  shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid
13 (1) or to Article 13 (4), the Commission shall examine           down in Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.
whether, having regard to the objectives of this Regu-
lation and to the need for a proper connection between                                        Article 18
the various measures, such provisions satisfy the
conditions for a financial contribution by the                      Before 1 August each year, the Community and national
Community to the common measure referred to in                      measures in force relating to this Regulation shall be
Article 1. Within two months of the receipt of any text,            examined in the context of an annual report which the
 ---pagebreak--- 2.9.87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 236/15
Commission shall present to the Parliament and the                If necessary, the Council shall, in accordance with the
Council and for which Member States shall send all                procedure laid down in Article 43 of the EEC Treaty,
necessary documentation to the Commission.                        adopt appropriate provisions.
The Council shall evaluate the results of such measures,                                    Article 19
taking into consideration the rate of structural
                                                                  This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
development required to achieve the objectives of the
                                                                  following its publication in the Official Journal of the
common agricultural policy, the effect on the production
                                                                  European Communities.
objectives of the Community and on the harmonious
development of the regions of the Community, and the              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
financial implications of the measures in question.               directly applicable in all Member States.