29.12.2006 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 384/8
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2012/2006
of 19 December 2006
amending and correcting Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 36 and the third subparagraph of Article 37(2) thereof,
Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania, and in particular Article 4(3) thereof,
Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 2005 Act of Accession’), and in particular Article 56 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 (1) established common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and certain support schemes for farmers.
(2) Articles 42(8) and 71d(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 prohibit the transfer of entitlements established using the national reserve except in cases of inheritance. In cases of mergers and scissions it is also appropriate to allow farmers to bring payment entitlements allocated from the national reserve into the resulting new holding or holdings.
(3) Experience shows that for a decoupled income support the rules governing the eligibility of agricultural areas may be simple. In particular, it is appropriate to simplify the rules applicable to the single payment scheme for agricultural areas planted with olive trees.
(4) In Malta, a majority of farmers in the beef and veal sector do not have any land at their disposal. Under these specific circumstances, the application of the special conditions laid down in Article 71m of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 could create serious difficulties for the sustainable development of the beef and veal sector and an excessive administrative workload. It is appropriate to provide for simplified conditions for the single payment scheme payments to the farmers concerned in Malta.
(5) Currently, those Member States among the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia (hereinafter referred to as ‘the new Member States’) that apply the single area payment scheme are excluded from the Community aid for energy crops. The review of the energy crops scheme pursuant to Article 92 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 has shown that it is appropriate to extend the aid for energy crops to all Member States as from 2007 and under the same conditions. Therefore the maximum guaranteed area should be increased proportionally, the schedule of increments provided for the introduction of support schemes in the new Member States should not apply to the energy crops scheme and the rules governing the single area payment scheme should be amended.
(6) In order to strengthen the role of permanent energy crops and to provide an incentive to increase the production of these crops, Member States should be entitled to grant national aid up to 50 % of the costs associated with establishing permanent crops for the areas which have been subject to an application for the aid for energy crops.
(7) Sugar beet and cane producers in the new Member States have benefited since accession from price support under Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of 19 June 2001 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector (2). Therefore, the Community aid for sugar beet and cane producers established in Chapter 10f of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 should not be subject to the application of the schedule of increments provided for in Article 143a of that Regulation, with effect from the day of application of the aid for sugar beet and cane producers. It is also appropriate to clarify the conditions for the application of this aid and the calculation of the payment to be granted to the farmers concerned.
(8) Experience shows that the single area payment scheme is an efficient and simple system of granting decoupled income support to farmers. For the sake of simplification it is appropriate to allow the new Member States to continue applying it until the end of year 2010. Nevertheless, it is not deemed appropriate to extend beyond 2008 the exemption, granted to Member States applying the single area payment scheme, from the obligation to introduce into cross-compliance statutory management requirements. To ensure coherence of certain rural development measures with this non-extension, Article 51 of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (3) should take account thereof.
(9) Under normal circumstances, farmers may agree between themselves the conditions under which the holding (or part of the holding) having beneficiated from the separate sugar payment is transferred. However, in the case of inheritance, it is appropriate to provide that the inheritor be granted the separate sugar payment.
(10) The 2005 Act of Accession and this Regulation both amend Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and those amendments should come into force on the same day. In the interest of legal certainty, the order in which those amendments are to be applied should be specified.
(11) Regulations (EC) No 1782/2003 and (EC) No 1698/2005 should be amended accordingly.
(12) Council Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 of 30 January 2006 laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union (4) amended Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. Due to an error, the entries for olive oil and hops did not take into account the amendments to that Annex introduced by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2183/2005 of 22 December 2005 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the single payment scheme provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 should therefore be corrected accordingly, with effect from the date of application of Regulation (EC) No 2183/2005,
Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 as amended, including by the 2005 Act of Accession, is hereby amended as follows:
1. Article 20 shall be amended as follows:
(a) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:
(b) the following paragraph shall be added:
2. the second indent of Article 22(1) shall be replaced by the following:
‘— in the case of an application for the aid for olive groves provided for in Chapter 10b of Title IV, or where the Member State is applying the option referred to in Article 20(3), the number of olive trees and their positioning in the parcel,’;
3. the first subparagraph of Article 42(8) shall be replaced by the following:
4. the second subparagraph of Article 44(2) shall be replaced by the following:
5. point (a) of Article 51 shall be replaced by the following:
‘(a) permanent crops, apart from olive trees or hops;’;
6. Article 56(4) shall be replaced by the following:
7. Article 60(1) shall be replaced by the following:
8. the first subparagraph of Article 71d(6) shall be replaced by the following:
9. Article 71g(1), shall be replaced by the following:
10. the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 71m:
11. the following subparagraph shall be added to Article 88:
12. Article 89(1) shall be replaced by the following:
13. the following Article shall be inserted:
14. Article 110q(1) shall be replaced by the following:
15. Article 110s shall be replaced by the following:
16. Article 143b shall be amended as follows:
(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:
(b) the first subparagraph of paragraph 5 shall be replaced by the following:
(c) in paragraph 6, the third subparagraph shall be replaced by the following:
(d) paragraph 9 shall be replaced by the following:
(e) the third subparagraph of paragraph 11 shall be replaced by the following:
17. Article 143ba shall be amended as follows:
(a) in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the first sentence shall be replaced by the following:
(b) paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:
(c) the following paragraph shall be added:
18. Annex I shall be amended as follows:
(a) The entry for ‘olive oil’ shall be replaced by the following:
‘Olive oil Title IV, Chapter 10b of this Regulation Area aid
8a(11) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 (OJ L 141, 30.4.2004, p. 1) For Malta and Slovenia in 2006’;
(b) The entry for ‘hops’ shall be replaced by the following:
‘Hops Title IV, Chapter 10d of this Regulation (***) () Area aid
8a(12) of Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 For Slovenia in 2006’.
The following subparagraph shall be is added to Article 51(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005:
‘The derogation provided for in the first subparagraph shall apply until 31 December 2008. However, for Bulgaria and Romania it shall apply until 31 December 2011.’
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 of January 2007 subject to the entry into force of the 2005 Treaty of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania insofar as the provisions of this Regulation are based on that Treaty.
It shall apply as from 1 January 2007. However, Article 1(6) shall apply with effect from 1 January 2005, Article 1(14), (15), (17) and (18) shall apply with effect from 1 January 2006.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.