Commission Regulation (EC) No 795/2004 of 21 april 2004 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the single payment scheme provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93, (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) N 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001⁽¹⁾, and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 40(5), Articles 42(4) and (9), 46(3), 52(2), 54(5), 145(c) and (d) and 155 thereof,

Whereas:

1. Detailed rules for the implementation of Title III of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing the single payment scheme for farmers should be laid down.

2. For clarity reasons it is appropriate to provide for certain definitions. Where appropriate, definitions which already apply in similar situations and/or which have been already used for years should be used.

3. In order to facilitate the calculation of the unit value of the payment entitlements, it should be provided for clear rules on the round up of figures and for the possibility to split existing payment entitlements in case the size of the parcel which is declared or transferred with the entitlement only amounts to a fraction of hectares.

4. Specific provisions should be provided for the establishment of the national reserve and in particular the calculation of the reductions of the reference amounts or the payment entitlements, as well as the application of the reduction in cases of full or partial decoupling of the dairy premiums and additional payments referred to in Articles 95 and 96 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

5. Article 42(3) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides for optional cases of allocation of payment entitlements from the national reserve. It is appropriate to provide for rules for the calculation of the number and value of the payment entitlements to be allocated in such a way. In order to allow certain flexibility to Member States which are in a better position to evaluate the situation of each farmer applying for such measures, the maximum number of entitlements to be allocated should not be higher than the number of hectares declared and its value should not be higher than an amount to be fixed by the Member State according to objective criteria. According to article 42(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, in case of increase of the unit value of existing payment entitlements, a regional average should be respected. Member States should be allowed to establish that regional value at the appropriate territorial level. However, in no case, due to its nature of aid decoupled from the production, the amount should be differentiated or calculated in function of sectorial productions.

6. Under certain circumstances farmers could end up with more entitlements than land to use them, for example in case of common use of a forage area, because of the expiry of a lease or the participation to an afforestation program or by buying, in accordance to national provisions, milk reference quantities which were leased in the reference period with land. Therefore it seems appropriate to provide for a mechanism that should guarantee the farmer’s support by concentrating it on the remaining available hectares. However, in order to avoid abuse of that mechanism, some conditions for the access to that mechanism should be provided for.

7. According to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 the national reserve shall be replenished via unused entitlements or, on an optional basis, via retention on sales of payments entitlements or on sales that have taken place before a certain date. It is therefore necessary to provide for a date after which the unused entitlements revert to the national reserve. For administrative reasons, it should also be provided that the payment entitlements accompanied by the authorisation to grow fruit and vegetable or table potatoes or set-aside entitlements when reverting to the national reserve should lose the accompanying obligation or authorisation. Moreover, this is also justified by the fact that that obligation or authorisation is established on the basis of historical references and once the single payment scheme is in place it will not be possible to determine who should receive set-aside entitlements of authorisations out of the reserve as the support will be decoupled.

8. In case of application of the retention on sale of payment entitlements, maximum percentages and criteria of application should be established and differentiated taking into account the type of transfers and of payment entitlements to be transferred. If speculative risks exist in the first years of application of the single payment scheme, Member State may be allowed to increase the percentage of retention for sales without land. In no case the application of such retentions should result in a substantial obstacle or prohibition of transfer of payment entitlements.

9. In order to facilitate the administration of the national reserve, it is appropriate to provide for management of the national reserve at regional level except in cases referred to in Article 42 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, where applicable, and in Article 42 (4) of that Regulation, where Member States are obliged to allocate payment entitlements.

10. In order to facilitate the implementation of the single payment scheme, it is appropriate to allow Member States to proceed already in the year preceding the first year of application of the scheme to the identification of the potential beneficiaries of the scheme in particular, in case of modifications in the holding due to inheritance or legal changes and to the provisional establishment of payment entitlements.

11. Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 allows farmers to access to the single payment scheme under specific circumstances. In order to avoid that such circumstances may be used to escape the application of the rules on normal transfers of a holding with the attached reference amounts, some conditions and definitions should be set up for the application of such circumstances.

12. Article 46(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides that a farmer may transfer his payment entitlements without land only after he has used, within the meaning of Article 44 of that Regulation, at least 80 % of his payment entitlements during at least one calendar year. In order to take into account the transfers of land that have taken place in the period before the application of the single payment scheme, it is justified to consider the transfer of holding or part of it together with the future payment entitlements as a valid transfer of the payment entitlements with land within the meaning of Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, subject to certain conditions, in particular the fact that the seller should apply for the establishment of the payment entitlements as far as that Regulation clearly provides that only those who received the direct payment in the reference period have access to the scheme.

13. Article 42(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 allows the Commission to define the special situations which shall give right to the establishment of reference amounts for certain farmers finding themselves in situations which prevented them, in full or partially, from receiving direct payments in the reference period. It is therefore appropriate to list those special situations by providing for rules in order to avoid cumulating the benefit from the different allocation of payment entitlements on the same farmer without prejudice to the possibility for the Commission to add further cases where the case may be. Moreover, Member States should be given the flexibility to establish the reference amount to be allocated.

14. Where a Member State according to national law or well established usual practice includes in the definition of long term lease also lease for 5 years, it is appropriate to allow Member State to apply this shorter term where the case may be.

15. Due to the fact that dairy premiums and additional payments will be included in the single payment scheme on the basis of a different reference period than the one referred to in Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, it is appropriate, for the purpose of establishing the reference amount, to take into account of dairy farmers finding themselves in a situation referred to in Article 40 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 who lease, because of that situation, their individual reference quantity or part of it according to Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 during the twelve-month period ending on 31 March of the first year of application of the single payment scheme.

16. In cases where a farmer retires or dies and provides for transferring his holding or part of it to a member of the family or inheritant who intends to continue the agricultural activity on this holding, it is appropriate to ensure that the transfer of the holding or part of it within a family can easily take place in particular, in the case where the transferred land was leased to a third person during the reference period without prejudging the possibility for the inheritant to continue the agricultural activity.

17. Farmers who made investments resulting in a potential increase of the amount in direct payments that they should have been granted if the single payment scheme had not been introduced should also benefit from the allocation of entitlements. Specific rules should be provided for the calculation of the payment entitlements in case a farmer already owns payment entitlements or has no hectares. In the same circumstances, farmers who bought or leased land or participated in national programmes of reconversion of production for which a direct payment under the single payment scheme could have been granted in the reference period would find themselves without payment entitlements whilst they acquired land or participated in such programmes in order to exercise an agricultural activity that could in the future still benefit from certain direct payments. Therefore it is also appropriate to provide for the allocation of payment entitlements in that case.

18. For the good administration of the scheme, it is appropriate to provide for rules in case of transfers of payment entitlements.

19. Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides that a Member State may decide that payment entitlements may only be transferred or used within one and the same region. In order to avoid practical problems, specific rules should be provided for holdings situated in between two or more regions.

20. Article 43(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides that all forage area in the reference period should be included in the calculation of the payment entitlements. In order to facilitate the task of the national administrations in establishing the number of forage hectares, it is appropriate to give them the possibility to take into account the number of forage area declared in the area aid application before the introduction of the single payment scheme, whilst letting the farmer the possibility to prove that his forage area in the reference period was lower.

21. Article 52 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 allows for the production of hemp under certain conditions. It is necessary to establish the list of eligible varieties as well as to provide for the certification of those varieties.

22. Specific rules should be provided for the calculation of the livestock unit in case of establishment of entitlements subject to special conditions by referring to the existing conversion table provided for in the beef sector.

23. Specific rules are also needed to facilitate the establishment of payment entitlements in case of anticipated decoupling of the payments in the milk sector.

24. Pursuant to Article 54 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, any set-aside entitlement accompanied by an hectare eligible for set-aside entitlement shall give right to the payment of the amount fixed by the set-aside entitlement. The minimum period for which land is to be set aside should extend at least over the growing cycle of the arable crops. However, in order to take certain specific circumstances into account, it should be possible for land set aside to be used before the minimum set-aside period expires. Provisions should also be laid down regarding environmental protection and the maintenance and utilisation of the areas set aside.

25. Where a Member State decides to make use of the option of regionalising the single payment scheme, specific provisions should be established in order to facilitate the calculation of the regional reference amount for holdings situated in between two or more regions, as well as in order to guarantee a full allocation of the regional amount in the first year of application of the scheme. Some of the provisions provided for by this Regulation, notably on the establishment of the national reserve, initial allocation of payment entitlements and transfer of payment entitlements should be adjusted in order to make them applicable in the regional model.

26. Article 69 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 allows Member States, within a budgetary limit, to provide for an additional payment for specific types of farming which are important for the protection or enhancement of the environment or for improving the quality and marketing of agricultural products. It is therefore necessary to define which farmers should be concerned, how this payment should be compatible with existing measures under the rural development and to define which type of farming should be covered by the measure.

27. Article 58 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides that Member States shall define the regions in accordance with objective criteria and Article 59 of that Regulation provides that Member States may proceed to a regionalisation of the single payment scheme in duly justified cases and in accordance with objective criteria. It is therefore appropriate to provide for the communication of all the necessary data and information to proceed to the assessment of such criteria.

28. In order to assess the application of the single payment scheme, it is appropriate to establish the modalities and deadlines for the exchange of information between the Commission and the Member States and to inform the Commission of the areas for which the aid has been paid, at national, and, where the case may be, at regional level.

29. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Direct Payments,

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