Section 1U.K.Payment entitlements based on areas
Article 43U.K.Determination of the payment entitlements
1.Without prejudice to Article 48, a farmer shall receive a payment entitlement per hectare which is calculated by dividing the reference amount by the three-year average number of all hectares which in the reference period gave right to direct payments listed in Annex VI.
The total number of payment entitlements shall be equal to the above mentioned average number of hectares.
However, in the case referred to in Article 37(2), the total number of payment entitlements shall be equal to the average number of hectares of the same period used for the establishment of the reference amounts [and Article 42(8) shall apply to these payment entitlements.]
2.The number of hectares referred to in paragraph 1 shall further include:
[(a) in case of potato starch, dried fodder, seed, olive groves, and tobacco aids listed in Annex VII, the number of hectares whose production has been granted the aid in the reference period, as calculated in points B, D, F, H, I of Annex VII and, in case of sugar beet, cane and chicory, the number of hectares as calculated in accordance with point 4 of point K of that Annex;]
(b)all forage area in the reference period.
3.For the purpose of paragraph 2(b) of this Article, ‘forage area’ shall mean the area of the holding that was available throughout the calendar year, in accordance with Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2419/2001(), for rearing animals including areas in shared use and areas which were subject to mixed cultivation. The forage area shall not include:
buildings, woods, ponds, paths,
areas used for other crops eligible for Community aid or for permanent crops or horticultural crops,
areas qualifying for the support system laid down for the producers of certain arable crops, used for the aid scheme for dried fodder or subject to a national or Community set-aside scheme.
4.The payment entitlements per hectare shall not be modified save as otherwise provided.
Editorial Information
Textual Amendments
Article 44U.K.Use of payment entitlements
1.Any payment entitlement accompanied by an eligible hectare shall give right to the payment of the amount fixed by the payment entitlement.
2.‘Eligible hectare’ shall mean any agricultural area of the holding taken up by arable land and permanent pasture except areas under permanent crops, forests or used for non agricultural activities.
[‘ Eligible hectare ’ shall also mean areas planted with hops or being under a temporary resting obligation, or areas as calculated in the second subparagraph of point H of Annex VII under olive trees planted before 1 May 1998 , except for Cyprus and Malta, for which the date shall be 31 December 2001 , or new olive trees replacing existing olive trees or olive trees within approved planting schemes and registered into a geographic information system.]
3.The farmer shall declare the parcels corresponding to the eligible hectare accompanying any payment entitlement. Except in case of force majeure or exceptional circumstances, these parcels shall be at the farmer's disposal for a period of at least 10-months, starting from a date to be fixed by the Member State, but not earlier than 1 September of the calendar year preceding the year of lodging the application for participation in the single payment scheme.
4.Member States may, in duly justified circumstances, authorise the farmer to modify his declaration on condition that he respects the number of hectares corresponding to his payment entitlements and the conditions for granting the single payment for the area concerned.
Article 45U.K.Unused payment entitlements
1.Any payment entitlement which has not been used for a period of 3 years shall be allocated to the national reserve.
2.However, unused payment entitlements shall not revert to the national reserve in case of force majeure and exceptional circumstances within the meaning of Article 40(4).
Article 46U.K.Transfer of payment entitlements
1.Payment entitlements may only be transferred to another farmer established within the same Member State except in case of transfer by actual or anticipated inheritance.
However, even in the case of actual or anticipated inheritance, payment entitlements may only be used in the Member State where the payment entitlements were established.
A Member State may decide that payment entitlements may only be transferred or used within one and the same region.
2.Payment entitlements may be transferred by sale or any other definitive transfer with or without land. In contrast, lease or similar types of transactions shall be allowed only if the payment entitlements transferred are accompanied by the transfer of an equivalent number of eligible hectares.
Except in case of force majeure or exceptional circumstances as referred to in Article 40(4), a farmer may transfer his payment entitlements without land only after he has used, within the meaning of Article 44, at least 80 % of his payment entitlements during at least one calendar year or, after he has given up voluntarily to the national reserve all the payment entitlements he has not used in the first year of application of the single payment scheme.
3.In case of sale of payment entitlements, with or without land, Member States may[, acting in compliance with the general principles of Community law,] decide that part of the payment entitlements sold revert to the national reserve or that their unit value is reduced in favour of the national reserve, according to criteria to be fixed by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 144(2).