Marketing years shall run from 1 January to 31 December, except for wine.
1.Without prejudice to Articles 5, 25, 34 and 36, aid applications shall be submitted to the office designated by the competent authorities of the Member State in accordance with the models established by the latter and within the periods they have laid down. For the aid covered by Title I, those periods shall be fixed so as to allow time for the necessary on-the-spot checks.
2.Each aid application shall include at least the following information:
(a)the surname, forenames and address of the applicant;
(b)for the aid covered by Title I, the areas cultivated in hectares and in ares, identified in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92;
(c)for the aid covered by Chapter I of Title II, the quantity of pineapples harvested and the quantity covered by the aid application;
(d)for the aid covered by Chapter III of Title II, applications shall be accompanied by cane delivery notes drawn up by the competent bodies or the processing enterprises designated by France for each department;
(e)for the aid covered by Chapter II of Title II, Chapter I of Title III and Chapters I and II of Title IV, applications shall be accompanied by grouped or individual invoices and all other supporting documents relating to the operations carried out, in particular the references of delivery contracts, processing contracts or annual contracts.
3.Without prejudice to Articles 6 and 9, after verifying the aid applications and the relevant supporting documents, the competent authorities shall pay the aid calculated in accordance with this Regulation [X1within four months] following the end of the period for lodging applications.
Where more than one harvest is possible during the course of a calendar year in the context of the crops covered by Chapter I of Title I, the deadline fixed in the first subparagraph shall start to run from the end of the period for submitting aid applications for the last harvest of the year concerned.
4.The Member States may adopt additional rules regarding how producer organisations are to pay the aid covered by Title IV to their members.
Editorial Information
X1 Substituted by Corrigendum to Commission Regulation (EC) No 43/2003 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulations (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001 and (EC) No 1454/2001 as regards aid for the local production of crop products in the outermost regions of the European Union (Official Journal of the European Communities L 7 of 11 January 2003).
An aid application may be adjusted at any time after its submission, in cases of where the competent authority recognises an obvious error.
Except in cases of force majeure and exceptional circumstances within the meaning of Article 65, submission of an aid application after the time limit laid down accordance with Article 54(1) shall lead to a 1 % reduction per working day in the amounts to which the grower would have been entitled if the aid application had been lodged within the time limit. If the delay amounts to more than 25 calendar days, the application shall be considered inadmissible.
1.An aid application may be totally or partially withdrawn at any time. However, where the competent authority has already informed the grower of irregularities in the aid application or has given notice to the grower of its intention to carry out an on-the-spot check, and where this check reveals irregularities, withdrawals shall not be authorised in respect of the parts of the aid application affected by the irregularities.
2.Withdrawals under paragraph 1 shall return the claimant to the situation prior to submitting the aid application or part of the aid application in question.
1.Verifications shall be carried out by means of administrative and on-the-spot checks. Administrative checks shall be exhaustive and shall include cross-checks wherever appropriate with, inter alia, data from the integrated administration and control system. Based on a risk analysis, the national authorities shall perform on-the-spot checks by sampling at least 10 % of aid applications.
In all appropriate cases, Member States shall make use of the integrated administration and control system established by Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92.
2.For the aid covered by section I of Chapter II of Title III, checks shall also cover the quantity of cane delivered and compliance with the minimum price.
1.On-the-spot checks shall be unannounced. However, provided that the purpose of the check is not compromised, advance notice limited to the strict minimum necessary may be given. Such notice shall not exceed 48 hours, except in duly justified cases.
2.Where applicable, the on-the-spot checks provided for in this Regulation shall be carried out at the same time as any other checks provided for in Community rules.
3.The application or applications concerned shall be rejected if growers or their representatives prevent an on-the-spot check from being carried out.
1.Growers shall be selected to undergo on-the-spot checks by the competent authority on the basis of a risk analysis and the representativeness of the aid applications submitted. The risk analysis shall take account of:
(a)the amount of aid involved;
(b)the number of agricultural parcels, the area covered by the application or the quantity produced, transported, processed or marketed;
(c)changes from the previous year;
(d)the findings of checks made in past years;
(e)other parameters to be determined by the Member States.
To provide the element of representativeness, the Member States shall randomly select between 20 % and 25 % of the minimum number of growers to be subject to on-the-spot checks.
2.The competent authority shall keep records of the reasons for the selection of each grower for an on-the-spot check. The inspector performing the on-the-spot check shall be informed of these reasons before starting it.
1.Every on-the-spot check shall be the subject of an inspection report relating the details of the checks carried out. Reports shall indicate in particular:
(a)the aid schemes and applications checked;
(b)the persons present;
(c)the agricultural parcels checked, the agricultural parcels measured, the results of the measurements per measured parcel and the measuring methods used;
(d)the quantities produced, transported, processed or marketed covered by the check, the findings and the methods used;
(e)whether advance notice was given to the grower of the visit and, if so, how much;
(f)any further inspection measures carried out.
2.Growers or their representatives shall be given the opportunity to sign the report to attest their presence at the check and to add observations. Where irregularities are found the grower shall receive a copy of the control report.
Where the on-the-spot check is carried out by remote sensing, the Member States may decide not to give the growers or their representatives the opportunity to sign the control report if no irregularities are revealed during the check by remote-sensing.
1.If undue payment is made, the grower shall repay the amount in question plus interest calculated in accordance with paragraph 3.
2.The Member States may decide to recover an undue payment by deducting that amount from any advances or payments made to the grower under other aid schemes following the date of the decision to recover. However, the grower may repay the amount without waiting for the deduction.
3.Interest shall be calculated for the period elapsing between the notification of the repayment obligation to the grower and either repayment or deduction. The rate of interest applicable shall be calculated according to the provisions of national law but shall not be lower than the interest rate applicable for the recovery of amounts under the national provisions.
4.Where the undue payment has been made because of a false declaration, false documents or serious negligence on the part of the beneficiary, a penalty shall be imposed equal to the amount unduly paid, with interest calculated in accordance with paragraph 3.
5.The repayment obligation referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply if the payment was made by error of the competent authority itself or of another authority and if the error could not reasonably have been detected by the grower.
However, where the error relates to factual elements relevant for the calculation of the payment concerned, the first subparagraph shall apply only if the decision to recover was not communicated within 12 months of the payment.
6.The repayment obligation referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply if more than 10 years elapse between the date of the payment of the aid and the date on which the beneficiary is first notified by the competent authority that the payment made was undue.
However, the period referred to in the first sentence shall be limited to four years if the beneficiary has acted in good faith.
7.Amounts to be recovered as a consequence of reductions and exclusions applied under this title shall be subject to a period of limitations of four years.
8.Paragraphs 5 and 6 shall not apply in the case of advances.
9.The Member States may decide not to recover amounts of EUR 100 or less, not including interest, per grower and per premium period, provided that their national law provides for non-recovery in such cases.
10.The aid recovered shall be paid to the paying agencies or departments and deducted by them from the expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.
1.In the case of aid covered by Title I, where the area declared for a group of crops exceeds the area recorded during the check, the aid shall be calculated on the basis of the area recorded, minus twice the difference found, where this is more than 3 % or two hectares but not more than 20 % of the area determined.
Where the difference found is more than 20 % of the area recorded, no area aid shall be granted for the group of crops concerned.
2.If, in respect of the overall area determined covered by an aid application under the aid schemes covered by Title I, the declared area exceeds the area found by more than 30 %, the aid which the grower could claim under those aid schemes shall be refused for the calendar year concerned.
If the difference is more than 50 %, the grower shall also be penalised by an amount equal to the amount refused under the first subparagraph. That amount shall be withheld from aid payments under any of the aid schemes covered by this Regulation or to which the grower is entitled under applications lodged during the three calendar years following the year of the finding.
1.The reductions and exclusions provided for in this title shall not apply where growers have submitted factually correct information or can show otherwise that they are not at fault.
2.The reductions and exclusions provided for in this title shall not apply to those parts of an aid application which the grower informs the competent authority in writing are incorrect or have become incorrect since it was lodged, provided that the competent authority has not already informed the grower of its intention to carry out an on-the-spot check or of any irregularity in the application.
On the basis of the information given by the grower as referred to in the first subparagraph, the aid application shall be adjusted to reflect the actual situation.
1.Growers shall notify the competent authority in writing of cases of force majeure or exceptional circumstances, with relevant evidence to the satisfaction of that authority, within 10 working days of the date on which they are first in a position to do so.
2.The competent authority may recognise exceptional circumstances in cases such as, for example:
(a)the death of the grower;
(b)long-term occupational incapacity of the grower;
(c)a severe natural disaster substantially affecting the holding's agricultural land.
The national authorities shall withdraw approval as referred to in Article 42 where the commitments to which such approval is subject are not fulfilled. They may suspend the payment of aid for one or more marketing years depending on the seriousness of the irregularities uncovered.
The Member States shall adopt all additional measures needed to apply this Regulation, in particular regarding the checks on quantities of cane delivered for the purposes of the aid covered by Chapter III of Title II.
1.The Member States concerned shall notify the Commission not later than:
(a)30 April, of the areas covered by applications for aid under Chapter II of Title I for the current marketing year and for which the aid has actually been paid;
(b)31 May:
(b)of the areas covered by applications for aid under Chapter I of Title I for the previous marketing year for which the aid has actually been paid,
the quantities covered by contracts for the current marketing year, broken down by category or product;
(c)30 June, a report on the implementation of the measures covered by this Regulation in the preceding marketing year showing in particular:
(c)the quantities for which the aid and increased aid covered by Title III has been paid, broken down by product set out in part A of Annex II, III or IV,
the quantities qualifying for the aid covered by Title IV, broken down by product, and their average value within the meaning of Article 40(4);
(d)for the aid covered by section II of chapter II of Title III, within 45 working days following the end of each marketing year, Portugal shall notify the Commission:
(d)of the areas and the overall amount for which the flat-rate aid per hectare has been requested and paid,
of the quantities of white sugar produced and the overall amount of the special processing aid paid;
(e)for the aid covered by section I of Chapter II of Title III, within 45 days of the end following the end of each calendar year, France and Portugal shall notify the Commission:
(e)of the total quantities of sugar syrup, sucrose syrup and agricultural rum covered by aid applications, expressed as white sugar or hectolitres of pure alcohol,
of the refineries and distilleries in receipt of aid,
of the aid received and the quantity of sugar syrup, sucrose syrup or agricultural rum produced by each refinery or distillery.
2.Before the beginning of each marketing year, France shall notify the minimum prices referred to in Title II, fixed in accordance with Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1452/2001 for each category of products set out in Annex I and shall specify in its implementation report:
the quantities of green vanilla and essential oil of geranium and vetiver qualifying for the aid covered by Chapter II of Title II,
the quantities of raw materials qualifying for the aid covered by Chapter I of Title III, broken down by product as set out in part A of Annex I, and the quantities, expressed in net weight, of finished products broken down in accordance with part B of Annex I.
3.Portugal shall notify the Commission before 1 November each year of the quantities of pineapples harvested for which aid has been paid.
4.The Member States shall inform the Commission immediately of cases which they recognise as force majeure or exceptional circumstances justifying continued entitlement to the aid.
5.For the aid covered by Chapter III of Title II, France shall notify the Commission:
(a)within four months following the entry into force of this Regulation:
(a)of the criteria for determining the unit amounts granted to producers,
of the additional measures adopted under Article 67;
(b)in the annual report provided for in Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 1452/2001, for each department:
(b)of the total quantities of cane, expressed in tonnes, covered by aid applications,
of the total amount of the aid and the variation in the amounts of aid per tonne transported,
of any changes to the criteria and additional measures referred to in point (a).
Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 412/97 is hereby replaced by Annex VI to this Regulation
Regulations (EEC) No 980/92, (EEC) No 2165/92, (EEC) No 2311/92, (EEC) No 3491/92, (EEC) No 3518/92, (EC) No 1524/98, (EC) No 2477/2001, (EC) No 396/2002, (EC) No 738/2002, (EC) No 1410/2002 and (EC) No 1491/2002 are hereby repealed.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 January 2002, except for the aid referred to in Article 1(b), (c), (f) and (g) and the aid for bananas other than plantains produced in French Guiana and Réunion granted under Chapter I of Title IV, which shall apply from 1 January 2002.
Article 53 shall not apply to annual contracts concluded before the entry into force of this Regulation under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1452/2001, Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001 or Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1454/2001.
For 2003, for the purposes of determining the amount of aid to be granted under Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1452/2001, Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001 and Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1454/2001, the beneficiary's status shall be assessed at the time the aid application is lodged.