xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
Where a Member State makes use of the option provided for in Article 59(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, it shall communicate to the Commission, by 1 August of the year preceding the first year of application of the single payment scheme at the latest, the justification and objective criteria on the basis of which the decision of applying that option has been taken and, where necessary, justification of the application of that Article only in a given region, or justification of the partial division provided for in paragraph 3 of that Article.
1.Member States shall communicate, by electronic means, to the Commission each year:
(a)by 15 September of the first year of application of the single payment scheme at the latest and, in the following years, by 31 August at the latest, the total number of applications under the single payment scheme for the current year, together with the corresponding total amount of the payment entitlements giving right to payment and the total number of accompanying eligible hectares, as well as the total sum of the amounts remaining in the national reserve;
(b)by 15 September at the latest, definitive data on the total number of applications under the single payment scheme accepted for the preceding year and the corresponding total amount of the payments which have been granted, after application, as the case may be, of the measures referred to in Articles 6, 10, 11, 24 and 25 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.
2.In case of regional implementation of the single payment scheme as provided for in Article 58 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, Member States shall communicate the information referred to in paragraph 1 (a) and (b) for each of the regions concerned, and, by 1 August of the first year of application of the single payment scheme at the latest, the corresponding part of the ceiling established in accordance with Article 58 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.
For the first year of application of the single payment scheme, the information referred to in paragraph 1 (a) shall be based on the provisional payment entitlements. The same information based on the definitive payment entitlements shall be communicated by 1st March of the following year.