When the sum of the areas for which payment is claimed under the arable crops' scheme, including the set-aside provided for under that scheme in case of application of Article 71, is in excess of the base area, the eligible area per farmer shall be reduced proportionately X1for all the payments granted under this Chapter in the region in question, during the same marketing year.

The sum of the payments claimed shall not be higher than the ceiling fixed by the Commission in accordance with Article 64(2). When the total amount of aid claimed exceeds the fixed ceiling, the aid per farmer shall be reduced proportionately in that year.

In case of application of Article 71, areas which are not the subject of an application for payment under this Chapter but are used to support an application for aid under Chapter 12 shall also be taken into account for the calculation of areas for which payment is claimed.

If a Member State makes grass silage eligible for the arable crops area payments, a separate base area shall be defined. If the base area for arable crops or grass silage is not reached in a given marketing year, the balance of hectares shall be allocated for the same marketing year to the corresponding base area.

Where a Member State has chosen to establish one or more national base areas, it may subdivide each national base area into sub-base areas according to objective criteria to be defined by the Member State.

For the purposes of applying this paragraph, the ‘Secano’ and ‘Regadío’ base areas shall be considered as national base areas.

Where there is an overshoot of a national base area, the Member State concerned may, in accordance with objective criteria, concentrate the measure applicable under paragraph 1 totally or partially on the sub-base areas for which the overshoot has been noted.

Member States which have decided to apply the possibilities provided for in this paragraph, shall notify farmers and the Commission by 15 September of their choices and the detailed rules for their application.