Where a Member State makes use of the option provided for in Article 42(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, it may in particular allocate, upon request, in accordance with this Article, payment entitlements to farmers, in the areas concerned, who declare fewer hectares than the number corresponding to payment entitlements they would be or would have been allocated in accordance with Article 43 of that Regulation.

In that case, the farmer shall give up to the national reserve all the payment entitlement he owns or should have been allocated, except set-aside entitlements and payment entitlements subject to special conditions referred to in Article 49 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

F1For the purpose of this Article, ‘ payment entitlements ’ shall mean only the payment entitlements allocated by the Member State in the first year of application of the single payment scheme.

The number of payment entitlements allocated from the national reserve shall be equal to the number of hectares the farmer declares.

The five years period provided for in Article 42 (8) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 shall apply or, where the case may be, restart to apply to all the payment entitlements allocated.

The unit value of the payment entitlements allocated from the national reserve shall be calculated by dividing the farmer’s reference amount by the number of hectares he declares reduced by a number of hectares equal to the number of set-aside entitlements he owns. The regional average provided for in Article 6 (4) shall not apply.

Paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 shall not apply to a farmer who declares less than 50 % of the total number of hectares, within the meaning of Article 43(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, which he held (leased and owned) in the reference period.

For the purpose of paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4, hectares transferred by sale or by lease, and not replaced by a corresponding number of hectares, shall be included in the number of hectares which the farmer declares.

The farmer concerned shall declare all the hectares he holds at the time of the request.