Payment entitlements may only be declared for payment once per year by the farmer who holds them at the latest date for lodging the single application in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 796/2004.

However, where a farmer makes use of the possibility to amend the single application in accordance with Article 15 of that Regulation, he may also declare payment entitlements which he holds at the date of his notification of the amendments to the competent authority provided that the payment entitlements concerned are not declared by another farmer in respect of the same year.

Where the farmer acquires the payment entitlements concerned by way of a transfer from another farmer and where that other farmer had already declared those payment entitlements, the additional declaration of those payment entitlements shall only be admissible if the transferor has already informed the competent authority of the transfer in accordance with Article 25(2) of this Regulation and withdraws those payment entitlements from his own single application, within the time-limits set out in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 796/2004.

Member States shall fix the beginning of the 10 month period referred to in Article 44(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 for each individual farmer at a single date within a period to be fixed between 1^st September of the calendar year preceding the year of lodging an application under the single payment scheme and 30 April of the following calendar year or leave it at the farmer’s choice within the fixed period.

F2However, where specific agricultural conditions so warrant, Member States may authorise farmers to fix, within the fixed period referred to in the first subparagraph, two different dates for the beginning of the 10 month period in respect of their holding. Farmers who make use of this possibility shall indicate their choices in respect of each individual parcel in their single application form in addition to the information to be given by them in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 796/2004.

Farmers may give up voluntarily payment entitlements to the national reserve with the exception of set-aside payment entitlements.

Payment entitlements may be transferred at any time of the year.

The transferor shall inform the competent authority of the Member State of the transfer within a period to be established by the Member State

A Member State may require that the transferor shall communicate the transfer to the competent authority of the Member State where the transfer will operate, within a time period to be established by that Member State but not earlier than six weeks before the transfer takes place and taking into account the last date for lodging an application under the single payment scheme. The transfer shall take place as foreseen in the communication unless the competent authority objects to the transfer and notifies the transferor thereof within that time period. The competent authority may only object to a transfer where the latter is not in accordance with provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and of this Regulation.

For the application of the second subparagraph of Article 46(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, the percentage of the payment entitlements the farmer has used shall be calculated on the number of payment entitlements allocated to him in the first year of application of the single payment scheme, with the exception of payment entitlements sold with land, and must be used during one calendar year.

Where a Member State makes use of the option provided for in the third subparagraph of Article 46 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, Member States shall define the region at the appropriate territorial level in accordance with objective criteria and in such a way as to ensure equal treatment between farmers and to avoid market and competition distortion.

The Member State shall define the region referred to in paragraph 1 at the latest one month before the date of beginning of the 10 month period referred to in Article 44(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

A farmer, whose holding is situated in the region concerned, may not transfer or use outside that region his payment entitlements corresponding to the number of hectares which he declares in the first year of application of the option provided for in the third subparagraph of Article 46(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

A farmer, whose holding is partly situated in the region concerned, may not transfer or use outside that region his payment entitlements corresponding to the number of hectares, situated in that region, which he declares in the first year of application of the option.

The limitation to the transfer of payment entitlements referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 46 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 shall not apply in case of actual or anticipated inheritance of payment entitlements without an equivalent number of eligible hectares.

A Member State may decide to apply the limitation to the transfer of payment entitlements referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 46 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 only to set-aside payment entitlements.

The lessor shall apply for the establishment of the payment entitlements in accordance with Article 12, adding to the application a copy of the lease contract and indicating the number of hectares for which he intends to lease the payment entitlements. Where the case may be, Article 42(9) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 shall apply.

The lessee shall apply for payment under the single payment scheme in accordance with Article 12, adding to the application a copy of the lease contract.

A Member State may require that the applications of the lessee and of the lessor are lodged together or that the second application contains a reference to the first one.

For the purpose of the establishment of the definitive payment entitlements the farmer may prove, at the satisfaction of the competent authority, that his forage area in the reference period was lower or, in case the area used by Member States is lower, he shall, in accordance with Article 43(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, declare all the forage area he held in the reference period.

For the purposes of calculating the agricultural activity expressed in livestock units (LU) referred to in Article 49(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, the conversion table provided for in Article 131(2)(a) of that Regulation shall apply to the three-year average number of animals for which a direct payment referred to in Article 47 of that Regulation was granted in the reference period.

Male and female bovine animals of less than six months shall be converted in LU by using the coefficient 0,2.

In case of slaughter premium, where the necessary data regarding the age of the animals are not available, a Member State may convert bulls, steers, cows and heifers in LU by using the coefficient 0,7 and calves by using the coefficient 0,25.

Where the same animal benefitted from several premiums, the coefficient applicable shall be the average of the coefficient applicable to the different premiums.

The number of LU shall be calculated pro rata to the payment entitlements for which he did not have hectares in the reference period and for which the farmer requests the application of the special conditions. It shall apply starting from the payment entitlements at the lowest value.

The request shall be made only in the first year of application of the single payment scheme. Member States shall fix the date for the request. It may be renewed in the following years for the same number of payment entitlements subject to special conditions in the previous year or, in case of transfer of some of those payment entitlements, or in case of declaration of some of those payment entitlements with a corresponding number of hectares, for the remaining of those payment entitlements.

In these cases, the number of LU shall be recalculated pro rata to the remaining payment entitlements for which the farmer requests the application of the special conditions.

No request to re-establish the special condition may be introduced for those payment entitlements once they have been declared with an equivalent number of hectares or they have been transferred, without prejudice to Article 49(2) second subparagraph of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

The minimum agricultural activity requirement shall be deemed to be respected when the number of LUs reaches 50 % during a period or at certain dates to be determined by the Member States. All the animals sold or slaughtered during the calendar year concerned shall be taken into account.

Member States shall take the measures necessary to apply Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 in the case of producers who, by means of abnormally high numbers of LUs during part of the year, artificially create the conditions required to respect the minimum agricultural activity.

Where a Member State makes use of the option provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 62 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 in 2006, Article 50 of that Regulation shall apply.

In order to calculate the reference amount relating to extensification payments and additional payments in the beef and veal and sheep and goat sectors referred to in Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, Member States shall take into account, according to objective criteria and in such a way as to ensure equal treatment between farmers and to avoid market and competition distortion, the eligibility conditions and amounts set up by the Member State concerned when granting such payments in the reference period provided that the component of such payments in the ceiling referred to in Annex VIII of that Regulation is not exceeded.

In order to calculate the reference amount relating to the slaughter premium in the beef and veal sector referred to in Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, Member State shall take into account the application of Article 11(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999.

The number of hectares to be taken into account for the determination of the number of payment entitlements referred to in Article 43 and Annex VII, point H, of Regulation (CE) No 1782/2003 is calculated by the Member States in olive GIS -ha according to the common method defined in annex XXIV of the Regulation (CE) No 1973/2004.

With regards to the parcels occupied partially by olive trees and partially by other crops covered by the single payment scheme, including set-aside areas, the calculation method to be used to determine the surface occupied by olive trees shall be the method referred to in paragraph 1. The surface of the part of the area planted with other crops covered by the single payment scheme is determined in accordance with the integrated system provided for in Title II, Chapter 4 of Regulation (CE) No 1782/2003.

The application of these two methods of calculation shall not result in a surface higher than the agricultural surface of the parcel.

The area to be considered for the use of payment entitlements for the purposes of Article 44 of Regulation (CE) No 1782/2003 shall be the one calculated in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.