TITLE IIIRURAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT

CHAPTER IMeasures

Article 16Quality schemes for agricultural products, and foodstuffs

F11

Support under this measure shall cover new participation, or participation in the five preceding years, by farmers and groups of farmers, in:

a

quality schemes established under the following Regulations and provisions:

  1. (i)

    Regulation (EU) 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council18;

  2. (ii)

    Council Regulation (EC) No 834/200719;

  3. (iii)

    Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council20;

  4. (iv)

    Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/9121;

  5. (v)

    Part II, Title II, Chapter I, Section 2 of Council Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as concerns wine.

b

quality schemes, including farm certification schemes, for agricultural products, cotton or foodstuffs, recognised by the Member States as complying with the following criteria:

  1. (i)

    the specificity of the final product under such schemes is derived from clear obligations to guarantee any of the following:

    • specific product characteristics,

    • specific farming or production methods, or

    • a quality of the final product that goes significantly beyond the commercial commodity standards as regards public, animal or plant health, animal welfare or environmental protection;

  2. (ii)

    the scheme is open to all producers;

  3. (iii)

    the scheme involves binding product specifications and compliance with those specifications is verified by public authorities or by an independent inspection body;

  4. (iv)

    the scheme is transparent and assures complete traceability of products; or

c

voluntary agricultural product certification schemes recognised by the Member States as meeting the Union best practice guidelines for the operation of voluntary certification schemes relating to agricultural products and foodstuffs.

F12

Support under this measure may also cover costs arising from information and promotion activities implemented by groups of producers, concerning products covered by a quality scheme receiving support in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. By way of derogation from Article 70(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, those activities may only be implemented in the internal market.

3

Support under paragraph 1 shall be granted as an annual incentive payment, the level of which shall be determined in accordance with the level of the fixed costs arising from participation in supported schemes, for a maximum duration of five years.

In the case of initial participation prior to the application for support under paragraph 1, the maximum duration of five years shall be reduced by the number of years which have elapsed between the initial participation in a quality scheme and the time of the application for the support.

For the purposes of this paragraph, ‘fixed costs’ means the costs incurred for entering a supported quality scheme and the annual contribution for participating in that scheme, including, where necessary, expenditure on checks required to verify compliance with the specifications of the scheme.

For the purposes of this Article, ‘farmer’ means active farmer within the meaning of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, as applicable in the Member State concerned.

4

Support shall be limited to the maximum support rate and amount laid down in Annex II.

5

In order to take into account new Union law that may affect support under this measure and in order to ensure consistency with other Union instruments on promotion of agricultural measures and prevent distortion of competition, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 83 concerning, the specific Union schemes to be covered by point (a) of paragraph 1 and the characteristics of groups of producers and the types of actions that may receive support under paragraph 2, the setting of conditions to prevent discrimination against certain products; and the setting of conditions on the basis of which commercial brands are to be excluded from support.