Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 48 General rules

1. Member States may grant a payment to farmers who are entitled to a payment under the basic payment scheme or the single area payment scheme referred to in Chapter 1 and whose holdings are fully or partly situated in areas with natural constraints designated by Member States in accordance with Article 32(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 ("payment for areas with natural constraints").

2. Member States may decide to grant the payment for areas with natural constraints to all areas falling within the scope of paragraph 1, or to restrict the payment to some of those areas on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria.

3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article, to the application of financial discipline, of reduction of payments in accordance with Article 11 and of linear reduction in accordance with Article 7 of this Regulation, and to the application of Article 63 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the payment for areas with natural constraints shall be granted annually per eligible hectare situated in the areas for which a Member State has decided to grant a payment in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article. It shall be paid upon activation of payment entitlements in respect of those hectares held by the farmer concerned or, in Member States applying Article 36 of this Regulation, upon declaration of those eligible hectares by the farmer concerned.

4. The payment for areas with natural constraints, per hectare, shall be calculated by dividing the amount resulting from the application of Article 49 by the number of eligible hectares declared in accordance with Article 33(1) or Article 36(2) which are situated in the areas for which a Member State has decided to grant a payment in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.

Member States may, on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria, also set a maximum number of hectares per holding for which support under this Chapter can be granted.

5. Member States may apply the payment for areas with natural constraints at regional level under the conditions laid down in this paragraph provided that they identified the regions concerned in accordance with objective and non-discriminatory criteria and, in particular, their natural constraint characteristics, including the severity of the constraints, and their agronomic conditions.

Member States shall divide the national ceiling referred to in Article 49(1) between the regions in accordance with objective and non-discriminatory criteria.

The payment for areas with natural constraints at regional level shall be calculated by dividing the regional ceiling calculated in accordance with the second subparagraph of this paragraph by the number of eligible hectares declared in the respective region in accordance with Article 33(1) or Article 36(2) which are situated in the areas for which a Member State has decided to grant a payment in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.