1.Member States deciding to implement equivalent practices referred to in Article 43(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 shall designate one or more public or private certification authorities certifying that the farmer observes practices on its holding which comply with Article 43(3) of that Regulation.
2.Public or private certification authorities shall fulfil the following conditions:
they shall have the expertise, equipment and infrastructure required to carry out the certification tasks;
they shall have a sufficient number of qualified and experienced staff;
they shall be impartial and free from any conflict of interest as regards the exercise of the certification tasks.
Private certification authorities shall be accredited in accordance with EN ISO/IEC 17021 (Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems) or EN ISO/IEC 17065 (Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services) in the sector of agricultural production. Accreditation shall only be performed by a national accreditation body in a Member State in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1).
3.The designation of a public or private certification authority shall be withdrawn where it fails to satisfy the conditions for its designation set out in paragraph 2.
1.For farmers deciding to observe the practices referred to in points 3 and 4 of Section I and point 7 of Section III of Annex IX to Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 and any further equivalent practices added to that Annex for which a specific calculation is needed in order to avoid double funding, as equivalent practices pursuant to Article 43(3)(a) of that Regulation, Member States shall deduct from the amount of support per hectare calculated pursuant to Article 28(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 an amount corresponding to one third of the average greening payment per hectare in the Member State or region concerned for each greening practice that the practice is equivalent with.
The average greening payment per hectare in the Member State or region concerned shall be calculated on the basis of the percentage referred to in Article 47(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the average of the national ceilings for the years 2015 to 2019 set out in Annex II to that Regulation and the number of eligible hectares declared in accordance with Article 33 or Article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in 2015. Member States deciding to implement the practices referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph already in 2015, may estimate the number of eligible hectares declared in 2015 on the basis of the declarations made in 2014 pursuant to Article 34(2) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.
2.By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Member States deciding to apply the third subparagraph of Article 43(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 may decide to apply the deduction referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article on an individual basis by an amount corresponding to one third of the average greening payment per hectare of the farmer concerned.
The average greening payment for the farmer shall be calculated on the basis of the average of the individual payment calculated in accordance with the third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 43(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 for the years 2015 to 2019 and the number of eligible hectares declared by the farmer in accordance with Article 33 of that Regulation in 2015.
Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 30).