Council Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops

Published date26 June 1999
Official Gazette PublicationOfficial Journal of the European Communities, L 160, 26 June 1999
EUR-Lex - 31999R1251 - EN

Council Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops

Official Journal L 160 , 26/06/1999 P. 0001 - 0014


COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1251/1999

of 17 May 1999

establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 36 and 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(4),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Court of Auditors(5),

(1) Whereas the common agricultural policy aims to attain the objectives referred to in Article 33 of the Treaty, taking account of the market situation;

(2) Whereas, in order to ensure better market balance, a new scheme of support was introduced by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 of 30 June 1992 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops(6);

(3) Whereas, after the 1992 reform of the common agricultural policy, there has been a particular improvement of market balances;

(4) Whereas set-aside under the support system for producers of certain arable crops, introduced in 1992 in addition to a lowering of the intervention price, has helped to keep production under control, while increased price competitiveness has allowed significant additional cereals quantities to be used on the domestic market, mainly for animal feed;

(5) Whereas the support on the basis of the scheme introduced in 1992 should be continued, taking into account, however, market developments and experience acquired in applying the current scheme;

(6) Whereas Member States may, under certain conditions, make grass silage eligible for area payments under this regime;

(7) Whereas the reform of the support scheme has to take into account the international obligations of the Community;

(8) Whereas the best way to achieve market balance is to approximate the Community prices of cereals to the prices on the world market and to provide for non-crop specific area payments;

(9) Whereas area payments should be revised if the market conditions differ from those currently foreseen;

(10) Whereas the area eligible should be restricted to the area down to arable crops or publicly funded set aside in the past;

(11) Whereas, when the sum of the areas for which payment is claimed under the scheme is in excess of the base area, a reduction of the eligible area per farm should be provided for in order to ensure market balance;

(12) Whereas Member States may apply one or more national base areas; whereas it is considered appropriate that the Member States which choose this option should be able to divide each national base area into sub-base areas; whereas, when a national base area has been exceeded, the Member State concerned should be allowed to concentrate the application of the measures totally or partially on those areas for which the overshoot has been noted;

(13) Whereas area payments should reflect the specific structural characteristics that influence yield; whereas the drawing up of a regionalisation plan based on objective criteria should be left to the Member States; whereas uniform average yields should be established by the regionalisation plans; whereas these plans should be consistent with the average yields of each region achieved in a given period, taking into account any structural differences between production regions; whereas a specific procedure should be provided in order to examine these plans at Community level;

(14) Whereas differentiation of yields may be permitted for irrigated and non-irrigated areas provided that a separate base area for irrigated crops is established and there is no extension of the total base area;

(15) Whereas maize has a different yield which distinguishes it from other cereals and therefore may justify a separate treatment;

(16) Whereas, in order to calculate the area payment, a basic amount per tonne should be multiplied by the "average cereals yield" determined for the region concerned; whereas when different yields for maize and for other cereals are fixed, separate base areas for maize should be established;

(17) Whereas a single basic amount should be fixed for arable crops; whereas the basic amounts per tonne should be increased taking into account the reduction in several steps in the cereals intervention price; whereas a specific aid should be established for protein crops in order to preserve their competitiveness with cereals;

(18) Whereas in the case of a final reduction in intervention price the basic amount shall be increased applying the same compensation rate as that used in the 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 marketing years;

(19) Whereas a special scheme for durum wheat should be established to ensure a durum wheat production level which is sufficient to supply user industries while keeping budgetary expenditure in check; whereas that objective should be achieved by introducing a supplement limited, for each Member State concerned, to a maximum area of durum wheat; whereas any overshoot of those areas should lead to an adjustment to the applications submitted;

(20) Whereas, moreover, in some Member States, the production of durum wheat is well established in regions outside traditional zones; whereas it is desirable to safeguard a certain level of production in those regions by the grant of special aid;

(21) Whereas, in order to benefit from the area payments, producers should set aside a predetermined percentage of their arable area; whereas the land set aside should be cared for so as to meet certain minimum environmental standards; whereas the areas set aside should also be eligible for use for non-food purposes, provided effective control systems can be applied;

(22) Whereas in the current market situation, the set-aside requirement should be reduced to 10 % for the period 2000-2006; whereas this percentage should be re-examined to take account of production and market developments;

(23) Whereas the set-aside obligation should be subject to due compensation; whereas the compensation should be equivalent to the area payments for cereals;

(24) Whereas no set-aside requirement should be imposed for small producers whose claim for area payments is below a certain level, whereas this level should be fixed;

(25) Whereas for voluntary set-aside, producers may be granted set-aside payment for land additionally set-aside; whereas a maximum area limit should be fixed by Member States;

(26) Whereas area payments should be paid once a year for a given area; whereas areas not cultivated immediately before the entry into force of the scheme established by Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 should not be eligible for payment; whereas to take account of certain specific situations, where this provision is unduly restrictive, certain derogations should be permitted to be managed by the Member States;

(27) Whereas it is necessary to determine certain conditions for applying for area payments and to specificy when producers should be paid;

(28) Whereas payment dates should be fixed in order to ensure an even distribution of arable crops sales during the marketing year;

(29) Whereas sowing dates should be adapted to natural conditions in the different production areas;

(30) Whereas it is necessary to provide for transitional rules in order to abolish crop specific payments for oilseeds from the 2002/2003 marketing year onwards; whereas some of the existing provisions in this sector have to be maintained taking into account the international obligations of the Community;

(31) Whereas expenditure incurred by the Member States as a result of the obligations arising out of the application of this Regulation should be financed by the Community in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/99 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(7);

(32) Whereas it is necessary to provide for transitional measures and to enable the Commission to adopt, if necessary, additional transitional measures;

(33) Whereas the adaptations to the arable crops support system should be introduced as from the marketing year 2000/2001;

(34) Whereas, in view of the present adaptations to the current support scheme and to previous modifications, it is appropriate, for...

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