Regulation (EU) No 671/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 as regards the application of direct payments to farmers in respect of the year 2013

• Coming into Force: 07 August 2012,01 January 2013,01 January 2014
• End of Effective Date: 31 December 2013
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2012/671/oj
• Published date: 31 July 2012
• Date: 11 July 2012
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 204, 31 July 2012

31.7.2012 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 204/11

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REGULATION (EU) No 671/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 July 2012

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 as regards the application of direct payments to farmers in respect of the year 2013

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first paragraph of Article 42 and Article 43(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3),

Whereas:

(1) New support schemes for farmers within the framework of the common agricultural policy are to apply from 1 January 2014 and are to replace the current schemes. Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 of 19 January 2009 establishing common rules for direct support schemes for farmers under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers (4) should continue to form the basis on which to grant income support for farmers in calendar year 2013.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 established a system of compulsory, progressive reduction of direct payments (‘modulation’) including an exemption of direct payments of up to EUR 5 000 which is to apply until calendar year 2012. As a consequence, the total net amounts of direct payments (‘net ceilings’) which may be granted in a Member State, after the application of modulation, have been fixed until calendar year 2012. In order to maintain the amount of direct payments in calendar year 2013 on a level similar to that of 2012, with due account being taken of phasing-in in the new Member States, within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009, it is appropriate to establish an adjustment mechanism for calendar year 2013 with an effect equivalent to that of modulation and the net ceilings. Due to the special characteristics of the support in the outermost regions under the common agricultural policy, this adjustment mechanism should not be applied to farmers in those regions.

(3) For the smooth functioning of the direct payments to be made by the Member States in respect of applications made in calendar year 2013, it is necessary to extend the net ceilings set for calendar year 2012 to 2013 and to adjust them, where necessary, in particular as regards the increases resulting from the phasing-in of direct payments in the new Member States.

(4) In parallel with compulsory modulation, Council Regulation (EC) No 378/2007 of 27 March 2007 laying down rules for voluntary modulation of direct payments provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers (5) made it possible for Member States to apply a reduction (‘voluntary modulation’) to all amounts of direct payments to be granted in their territory in respect of a given calendar year until calendar year 2012. In order to maintain the amount of direct payments to be made in respect of applications made in calendar year 2013 on a level similar to that of 2012, Member States which made use of voluntary modulation in respect of calendar year 2012 should continue to have the possibility to reduce direct payments in respect of calendar year 2013 and to use the funds generated thereby to finance rural development programmes. Therefore, it is appropriate to provide for the possibility to further reduce the amount of direct payments by applying a system of voluntary adjustment of direct payments in respect of calendar year 2013. Such reduction should be in addition to the compulsory adjustment of direct payment foreseen in respect of calendar year 2013.

(5) Where a Member State has applied regionally differentiated voluntary modulation rates in respect of calendar year 2012, it should also have that possibility in respect of calendar year 2013. In order to safeguard the level of direct support to farmers, the combined application of the compulsory and voluntary adjustment of direct payments in calendar year 2013 should not lead to a reduction of direct payment in excess of the reductions applied in 2012, through both compulsory and voluntary modulation. Therefore, the maximum rate of adjustment of direct payments to be applied in respect of calendar year 2013 in each region should not exceed the reductions resulting from both compulsory and voluntary modulation, as applied in respect of calendar year 2012.

(6) Where a Member State made use of the option provided for in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 378/2007 by deciding not to apply the maximum rate for the contribution from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to the net amounts resulting from the application of voluntary modulation in the programming period 2007 to 2013, the same option should be made available to that Member State in respect of the funds raised through the voluntary adjustment of direct payments, in order to ensure continuity in the financing of public expenditure of the rural development measures in 2014. For reasons of consistency, the prefinancing arrangements for the rural development programmes should not apply to such funds.

(7) According to the phasing-in mechanism provided for in the Act of Accession of 2005, the level of direct payments in Bulgaria and Romania continues to be below the level of direct payments applicable in the other Member States in 2013 after application of the adjustment of payments to farmers in the transitional period. Therefore, the adjustment mechanism should not apply to farmers in Bulgaria and Romania.

(8) The new Member States were allowed to grant complementary national direct payments as a consequence of the phasing-in of direct payments in those Member States. Such possibility will no longer be available in 2013, when the schedule for the gradual introduction of direct payments in the new Member States will be complete. In the new Member States applying the single area payment scheme, the complementary national direct payments have played an important role in supporting the income of farmers in specific sectors. As regards Cyprus, the same can be said of State aids. For that reason, and in order to avoid a sudden and substantial decrease of support in 2013 in those sectors benefiting, until 2012, from complementary national direct payments and, in the case of Cyprus, from State aids, it is appropriate to provide, in those Member States, for the possibility to grant, subject to authorisation by the Commission, transitional national aids to farmers in 2013. In order to ensure the continuity of the level of support to farmers in 2013, only those sectors that benefited, in 2012, from complementary national direct payments and, in the case of Cyprus, from State aids should be eligible for the transitional national aid, and if that transitional aid is granted, it should be granted under the same conditions as the ones applied to those payments in 2012.

(9) The financial transfers to the EAFRD provided for in Articles 134 and 135 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 relate to the 2007-13 multiannual financial framework. The direct payments to be made by the Member States in respect of applications made in calendar year 2013 will have effects in financial year 2014, thereby falling under the next multiannual financial framework. Under that framework, the amounts available for rural development programming already include the amounts corresponding to the financial transfers provided for in Articles 134 and 135 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009. Therefore, such financial transfers should be abolished.

(10) In order to facilitate the more efficient use of the funds, Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 provided for the possibility for Member States to grant support above their national ceilings up to an amount the level of which ensures that it remains within the margins of the under-execution of the national ceiling. That Regulation provided for those amounts either to be used for the funding of specific support or to be transferred to the EAFRD under Article 136 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009. As the possibility to grant support above the national ceilings will be abolished when the new direct support system becomes applicable, the financial transfer to the EAFRD provided for in Article 136 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 should be maintained only until 31 December 2013.

(11) The possibility to make the amounts resulting from the application of voluntary adjustment available as an additional Union support under rural development programming and financing under EAFRD for financial year 2014 and the prolongation of the financial transfers provided for in Article 136 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 should not affect the future adjustment of the level of direct payments with a view to a more equal distribution of direct support among Member States which is foreseen to be part of the new direct support system.

(12) In the context of respecting budget discipline, it is necessary to define, for the financial year 2014, the ceiling for the expenditure financed by the EAGF, by taking into account the maximum amounts set in the Regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework adopted by the Council pursuant to Article 312(2) of the Treaty and the amounts resulting from the voluntary adjustment, along with the amounts resulting from the application of Article 136 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 for

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