Commission Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 of 28 October 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes
Modified by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1042/2000of 18 May 2000amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules as regards premium schemes in the beef and veal sector, 300R1042, May 19, 2000
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1900/2000of 7 September 2000amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of premium schemes in the beef and veal sector, 300R1900, September 8, 2000
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2733/2000of 14 December 2000amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of premium schemes in the beef and veal sector, 300R2733, December 15, 2000
Commission Regulation (EC) No 192/2001of 30 January 2001amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for premium schemes in the beef and veal sector, 301R0192, January 31, 2001
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1458/2001of 17 July 2001derogating from certain provisions of Regulations (EEC) No 2700/93 and (EC) No 2342/1999 as regards the application of the premium schemes in the sheepmeat and goatmeat and beef and veal sectors and amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999, 301R1458, July 18, 2001
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2088/2001of 25 October 2001amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 301R2088, October 26, 2001
Commission Regulation (EC) No 169/2002of 30 January 2002amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 302R0169, January 31, 2002
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1830/2002of 14 October 2002amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 302R1830, October 15, 2002
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2381/2002of 30 December 2002amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 302R2381, December 31, 2002
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1473/2003of 20 August 2003amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 303R1473, August 21, 2003
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1777/2004of 14 October 2004adapting Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (CE) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union, 304R1777, October 15, 2004
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1899/2004of 29 October 2004amending Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemes, 304R1899, October 30, 2004
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999of 28 October 1999laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal as regards premium schemesTHE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and vealOJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21., and in particular Articles 4(8), 5(5), 6(7), 7(5), 8(4), 9(4), 10(3), 11(5), 12(3), 13(5), 20, 23(3) and 50 thereof,Whereas:(1)Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 set up a new system of premiums to replace the system set out in Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68OJ L 148, 28.6.1968, p. 24.. In order to take account of the new arrangements, it is necessary to amend Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3886/92 of 23 December 1992 laying down detailed rules for the application of the premium schemes provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 on the common organisation of the market in beef and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 1244/82 and (EEC) No 714/89OJ L 391, 31.12.1992, p. 20., as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1410/1999OJ L 164, 30.6.1999, p. 53. and, on the occasion of the amendment, Regulation (EEC) No 3886/92 should be recast, in the interests of clarity;(2)the premium and other payment schemes referred to in Articles 3 to 25 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 should fall within the scope of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 of 27 November 1992 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemesOJ L 355, 5.12.1992, p. 1. (hereinafter referred to as "the integrated system"), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1036/1999OJ L 127, 21.5.1999, p. 4.. As a result, this Regulation should be restricted to the horizontal regulation of outstanding matters within the framework of the said integrated system;(3)the objectives of the regional ceiling and of the stocking density dictate that the special premium may no longer be applied for in respect of the same age bracket for those animals affected by application of these two measures. For the purposes of the deseasonalisation premium, these animals should be deemed to have qualified for the special premium;(4)Article 4(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down that each male bovine animal should be covered, until slaughter or until export, by an animal passport within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef productsOJ L 117, 7.5.1997, p. 1. or an equivalent administrative document. Provision should be made for the administrative document to be drawn up and issued at national level. In order to take account of particular administrative and control conditions in the Member States, different forms of administrative document should be allowed;(5)Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down a retention period as a condition for granting the special premium. It is therefore necessary to define and quantify that period;(6)the arrangements for granting the special premium at the time of slaughter should be consistent with the arrangements for granting the slaughter premium. The types of documents which are to accompany the animal until slaughter, dispatch or export should be specified. In order to take account of the specific features of the form of granting at the time of slaughter, the age conditions for steers and the method of presentation of the carcase for adult bovine animals should be laid down;(7)the conditions for granting the deseasonalisation premium should be laid down, in accordance with the arrangements for granting the slaughter premium. The task of determining, on the basis of available information, which Member States meet the conditions for applying this premium scheme should be performed by a Commission decision;(8)the concept of suckler cow should be defined in accordance with Article 6(7) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999. In this respect, the same breeds should be kept as those under the previous scheme. Moreover, the administrative rules which applied under the old scheme may in their essentials continue to be applied, in particular as regards the average milk yield and the additional national premium;(9)with a view to implementing the system of individual ceilings, the rules governing the determination of those ceilings and their communication to the producers should be laid down. In order to strengthen the regulating effect which that system will have on the market, provision should be made for premium rights not used by their holder during a specific period to revert to the national reserve. Appropriate measures should also be taken to ensure that rights granted free of charge from the national reserve are used by the beneficiaries solely for the intended purposes;(10)the mobilisation of these rights should be encouraged, as should their allocation to producers who will benefit from them. To this end, a minimum percentage of use of rights to the premium should be fixed. This percentage needs to be sufficient to avoid underutilisation of the rights available in certain Member States, which might give rise to problems for priority producers applying for rights through the national reserve. Member States should therefore be authorised to raise the minimum percentage of use of rights, which should not, however, exceed 90 %;(11)Articles 22 and 23 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain regulationsOJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80. establish extensification programmes. Provision should be made for the suspension, during the entire period of participation in the above programmes, of the use of rights to the suckler cow premium released in this way. The use of the rights released should, however, be authorised by way of exception to meet the needs for rights to the premium as part of other agri-environmental measures. One of the objectives of the early retirement scheme laid down by Article 10 of that Regulation is to encourage the replacement of elderly farmers by farmers able to improve the economic viability of the remaining agricultural holdings. There is reason to fear that certain farmers will not take part in the early retirement programmes if this is likely to lead, in the long term, to the loss of their suckler cow premium rights. Member States should therefore be able to provide for an extension of the total duration of temporary leasing on the basis of those programmes;(12)the uniform implementation of the provisions relating to the transfer and temporary leasing of rights entails the laying-down of certain administrative rules. In order to avoid excessive administrative work, Member States should be permitted to fix a minimum number of rights which may be transferred or leased. Such rules should also prevent infringement of the undertaking provided for in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 to surrender, each time that rights are transferred without transfer of the holding, a certain percentage of such transferred rights to the national reserve. Moreover, provision should be made for this temporary leasing to be limited in time so as to avoid abuse of the transfer rules;(13)provision should be made to allow flexibility in meeting the administrative deadline for the transfer of rights where the producer can prove that he has inherited rights from a deceased producer;(14)the special case where a producer uses only publicly or collectively owned land for grazing and transfers all his rights to another farmer, thus ceasing production, should be deemed equivalent to the transfer of a holding;(15)application of an administrative system of transfers in which all transfers of rights without transfer of the holdings and temporary leasing of rights are conducted solely via the national reserve necessitates the establishment of a legal framework designed to preserve economic consistency with the system of direct transfers between producers. Objective criteria should be established for the determination of the sum to be paid by the national reserve to the producer who has transferred his rights and the sum to be paid by the producer who receives equivalent rights from the national reserve;(16)Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down, for Member States complying with the conditions in that Article, a special optional scheme to manage the granting of the suckler-cow premium for heifers. The task of determining, on the basis of available information, which Member States meet the conditions for applying this special scheme should be performed by a Commission decision. The special arrangements for granting the premium should be specified. In accordance with the overall objective of the suckler-cow premium, this premium should be paid to farmers whose herd of heifers is intended to restock cow herds and not for the production of heifers for slaughter. To this end Member States should lay down criteria, which may include in particular an age limit and/or breed requirements;(17)the method for calculating the stocking density should be determined. In order to simplify practical application of the stocking density, a date should be laid down for taking the milk reference quantity into consideration;(18)the extensification payment should be conditional on compliance with one, or at most two, stocking densities, at the Member State's choice. The stocking density for the extensification payment scheme should include all bovine animals aged six months and over present on the holding. Special rules are therefore required for counting animals and for the producer's statement of participation in the scheme. Management of this scheme may be greatly facilitated by using the computerised database referred to in Regulation (EC) No 820/97. Provision should therefore be made for using that database, on condition that it offers, to the satisfaction of the Member State, adequate assurances as to the accuracy of the data it contains for the purposes of the extensification payment scheme;(19)there is a risk that some producers may comply artificially with the average stocking rates required for the grant of the extensification payment, owing in particular to abnormally low stocking rates during part of the year. Steps should be taken to ensure that the extensification payment is not granted to such producers. To this end it should be specified, for the sake of clarification, that this situation falls within the scope of Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policyOJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 113. and that Member States should therefore take all the necessary measures to apply that Article within the framework of the extensification payment scheme;(20)for the purposes of simplification in respect of the most extensive stockfarming enterprises, it would appear desirable to provide for an optional simplified scheme for the grant of the extensification payment;(21)Article 13(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down, for Member States complying with the conditions in that Article, a special scheme for granting the extensification payment to dairy cows. The procedure for determining, on the basis of available information, which Member States meet the conditions for applying this special scheme should be laid down. The special arrangements for granting the premium should be specified. For the sake of consistency with the general extensification payment scheme, and in order to establish the precise number of dairy cows eligible for the payment, a minimum retention period should be laid down for dairy cows;(22)the application of certain provisions of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates and time limitsOJ L 124, 8.6.1971, p. 1. would artificially extend retention periods which are expressed in terms of months by one or more days. Specific provisions should therefore be laid down on this matter;(23)applications should normally be submitted in respect of the slaughter premium. In the interests of simplification, the "livestock" aid application provided for in the integrated system should be taken to represent such an application, provided that it contains all the elements needed to justify payment of the premium and that the animal is slaughtered in the same Member State or in another Member State, or exported;(24)pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 820/97, Member States should have a fully operational computerised database from 31 December 1999. It should be possible to use that database to facilitate the management of the slaughter premium, on condition that the Member State considers that the database offers adequate assurances as to the accuracy of the data it contains for the purposes of the payment of premiums;(25)the slaughter premium for calves is conditional on a maximum weight limit. A standard type of carcase presentation should therefore be laid down, to which this maximum weight applies;(26)Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down a retention period as a condition for granting the slaughter premium. It is therefore necessary to define and quantify that period;(27)detailed information on the national rules on, and implementation of, the additional payments must be forwarded to the Commission;(28)to ensure that farmers receive payments as quickly as possible, provision should be made for granting advances. However, in view of the application of the national or regional ceilings, steps should be taken to ensure that the advance does not exceed the definitive payment. Provision should therefore be made to allow Member States to reduce the percentage of the advance for the premium schemes subject to those ceilings;(29)Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 lays down penalties for the illegal use or holding of substances or products not authorised by the relevant veterinary legislation. In the case of repeated infringements, determination of the duration of penalties should be left to the Member States, which are better placed to judge the true gravity of the offence committed;(30)the special premium and suckler cow premium schemes are based on the calendar year as the period of reference. It is necessary to fix the date determining the elements to be taken into consideration for the application of the said schemes. In order to ensure sound and consistent administration, the date of the submission of applications should, as a general rule, be chosen. However, with respect to the special premium paid on slaughter, special rules must be laid down in order to avoid carry-overs from one year to the next with a view to obtaining a higher premium. As regards the slaughter premium, the date of slaughter or of export is a better indication of whether the operations concerned have actually been carried out;(31)the exchange rate on the date of the operative event for the aids, premiums and amounts referred to in Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 of 15 December 1998 establishing agrimonetary arrangements for the euroOJ L 349, 24.12.1998, p. 1. is defined as the rate on a given day. The rate applicable on the date of the operative event should be fixed in such a way as to ensure in principle that such aids, premiums and amounts do not undergo any sharp fluctuations on conversion into national currency due to the exchange rate on a single date. To this end, the best solution appears to be an average of the exchange rates applicable during the month preceding the allocation year, calculated pro rata temporis;(32)for the purposes of monitoring the measures taken under the reform of the premium schemes in the beef and veal sector, the Commission needs to be fully informed of the implementing measures taken by the Member States and the quantitative results of the application of the said schemes. Provision should therefore be made for the Member States to be subject to certain notification obligations. To facilitate the transmission and analysis of the data, a consistent format for submitting that data should be laid down;(33)in order to facilitate the change to the new scheme, transitional provisions are needed for the notification rules and the obligation to mark and identify animals;(34)the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: