Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER 4 Integrated administration and control system

Article 14 Scope

Each Member State shall set up and operate an integrated administration and control system (hereinafter referred to as the ‘integrated system’).

The integrated system shall apply to the support schemes listed in Annex I.

To the extent necessary, it shall also apply to the administration and control of the rules laid down in Chapters 1 and 2 of this Title.

Article 15 Elements of the integrated system

1. The integrated system shall comprise the following elements:

(a) a computerised database;

(b) an identification system for agricultural parcels;

(c) a system for the identification and registration of payment entitlements;

(d) aid applications;

(e) an integrated control system;

(f) a single system to record the identity of each farmer who submits an aid application.

2. Where Articles 52 and 53 of this Regulation apply, the integrated system shall incorporate a system for the identification and registration of animals set up in accordance with Regulations (EC) No 1760/2000 and (EC) No 21/2004.

3. Member States may include a geographical information system for olive cultivation in the identification system for agricultural parcels.

Article 16 Computerised database

1. The computerised database shall record, for each agricultural holding, the data obtained from aid applications.

This database shall in particular allow consultation through the competent authority of the Member State, of the data relating to the calendar and/or marketing years, starting from 2000. It shall also allow direct and immediate consultation of the data relating to the four previous years.

2. Member States may set up decentralised databases on condition that these, and the administrative procedures for recording and accessing data, are designed homogeneously throughout the territory of the Member State and are compatible with one another in order to allow for cross-checks.

Article 17 Identification system for agricultural parcels

The identification system for agricultural parcels shall be established on the basis of maps or land registry documents or other cartographic references. Use shall be made of computerised geographical information system techniques, including preferably aerial or spatial orthoimagery, with a homogenous standard guaranteeing accuracy at least equivalent to cartography at a scale of 1:10 000.

Article 18 System for the identification and registration of payment entitlements

1. A system for the identification and registration of payment entitlements shall be set up allowing for verification of the entitlements and for cross-checks with the aid applications and the identification system for agricultural parcels.

2. The system referred to in paragraph 1 shall allow direct and immediate consultation, through the competent authority of the Member State, of the data relating to at least the previous four consecutive calendar years.

Article 19 Aid applications

1. Each year, a farmer shall submit an application for direct payments indicating, where applicable:

(a) all the agricultural parcels on the holding, and where the Member State is applying Article 15(3), the number of olive trees and their positioning in the parcel;

(b) the payment entitlements declared for activation;

(c) any other information provided for by this Regulation or by the Member State concerned.

2. Member States shall provide, inter alia by the use of electronic means, pre-established forms based on the areas determined in the previous year as well as graphic material indicating the location of those areas and, where appropriate, the positioning of olive trees. A Member State may decide that the aid application needs to contain only changes with respect to the aid application submitted the previous year.

3. A Member State may decide that a single aid application shall cover several or all support schemes listed in Annex I or other support schemes.

Article 20 Verification of eligibility conditions

1. Member States shall carry out administrative controls on the aid applications to verify the eligibility conditions for the aid.

2. Administrative controls shall be supplemented by a system of on-the-spot checks to verify eligibility for the aid. For this purpose, Member States shall draw up a sampling plan of agricultural holdings.

Member States may use remote sensing and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) techniques as a means of carrying out on-the-spot checks on agricultural parcels.

3. Each Member State shall designate an authority responsible for coordinating the controls and checks provided for in this Chapter.

Where a Member State provides for the delegation of some aspects of the work to be carried out under this Chapter to specialised agencies or firms, the designated authority shall retain control over, and responsibility for, that work.

Article 21 Reductions and exclusions in the event of non-compliance with eligibility rules

1. Without prejudice to any reduction or exclusion provided for in Article 23, where it is found that a farmer does not comply with the eligibility conditions relating to the granting of the aid as provided for in this Regulation, the payment or part of the payment granted or to be granted for which the conditions of eligibility have been met shall be subject to the reductions and exclusions to be laid down in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 141(2).

2. The percentage of reduction shall be graduated according to the severity, extent, permanence and repetition of the non-compliance found and may go as far as total exclusion from one or several aid schemes for one or more calendar years.

Article 22 Controls on cross compliance

1. Member States shall carry out on-the-spot checks to verify whether a farmer complies with the obligations referred to in Chapter 1.

2. Member States may make use of their existing administration and control systems to ensure compliance with the statutory management requirements and good agricultural and environmental condition.

These systems, and notably the system for the identification and registration of animals set up in accordance with Council Directive 2008/71/EC of 15 July 2008 on the identification and registration of pigs(1) and Regulations (EC) No 1760/2000 and (EC) No 21/2004, shall be compatible with the integrated system, as provided for in Article 26(1) of this Regulation.

Article 23 Reduction of or exclusion from payments in the event of non-compliance with cross compliance rules

1. Where the statutory management requirements or good agricultural and environmental condition are not complied with at any time in a given calendar year (hereinafter referred to as ‘the calendar year concerned’), and the non-compliance in question is the result of an act or omission directly attributable to the farmer who submitted the aid application in the calendar year concerned, the total amount of direct payments granted or to be granted, following application of Articles 7, 10 and 11 to that farmer, shall be reduced or excluded in accordance with the detailed rules laid down in Article 24.

The first subparagraph shall also apply where the non-compliance in question is the result of an act or omission directly attributable to the person to whom or from whom the agricultural land was transferred.

For the purpose of this paragraph, ‘transfer’ shall mean any type of transaction whereby the agricultural land ceases to be at the disposal of the transferor.

By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, from 2010, where the person to whom the act or omission is directly attributable has submitted an aid application in the calendar year concerned, the reduction or exclusion shall be applied to the total amounts of direct payments granted or to be granted to that person.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 and in accordance with the conditions laid down in the detailed rules referred to in Article 24(1) of this Regulation, Member States may decide not to apply a reduction or exclusion amounting to EUR 100 or less per farmer and per calendar year.

Where a Member State decides to make use of the option provided for in the first subparagraph, in the following year the competent authority shall take the actions required to ensure that the farmer remedies the findings of non-compliance concerned. The finding and the obligation to take remedial action shall be notified to the farmer.

Article 24 Detailed rules on reductions and exclusions in the event of non-compliance with cross compliance rules

1. Detailed rules for the reductions and exclusions referred to in Article 23 shall be laid down in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 141(2). In this context, account shall be taken of the severity, extent, permanence and repetition of the non-compliance found as well as of the criteria set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this Article.

2. In the case of negligence, the percentage of reduction shall not exceed 5 % and, in the case of repeated non-compliance, 15 %.

In duly justified cases Member States may decide that no reduction shall be applied where, given its severity, extent and permanence, a case of non-compliance is to be considered as minor. However, cases of non-compliance which constitute a direct risk to public or animal health shall not be considered as minor.

Unless the farmer has taken immediate remedial action putting an end to the non-compliance found, the competent authority shall take the actions required that may, where appropriate, be limited to an administrative control to ensure that the farmer remedies the finding of non-compliance concerned. The finding of minor non-compliance and the obligation to take remedial action shall be notified to the farmer.

3. In the case of intentional non-compliance, the percentage of reduction shall not in principle be less than 20 % and may go as far as total exclusion from one or several aid schemes and apply for one or more calendar years.

4. In any case, the total amount of reductions and exclusions for one calendar year shall not be more than the total amount referred to in Article 23(1).

Article 25 Amounts resulting from cross compliance

The amounts resulting from the application of the reductions and exclusions in the event of non-compliance with Chapter 1 shall be credited to the EAGF. Member States may retain 25 % of those amounts.

Article 26 Compatibility of support schemes with the integrated system

1. For the purpose of applying the support schemes listed in Annex VI, Member States shall ensure that the administration and control procedures applied to these schemes are compatible with the integrated system in the following respects:

(a) the computerised database;

(b) the identification systems for agricultural parcels;

(c) the administrative controls.

To this end, the database, the systems and the controls referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph respectively shall be set up so as to allow, without any problems or conflicts, a common functioning or the exchange of data between them.

2. Member States may, for the purposes of applying Community or national support schemes other than those listed in Annex VI, incorporate into their administration and control procedures one or more components of the integrated system.

Article 27 Information and control

1. The Commission shall be kept regularly informed of the application of the integrated system.

It shall organise exchanges of views on this subject with the Member States.

2. In accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, after informing the competent authorities concerned in good time, authorised representatives appointed by the Commission may carry out:

(a) any examination or control relating to the measures taken in order to establish and implement the integrated system;

(b) controls at the specialised agencies and firms referred to in Article 20(3).

3. Without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Member States for the implementation and application of the integrated system, the Commission may seek the assistance of specialised bodies or persons in order to facilitate the establishment, monitoring and utilisation of the integrated system, in particular with a view to providing the competent authorities of the Member States with technical advice, should they request it.

(1)

OJ L 213, 8.8.2008, p. 31.