Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 (repealed)Show full title

Section 11 Beef and veal payments

Article 108 Scope

Where Article 53 is applied, Member States shall grant, under the conditions set out in this Section and save as otherwise provided for in this Regulation, the additional payment or payments chosen by the Member State concerned in accordance with that Article.

Article 109 Definitions

For the purposes of this Section, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)

‘region’ means a Member State or a region within a Member State, at the option of the Member State concerned;

(b)

‘bull’ means an uncastrated male bovine animal;

(c)

‘steer’ means a castrated male bovine animal;

(d)

‘suckler’ cow means a cow belonging to a meat breed or born of a cross with a meat breed, and belonging to a herd intended for rearing calves for meat production;

(e)

‘heifer’ means a female bovine animal from the age of eight months which has not yet calved.

Article 110 Special premium

1. A farmer holding male bovine animals on his holding may qualify, on application, for a special premium. It shall be granted in the form of an annual premium per calendar year and per holding within the limits of the regional ceilings for not more than 90 animals for each of the age brackets referred to in paragraph 2.

For the purposes of this Article, ‘regional ceiling’ shall mean the number of animals entitled to benefit, in a region and per calendar year, from the special premium.

2. The special premium shall be granted no more than:

(a) once in the life of each bull from the age of nine months; or

(b) twice in the life of each steer:

(i)

the first time at the age of nine months;

(ii)

the second time after it has reached the age of 21 months.

3. To qualify for the special premium:

(a) any animal covered by an application shall be held by the farmer for fattening for a period to be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 141(2);

(b) each animal shall be covered until slaughter or until export by an animal passport referred to in Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 containing all relevant information on its premium status or, if not available, by an equivalent administrative document.

4. Where in a given region the total number of bulls from the age of nine months and of steers from the age of nine months to 20 months, for which an application has been made and which satisfy the conditions for granting the special premium, exceeds the applicable regional ceiling determined in paragraph 8, the total number of eligible animals under paragraph 2(a) and (b) per farmer for the year concerned shall be reduced proportionately.

5. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 4, Member States may, on the basis of objective criteria that are part of a rural development policy and only on condition that they take into account environmental as well as employment aspects, change or waive the headage limit of 90 animals per holding and age bracket. In this case, Member States may decide to apply paragraph 4 in such a way as to reach the level of reductions required to comply with the applicable regional ceiling, without applying such reductions to small farmers who, in respect of the year concerned, did not submit special premium applications for more than a minimum number of animals determined by the Member State concerned.

6. Member States may decide to grant the special premium at the time of slaughter. In this case, the age criterion referred to in paragraph 2(a) for bulls shall be replaced by a minimum carcass weight of 185 kg.

The premium shall be paid or passed back to the farmers.

7. The amount of the special premium shall be set at:

(a) EUR 210 per eligible bull;

(b) EUR 150 per eligible steer and age bracket.

8. The following regional ceilings shall apply:

Member State	Regional ceiling
Bulgaria	90 343
Czech Republic	244 349
Denmark	277 110
Germany	1 782 700
Estonia	18 800
Cyprus	12 000
Latvia	70 200
Lithuania	150 000
Poland	926 000
Romania	452 000
Slovenia	92 276
Slovakia	78 348
Finland	250 000
Sweden	250 000

Article 111 Suckler cow premium

1. A farmer keeping suckler cows on his holding may qualify, on application, for a premium for maintaining suckler cows (‘suckler cow premium’). It shall be granted in the form of an annual premium per calendar year and per farmer within the limits of individual ceilings.

2. The suckler cow premium shall be granted to any farmer:

(a) not supplying milk or milk products from his farm for 12 months from the day on which the application is lodged.

The supply of milk or milk products directly from the holding to the consumer shall not, however, prevent the premium being granted;

(b) supplying milk or milk products the total individual quota of which, as referred to in Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, does not exceed 120 000 kg.

However, Member States may decide, on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria which they determine, to change or waive the quantitative limit, provided that the farmer keeps, for at least six consecutive months from the day on which the application is lodged, a number of suckler cows not less than 60 % and of heifers not exceeding 40 % of the number for which the premium was requested.

For the purposes of determining the number of eligible animals under points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph, whether cows belong to a suckler herd or to a dairy herd shall be established on the basis of the beneficiary's individual quota for milk available on the holding on 31 March of the calendar year concerned, expressed in tonnes and the average milk yield.

3. The farmers' entitlement to the premium shall be limited by the application of an individual ceiling as defined in Article 112.

4. The amount of the premium shall be set at EUR 200 per eligible animal.

5. Member States may grant an additional national suckler cow premium, up to a maximum of EUR 50 per animal, provided that no discrimination is caused between stockfarmers in the Member State concerned.

As regards holdings located in a region as defined in Articles 5 and 8 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund(1), the first EUR 24,15 per animal of this additional premium shall be financed by the EAGF.

As regards holdings located throughout the territory of a Member State, if, in the Member State concerned, the cattle population has a high proportion of suckler cows, representing at least 30 % of the total number of cows, and if at least 30 % of the male bovine animals slaughtered belong to conformation classes S and E, the EAGF shall finance the additional premium in total. Any overshoot of these percentages shall be established on the basis of the average of the two years preceding that for which the premium is granted.

6. For the purposes of this Article, only heifers belonging to a meat breed or born of a cross with a meat breed and belonging to a herd intended for rearing calves for meat production shall be taken into account.

Article 112 Individual ceiling for suckler cow

1. Aid shall be granted to each farmer of suckler cows within the limit of the individual ceilings which have been established pursuant to Article 126(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

2. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the sum of premium rights on their territory does not exceed the national ceilings set out in paragraph 5 and that the national reserve referred to in Article 114 may be maintained.

After the end of the period of application of the single area payment scheme in accordance with Article 122 and where Article 53(1) is applied, the allocation of the individual ceilings to producers and the setting up of the national reserve referred to in Article 114 shall take place no later than the end of the first year of application of the single payment scheme.

3. Where the adjustment referred to in paragraph 2 requires a reduction in the individual ceilings held by farmers, it shall be carried out without compensatory payment and decided on the basis of objective criteria, including, in particular:

(a) the rate at which farmers have used their individual ceilings during the three reference years prior to 2000;

(b) the implementation of an investment or extensification programme in the beef and veal sector;

(c) particular natural circumstances or the application of penalties, resulting in non-payment or reduced payment of the premium for at least one reference year;

(d) additional exceptional circumstances having the effect that the payments made for at least one reference year do not correspond to the actual situation as established during the previous years.

4. Premium rights which have been withdrawn under the measures taken pursuant to the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 shall be cancelled.

5. The following national ceilings shall apply:

Member State	National ceiling
Belgium	394 253
Bulgaria	16 019
Czech Republic	90 300
Estonia	13 416
Spain	1 441 539
France	3 779 866
Cyprus	500
Latvia	19 368
Lithuania	47 232
Hungary	117 000
Malta	454
Austria	375 000
Poland	325 581
Portugal	458 941
Romania	150 000
Slovenia	86 384
Slovakia	28 080

Article 113 Transfer of suckler cow premium rights

1. When a farmer sells or otherwise transfers his holding, he may transfer all of his suckler cow premium rights to the person who takes over his holding.

2. The farmer referred to in paragraph 1 may also transfer, in whole or in part, his rights to other farmers without transferring his holding.

Where premium rights are transferred without a transfer of the holding, part of the rights transferred, not exceeding 15 %, shall be surrendered, without any compensation, to the national reserve of the Member State where the holding is situated for redistribution free of charge.

3. Member States:

(a) shall take the necessary measures to prevent premium rights being transferred outside sensitive areas or regions where beef and veal production is particularly important for the local economy;

(b) may provide either that the transfer of rights without transfer of the holding is carried out directly between farmers or that it is carried out via the national reserve.

4. Before a date that they shall determine, Member States may authorise temporary transfers of that part of the premium rights which is not intended to be used by the farmer who holds them.

Article 114 National reserve of suckler cow premium rights

1. Each Member State shall maintain a national reserve of suckler cow premium rights.

2. Any premium rights withdrawn pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 113(2) or other Community provisions shall be added to the national reserve, without prejudice to Article 112(4).

3. The Member States shall use their national reserve for allocating, within the limits of those reserves, premium rights in particular to newcomers, young farmers and other priority farmers.

Article 115 Heifers

1. By way of derogation from Article 111(3) of this Regulation, Member States where more than 60 % of suckler cows and heifers are kept in mountain areas within the meaning of Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 may decide to manage the granting of the suckler cow premium for heifers separately from that for suckler cows within the limits of a separate national ceiling to be set up by the Member State concerned.

Such a separate national ceiling shall not exceed 40 % of the national ceiling of the Member State concerned set out in Article 112(5). That national ceiling shall be reduced by an amount equal to the separate national ceiling. Where, in a Member State making use of the option provided for in this paragraph, the total number of heifers, for which an application has been made, and which satisfy the conditions for granting the suckler cow premium, exceeds the separate national ceiling, the number of eligible heifers per farmer for the year in question shall be reduced proportionately.

2. For the purpose of this Article, only heifers belonging to a meat breed or born of a cross with a meat breed shall be taken into account.

Article 116 Slaughter premium

1. A farmer keeping bovine animals on his holding may qualify, on application, for a slaughter premium. It shall be granted on the slaughter of eligible animals or their export to a third country and within national ceilings to be determined.

The following shall be eligible for the slaughter premium:

(a) bulls, steers, cows and heifers from the age of eight months;

(b) calves of more than one and less than eight months old and of a carcass weight up to 185 kg.

The animals listed in points (a) and (b) of the second subparagraph shall be eligible for the slaughter premium provided they have been held by the farmer for a period to be determined.

2. The amount of the premium shall be set at:

(a) EUR 80 per eligible animal as specified in paragraph 1(a);

(b) EUR 50 per eligible animal as specified in paragraph 1(b).

3. The national ceilings referred to in paragraph 1 shall be established per Member State and separately for both groups of animals as specified in (a) and (b) of that paragraph. Each ceiling shall be equal to the number of animals in each of these two groups which, in 1995, were slaughtered in the Member State concerned. The number of animals exported to third countries, according to Eurostat data or any other published official statistical information for that year accepted by the Commission, shall be added to each ceiling.

For the new Member States, the following national ceilings shall apply:

	Bulls, steers, cows and heifers	Calves more than 1 and less than 8 months old and of a carcass weight up to 185 kg
Bulgaria	22 191	101 542
Czech Republic	483 382	27 380
Estonia	107 813	30 000
Cyprus	21 000	—
Latvia	124 320	53 280
Lithuania	367 484	244 200
Hungary	141 559	94 439
Malta	6 002	17
Poland	1 815 430	839 518
Romania	1 148 000	85 000
Slovenia	161 137	35 852
Slovakia	204 062	62 841

4. When, in a given Member State, the total number of animals for which an application has been made in respect of one of the two groups of animals specified in point (a) or (b) of paragraph 1 and which satisfy the conditions for granting the slaughter premium exceeds the national ceiling laid down for that group, the total number of eligible animals under that group per farmer for the year in question shall be reduced proportionately.

Article 117 Common rules on premiums

To qualify for the payments under this Section, an animal shall be identified and registered in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000.

Nevertheless, an animal shall also be deemed eligible for the payments where the information laid down in the second indent of Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 has been reported to the competent authority on the first day of the retention period of the animal as determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 141(2) of this Regulation.

Article 118 Ceilings

The sum of the amounts of each payment claimed under this Section shall not exceed the ceiling determined by the Commission in accordance with Article 51(2).

Where the total amount of the payments claimed exceeds the ceiling determined, the payments per farmer shall be reduced proportionately in that year.

Article 119 Substances prohibited under Directive 96/22/EC

1. Where residues of substances prohibited under Council Directive 96/22/EC of 29 April 1996 concerning the prohibition on the use in stockfarming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic action and of ß-agonists(2), or residues of substances authorised under that Directive but used illegally, are detected pursuant to the relevant provisions of Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products(3) in an animal belonging to the bovine herd of a farmer, or where a non-authorised substance or product or a substance or product authorised under Directive 96/22/EC but held illegally is found on the farmer's holding in any form, the farmer shall be excluded, for the calendar year of that discovery, from receiving the amounts provided for in this Section.

In the event of a repeated infringement, the length of the exclusion period may, according to the seriousness of the offence, be extended to five years as from the year in which the repeated infringement was discovered.

2. If the owner or holder of the animals obstructs the carrying out of the inspections and the taking of samples which are necessary for the application of national residue-monitoring plans or the carrying out of the investigations and checks provided for in Directive 96/23/EC, the penalties provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall apply.

(1)

OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 25.

(2)

OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 3.

(3)

OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 10.