Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 is amended as follows:
In Article 36(2), the following point (e) is added:
the rules to avoid that a producer benefits from Union aid for producer groups for more than 5 years.’
In Article 37, the following second paragraph is added:
‘The investments referred to in point (c) of the first paragraph shall not include investments listed in Annex Va.’
Article 38 is amended as follows:
Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:
‘1.The competent authority of the Member State shall take one of the decisions referred to in paragraph 3 within three months of receipt of a draft recognition plan accompanied by all supporting documents. Member States may provide for a shorter deadline.’
Paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:
‘3.Following the conformity checks referred to in Article 111, the competent authority of the Member State shall, as appropriate:
(a)provisionally accept the plan and grant preliminary recognition;
(b)request changes to the plan, including changes in relation to its duration. In particular, the Member State shall assess whether the phases proposed are not unduly long and demand modifications where a producer group could meet the recognition criteria for producer organisations before the end of the five-year period referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 125e(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007;
(c)reject the plan, especially in the case where the legal entities or clearly defined parts of such entities applying for preliminary recognition as producer groups already meet the criteria for recognition as a producer organisation.
Provisional acceptance may be granted, where necessary, only if the changes requested under point (b) have been incorporated in the plan.’
The following paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 are added:
‘4.The competent authority of the Member State shall notify the Commission, by 1 July in any given year, of the decisions provisionally accepting recognition plans and the financial implications of those plans, using the templates set out in Annex Vb.
5.Once the allocation coefficients referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 47(4) have been set, the competent authority of the Member State shall provide the producer groups concerned with an opportunity to amend or withdraw their recognition plan. Where a producer group does not withdraw its plan the competent authority shall accept such plan definitively subject to such amendments as the competent authority may deem necessary.
6.The competent authority of the Member State shall notify the legal entity or clearly defined part of a legal entity of decisions referred to in paragraphs 3 and 5.’
In Article 39, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
‘2.Member States shall set the conditions under which producer groups may request changes to plans during their implementation. Those requests shall be accompanied by all the necessary supporting documents.
Member States shall determine the conditions under which recognition plans may be amended during an annual or semestrial segment without prior approval by the competent authority of the Member State. Those changes shall only be eligible for aid if they are communicated by the producer group to the competent authority of the Member State without delay.
Producer groups may be authorised by the competent authority of the Member State, during a given year and in respect of that year, to increase the total amount of expenditure laid down in a recognition plan by a maximum of 5 % of the amount initially approved, or to decrease it by a maximum percentage to be fixed by Member States, in both cases provided that the overall objectives of the recognition plan are maintained and provided that the overall Union expenditure at the level of the Member State concerned does not exceed the amount of Union contribution allocated to that Member State in accordance with Article 47(4).
In the case of mergers of producer groups as referred to in Article 48, the limit of 5 % shall apply to the total amount of expenditure laid down in the recognition plans of the merging producer groups.’
In Article 44, the following third paragraph is added:
‘Investments may be implemented on individual holdings and/or premises of producer members of the producer group, provided that they contribute to the objectives of the recognition plan. If the member leaves the producer group, Member States shall ensure that the investment or its residual value, where its amortisation period has not yet expired, is recovered.’
Article 47 is replaced by the following:
1.Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, the Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall amount to:
(a)75 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and
(b)50 % in other regions.
The Member State may pay its national aid as a flat-rate payment. The aid application shall not be required to include evidence as to the use of the aid.
2.The Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, expressed in terms of a capital grant or capital-grant equivalent, shall not exceed, as a percentage of eligible investment costs:
(a)50 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and
(b)30 % in other regions.
The Member States concerned shall undertake to contribute at least 5 % of eligible investment costs.
Beneficiaries of aid towards eligible investment costs shall pay at least:
(a)25 % in the regions eligible under the Convergence Objective; and
(b)45 % in other regions.
3.Subject to paragraph 4 of this Article, the Union contribution to the aid referred to in Article 103a(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall be determined for each producer group on the basis of its value of marketed production and shall be subject to the following rules:
(a)in respect of producer groups in Member States which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004 or thereafter, no ceiling shall apply in the first two years of implementation of their recognition plan, and a ceiling of 70 %, 50 % and 20 % of the value of the marketed production shall apply in the third, fourth and fifth year of implementation of their recognition plan respectively;
(b)in respect of producer groups in the outermost regions of the Union as referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty or in the smaller Aegean Islands as referred to in Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006(1), the Union contribution shall be capped at 25 %, 20 %, 15 %, 10 % and 5 % of the value of the marketed production in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth year of implementation of their recognition plan respectively.
4.The total expenditure for the Union contribution towards aid as referred to in Article 103a of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall not exceed EUR 10 000 000 per calendar year.
On the basis of the notifications referred to in Article 38(4) the Commission shall set allocation coefficients and establish the total available Union contribution per Member State per year on the basis of those coefficients. If for any year the total amount resulting from the notifications referred to in Article 38(4) does not exceed the maximum amount of the Union contribution, the allocation coefficient shall be set at 100 %.
The Union contribution shall be granted in accordance with the allocation coefficient referred to in the second subparagraph. No Union contribution shall be granted in respect of recognition plans that were not notified in accordance with Article 38(4).
The exchange rate applicable to the Union contribution per Member State shall be the rate most recently published by the European Central Bank prior to the date provided for in Article 38(4).’
In Article 92, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
‘2.The Commission shall approve or refuse the request by way of a Decision within three months. That period shall begin on the day following the day on which the Commission received a complete request. If the Commission does not demand additional information within the three-month period, the request shall be deemed complete.’
In Article 95(4), the following sentence is added:
‘The amount reimbursed shall not exceed 48 % of the financial assistance referred to in Article 103b(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007.’
In Article 97, point (c) is replaced by the following:
by 31 January in any given year, the financial amounts corresponding to each forthcoming annual period of implementation of the recognition plans including the current implementing year. Approved or estimated amounts shall be provided. The notification shall include the following information for each producer group and each annual forthcoming period of implementation of the plan:
the total amount of the annual period of implementation of the recognition plan, the contributions from the Union, the Member States and the producer groups and/or members of the producer groups;
a breakdown between the aid referred to in, respectively, Article 103a(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007.’
In Article 98, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:
‘4.The notifications referred to in paragraph 3 shall be made in accordance with models made available to the Member States by the Commission. Those models shall not apply until the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets has been informed.’
In Article 112, the following paragraphs 3a and 3b are inserted:
‘3a.The results of the on-the-spot checks referred to in paragraph 2 shall be evaluated to establish whether any problems encountered are of a systemic character, pointing to the likelihood of irregularities in respect of similar actions, beneficiaries or bodies. The evaluation shall also identify the causes of such situations, any further examination which may be required and the necessary corrective and preventive action.
If the checks reveal significant irregularities in a region or part of a region or for a specific producer group, the Member State shall carry out additional checks during the year concerned and shall increase the percentage of corresponding applications to be checked the following year.
3b.The Member State shall determine which producer groups are to be subject to on-the-spot checks on the basis of a risk analysis.
The risk analysis shall in particular take account of:
(a)the amount of aid;
(b)the findings of the checks in previous years;
(c)an element to ensure randomisation; and
(d)other parameters to be determined by Member States.’
Annex Va, as set out in Annex I to this Regulation, is inserted.
Annex Vb, as set out in Annex II to this Regulation, is inserted.