2002/404/EC: Commission Decision of 24 May 2002 on the long-term national aid scheme for agriculture in the northern regions of Finland (notified under document number C(2002) 1903)

• Articles: 11

Article 1

Subject matter

The purpose of this Decision is to authorise the long-term national aid scheme for agriculture in the northern region of Finland comprising the municipal units (kunta) listed under the relevant subregion in Annex I.

Article 2

Reference periods

The reference period provided for in Article 142(3) of the Act of Accession shall be as follows:

(a) as regards production:

- 1992 for cow's milk and for cattle,

- 1993 for horticulture,

- the average for 1991, 1992 and 1993 for other products;

(b) as regards the level of overall support 1993.

Article 3

Authorised aid

1. The aid referred to in Annex II shall be authorised from 1 January 2002.

2. The aid shall be authorised taking into account the Community aid and the incentive element of the agricultural State aid N 148/97.

Aid other than that for cow's milk shall in no case be granted on the basis of the quantity produced.

3. The unit amounts granted by subregion, by production factor (ha, LU or head) or by quantities produced, and the overall amount of authorised aid as well as the total number of production factors covered by aid per production sector or groups of sectors, are set out in Annex II.

However, aid for cow's milk may continue to be paid until the limit set in Article 4(c) until the end of 2004.

4. The indicative amounts of authorised aid and the indicative maximum number of units covered by aid per production sector or group of sectors and per subregion are set out in Annex III.

5. The conversion rates into LU for the various types of livestock are set out in Annex IV.

Article 4

Aid limits

The aid referred to in Article 3 shall be limited as follows:

(a) arable land: to the average number of hectares in the region which, in the period 1989 to 1991, were sown to arable crops or, as the case may be, left fallow in accordance with publicly funded compensatory scheme as referred to in Article 2(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999(9);

(b) sugar beet: to the quantity of beet covered by contracts between producers in the regions referred to in Article 1 and between sugar-producing undertakings within the (A and B) quotas allocated to the latter pursuant to Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001;

(c) cow's milk: to the reference quantity allocated pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 3950/92 after the reallocation of any unused reference quantities in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) of that Regulation for the milk year which ends during the calendar year in question;

(d) suckler cows: to the individual ceilings allocated to each producer pursuant to Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999;

(e) sheep and goats: to the individual limits allocated to each producer pursuant to Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2529/2001;

(f) suckler cows and male bovine animals: the total number of animals qualifying for the aid shall be limited by the application of a stocking density on the holding of two livestock units (LU) per hectare of forage area.

Article 5

Implementation of the aid

1. Finland shall as part of the information provided pursuant to Article 143(2) of the Act of Accession, forward to the Commission each year before 1 June information on the effects of the aid granted, including the Community aid, and in particular on the trend in production and in the means of production qualifying for the aid, the trend in the economy of the regions concerned and the effects on the protection of the environment and the preservation of the countryside referred to in the fourth indent of the third subparagraph of Article 142(3) of the Act of Accession.

2. Finland shall take all steps necessary to apply this Decision and suitable control measures vis-à-vis recipients of aid.

3. In the event of a foreseen overrun in the maximum number of production factors laid down in Annex II, Finland shall reduce the number of units covered by aid in proportion to the overrun, taking due account the subregional quantities as defined in Annex III and after taking into account the quantities not used by other subregions.

Article 6

Conditions for granting aid

The Finnish authorities shall lay down, in accordance with the amounts and other factors provided for in this Decision, the conditions for granting aid to the various categories of recipients.

Article 7

Review

If the Commission reviews this Decision, in particular on the basis of any changes in the common market organisations or the change in the rate of any authorised national agricultural State aid, any amendment to the aid authorised by this Decision shall apply only from the year following that in which the amendment was adopted.

Article 8

Repeal

Decision 95/196/EC is hereby repealed.

Article 9

Application

This Decision shall apply from 1 January 2002.

Article 10

Addressee

This Decision is addressed to the Republic of Finland.

Done at Brussels, 24 May 2002.

For the Commission

Franz Fischler

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 151, 30.6.1968, p. 16.

(2) OJ L 26, 2.2.1996, p. 13.

(3) OJ L 126, 9.6.1995, p. 35.

(4) OJ L 154, 27.6.2000, p. 23.

(5) OJ L 160, 26.5.1999, p. 21.

(6) OJ L 178, 30.6.2001, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 341, 22.12.2001, p. 3.

(8) OJ L 405, 31.12.1992, p. 1.

(9) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 1.

Schedules & Appendices

ANNEX I

REGIONS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 1

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ANNEX II

AID AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 3(1)

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ANNEX III

AMOUNTS AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 3(4)

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ANNEX IV

COEFFICIENTS FOR CONVERSION INTO LU AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 3(5)

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