Aid payments
After verifying the aid applications and relevant supporting documents, and calculating the amounts to be granted under the support programme referred to in Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013, the competent authorities shall pay the aid for a calendar year as follows:
(a)
in the case of the specific supply arrangements and of the measures referred to in Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 178/2014, throughout the year;
(b)
in the case of direct payments, in accordance with Article 75 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013;
(c)
in the case of other payments, during the period beginning on 16 October of the current year and ending on 30 June of the following year.
Performance indicators
Every year, Greece shall notify the Commission of at least the data relating to the performance indicators laid down in Annex II.
This data shall be notified in the context of the annual implementation report referred to in Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013.
Notifications
1. As regards the specific supply arrangements, the competent authorities shall notify the Commission, no later than the last day of the month following the end of each quarter, of the following data, available on that date, relating to the operations carried out in the previous months with respect to the supply balance of the reference calendar year, broken down by product and CN code and, where applicable, by individual destination:
(a)
the quantities broken down according to whether they are dispatched from mainland Greece or other islands;
(b)
the amount of aid and the expenditure actually paid by product;
(c)
the quantities for which aid certificates have not been utilised;
(d)
any quantities exported to third countries or dispatched to the rest of the Union after processing in accordance with Article 11;
(e)
transfers within an overall quantity for a category of products and amendments to the forecast supply balances during the period;
(f)
the available balance and the utilisation rate.
The data provided for in the first subparagraph shall be supplied on the basis of the certificates utilised. The final data in a subsequent notification referring to the supply balance of each calendar year shall be notified to the Commission by the following 31 May at the latest.
2. As regards support for local production, Greece shall notify the Commission:
(a)
not later than 30 April each year, of the aid applications received and the amounts involved for the previous calendar year;
(b)
not later than 31 July each year, of the aid applications definitively eligible and the amounts involved for the previous calendar year.
3. The notifications referred to in this Article shall be made in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 792/2009.
4. The notification referred to in Article 20(1) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013 shall also be made in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 792/2009.
Report
1. The report provided for in Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013 shall contain inter alia :
(a)
any significant changes in the socio-economic and agricultural environment;
(b)
a summary of the available physical and financial data on the implementation of each measure, followed by an analysis of the data and, where necessary, a presentation and analysis of the sector to which the measure relates;
(c)
the progress of the measures and priorities in relation to the specific and general objectives on the date of presentation of the report, using quantified indicators;
(d)
a brief account of any major problems encountered in managing and implementing the measures including the conclusions of the analysis referred to in Article 19(3) of this Regulation;
(e)
an examination of the results of all the measures, taking account of their reciprocal links;
(f)
for the specific supply arrangements:
(i)
data and an analysis relating to price trends and the manner in which the advantage granted was passed on, as well as the measures taken and the checks performed to ensure that it was passed on in compliance with Article 4 of this Regulation;
(ii)
taking account of the other aid available, an analysis of the proportionality of the aid in relation to the additional cost of transport to the smaller islands and the prices applied and, in the case of products intended for processing and agricultural inputs, the additional costs of insularity and distant location;
(g)
an indication, based on objective indicators, of the extent to which the objectives assigned to each of the measures contained in the programme have been achieved;
(h)
data on the annual supply balance of the smaller islands in terms of, inter alia , consumption, headage developments, production and trade;
(i)
data on the amounts actually granted for the implementation of programme measures on the basis of the criteria defined by Greece, such as the number of eligible producers, the number of animals covered by the payment, the eligible surface area or the number of holdings concerned;
(j)
information on the financial implementation of each measure under the programme;
(k)
statistics on the checks carried out by the competent authorities and any penalties applied;
(l)
the comments of Greece on the implementation of the programme;
(m)
the annual data on the performance indicators referred to in Article 29 of this Regulation.
2. The report referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted to the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 792/2009.
Amendments to the programme
1. The amendments to be made to the support programme referred to in Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013 shall be submitted to the Commission for approval and shall be duly substantiated, in particular by giving the following information:
(a)
the reasons for any implementation problems justifying the amendment of the programme;
(b)
the expected effects of the amendment;
(c)
the implications for financing and verification of commitments.
Except in cases of force majeure or exceptional circumstances, Greece shall submit proposals for amendments to the programme only once per calendar year. Such proposals for amendments shall be received by the Commission no later than 30 September each year.
If the Commission raises no objections to the proposed amendments, the amendments envisaged shall apply from 1 January of the year following that in which they were notified.
Such amendments may apply earlier if the Commission confirms in writing to Greece before the date referred to in the third subparagraph that the notified amendments comply with Union legislation.
If the notified amendment does not comply with Union legislation, the Commission shall inform Greece before the date referred to in the third subparagraph that the notified amendment shall not apply until the Commission receives an amendment that can be declared as compliant.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the Commission shall evaluate separately the following amendments proposed by Greece and decide on their approval within four months of their submission at the latest in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 22(2) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013:
(a)
the introduction into the support programme of new groups of products to be supported under the specific supply arrangements or of new measures to assist the local agricultural production; and
(b)
the increase of the unit level of support already approved for each existing measure by more than 50 % of the amount applicable at the time when the proposal for amendment is presented.
Without prejudice to the procedure set out in paragraph 1, Greece may submit the proposals for amendments provided for in this paragraph once per calendar year. The proposals for amendments referred to in this paragraph shall be received by the Commission no later than 31 July of the year prior to their application.
The amendment thus approved shall apply from 1 January of the year following that in which the proposal for an amendment was made or as from the date explicitly indicated in the approval decision.
3. Greece may make the following amendments without recourse to the procedure set out in paragraph 1, provided that the amendments are notified to the Commission:
(a)
in the case of forecast supply balances, changes in the individual level of aid up to 20 % or changes in the quantities of the products concerned covered by the supply balance and, consequently, the global amount of aid allocated to support each line of products;
(b)
as regards all measures, adjustments up to 20 % of the financial allocation for each individual measure, without prejudice of the financial ceilings provided for by Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013 on condition that such adjustments are notified not later than 30 April of the year following the calendar year to which the amended financial allocation refers; and
(c)
changes following amendments to codes and descriptions laid down in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 ( 11 ) used to identify the products benefiting from aid, as long as those amendments do not entail a change of the products themselves.
4. The amendments referred to in paragraph 3 shall not apply before the date on which they are received by the Commission. They shall be duly explained and justified and may be implemented only once per year except in the following cases:
(a)
force majeure or exceptional circumstances;
(b)
amendment of the quantities of products covered by the supply arrangements,
(c)
changes following amendments to codes and descriptions laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87.
5. For the purposes of this Article the following definitions shall apply:
(a)
‘measure’ means the grouping of aid schemes and actions necessary to achieve one or more objectives for the programme constituting a line for which a financial allocation is defined in in the financing table referred to in Article 5(a) of Regulation (EU) No 229/2013;
(b)
‘group of products’ means all products sharing the first two digits of the CN code as provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87.
6. The notifications referred to in this Article shall be made in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 792/2009.
Reduction of advances
Without prejudice to the general rules on budgetary discipline, where the information transmitted by Greece to the Commission under Articles 30 and 31 is incomplete or the time limit for transmitting that information has not been complied with, the Commission may reduce advances on entry in the accounts of agricultural expenditure on a temporary and flat-rate basis.
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
