Cases of inheritance, changes in legal status or denomination and mergers and scissions
1. Where a farmer received the holding, or part of the holding, by way of actual or anticipated inheritance, he shall be entitled to claim, in his name, the number and the value of payment entitlements to be allocated for the holding received, or part of that holding, under the same conditions as the farmer originally managing the holding.
In cases of revocable anticipated inheritance, payment entitlements shall be allocated only to the heir designated as such at the date referred to in Article 24(1) or 39(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
2. A change of denomination shall have no impact on the number and the value of payment entitlements to be allocated.
A change of the legal status shall have no impact on the number and the value of payment entitlements to be allocated if the farmer who was in control of the original holding in terms of management, benefits and financial risks also manages the new holding.
3. A merger or scission shall have no impact on the total number and the value of payment entitlements to be allocated to the holding(s).
In case of scission, where a Member State applies Article 24(4) or (5) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the number of payment entitlements to be allocated to each holding resulting from the scission shall be established by multiplying the number of eligible hectares at the disposal of the relevant new holding by the average reduction in the number of entitlements that the original holding would have been subject to pursuant to Article 24(4) or (5) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
For the purposes of this paragraph, the following definitions shall apply:
(a)
‘merger’ means the merger of two or more separate farmers within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 into one new farmer within the meaning of that Article controlled in terms of management, benefits and financial risks by the farmers originally managing the holdings or one of them;
(b)
‘scission’ means the scission of one farmer within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 into:
(i)
at least two new separate farmers within the meaning of that Article at least one of which remains controlled, in terms of management, benefits and financial risks, by at least one of the natural or legal persons originally managing the holding; or
(ii)
the original farmer and at least one new separate farmer within the meaning of that Article.
Establishment of eligible hectares for the purposes of Articles 24(2) and 39(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013
1. For the purpose of establishing the number of payment entitlements to be allocated pursuant to Articles 24(2) and 39(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in cases where no force majeure and exceptional circumstances are recognised, only those eligible hectares shall be taken into account which are determined pursuant to point (23)(a) of the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014.
2. Where an eligible hectare referred to in paragraph 1 is subject to an application for allocation of payment entitlements by two or more applicants, the decision whom to allocate the payment entitlement shall be based on the criterion who enjoys the decision-making power in relation to the agricultural activities exercised on that hectare and who bears benefits and financial risks related to those activities.
Limitation under Article 24(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013
1. Any reduction pursuant to Article 24(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 shall not exceed 85 % of the number of payment entitlements corresponding to the eligible hectares of permanent grassland located in areas with difficult climate conditions.
2. For the purpose of applying the reduction coefficient provided for in paragraph 1, Member States may, on the basis of the natural constraints referred to Article 24(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, distinguish between categories of areas with difficult climate conditions in order to apply different reduction coefficients to such categories.
Determination of the value of payment entitlements under Articles 26 and 40 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013
1. For the purpose of determining the relevant direct payments or value of entitlements relating to the year 2014 as referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, account shall be taken only of the payments to or the value of the entitlements of those farmers who are entitled to be granted direct payments in accordance with Articles 9 and 24(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in the year 2015.
For the purpose of determining the relevant direct payments relating to the year preceding the implementation of the basic payment scheme as referred to in Article 40(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, account shall be taken only of the payments to those farmers who are entitled to be granted direct payments in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in the first year of implementation of the basic payment scheme.
2. For the purposes of Article 26(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the following rules shall apply:
(a)
the reference to the specific support measures provided for in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 68(1) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 shall be without prejudice to the possibility for Member States to consider only one or several measures implemented under those specific support measures;
(b)
support granted to a farmer for calendar year 2014 under one or more of the support schemes referred to in Article 26(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 shall be calculated without taking into account any reductions or exclusions provided for in Chapter 4 of Title II of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009;
(c)
Member States may, in accordance with objective and non-discriminatory criteria, decide about the level of support to be taken into account for one or more of the schemes listed in Article 26(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 applied by the Member State concerned.
When applying this paragraph, Member States shall not jeopardise the decoupled character of the support granted in accordance with Article 68(1)(c) and Articles 126, 127 and 129 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.
3. For the purposes of the third subparagraph of Article 26(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the support granted for calendar year 2014 under Articles 72a and 125a of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 shall be calculated without taking into account any reductions or exclusions provided for in Chapter 4 of Title II of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.
4. The reference in Article 26(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 to payment entitlements held by a farmer shall also include those payment entitlements that are leased out by the farmer to another farmer on the date of submission of his application for 2014.
Definitive establishment of the value and number of payment entitlements
Where the information to the farmers referred to in Article 25(10) or in the second subparagraph of Article 40(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 is based on provisional data, the definitive value and number of payment entitlements shall be established and communicated to them after all necessary checks pursuant to Article 74 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 have been carried out, and in any case by 1 April of the year following the first year of application of the basic payment scheme by the Member State concerned.
Establishment of the value of payment entitlements in hardship cases
1. If one or several of the direct payments referred to in Article 26 or 40(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 relating to 2014 or to the year preceding the implementation of the basic payment scheme, respectively, are lower than the corresponding amounts in the year preceding the years affected by force majeure or exceptional circumstances, the initial unit value shall be established on the basis of the amounts received by that farmer in the year preceding the years affected by force majeure or exceptional circumstances.
2. Member States may decide to limit the application of paragraph 1 to cases where the direct payments relating to 2014 or to the year preceding the implementation of the basic payment scheme, respectively, are lower than a certain percentage of the corresponding amounts in the year preceding the years affected by force majeure or exceptional circumstances. This percentage shall not be lower than 85 %.
Private contract clause in the case of sale
1. Member States may decide that, in case of sale of a holding or part of it, farmers may, by contract signed before the latest date for application for the allocation of payment entitlements fixed by the Commission on the basis of Article 78(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, transfer together with the holding or part of it the corresponding payment entitlements to be allocated. In that case, the payment entitlements shall be allocated to the seller and directly transferred to the buyer who will benefit, where applicable, from taking the payments which the seller received for 2014 or the value of the entitlements that he owned in 2014 as referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 as a reference for setting the initial unit value of those payment entitlements.
Such a transfer shall require that the seller complies with Article 24(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 and that the buyer complies with Article 9 of that Regulation.
Such a sale shall not be considered as a transfer without land within the meaning of Article 34(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis to Member States applying Section 5 of Chapter 1 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
Private contract clause in the case of lease
1. Member States may decide that, in case of lease of a holding or part of it, farmers may, by contract signed before the date referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 20(1), lease-out together with the holding or part of it the corresponding payment entitlements to be allocated. In that case, the payment entitlements shall be allocated to the lessor and directly leased-out to the lessee who will benefit, where applicable, from taking the payments which the lessor received for 2014 or the value of the entitlements that he owned in 2014 as referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 as a reference for setting the initial unit value of those payment entitlements.
Such a transfer shall require that the lessor complies with Article 24(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, that the lessee complies with Article 9 of that Regulation and that the lease contract expires after the last date for lodging an application under the basic payment scheme.
Such a lease shall not be considered as a transfer without land within the meaning of Article 34(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis to Member States applying Section 5 of Chapter 1 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013.
Beneficiaries pursuant to Article 24(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013
For the purposes of the first indent of point (a)(i) of the third subparagraph of Article 24(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, ‘ware potatoes’ and ‘seed potatoes’ shall mean potatoes of CN code 0701 other than those intended for the manufacture of potato starch.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
