Regulation (EC) No 595/2004 is amended as follows:
(1)
in Article 15, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:
‘1. Before 1 October each year, purchasers and, in the case of direct sales, producers liable for the levy shall pay the competent authority the amount due in accordance with rules laid down by the Member State, purchasers being responsible for collecting the surplus levy on deliveries due by producers pursuant to Article 79 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, in accordance with Article 81(1) of that Regulation.
Without prejudice to the application of Articles 107 to 109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Member States may decide that the payment of the amount due related to the 12-month period beginning on 1 April 2014 takes place in three yearly instalments without interest.
The first yearly payment, representing at least 1/3 of the total amount due, shall be made by 30 September 2015. By 30 September 2016 at least 2/3 of the total amount due shall be paid. The total amount shall be settled by 30 September 2017.
Member States shall ensure that the producers are the beneficiaries of such an instalment scheme.’
;
(2)
in Article 19(3), the following subparagraph is inserted after the second subparagraph:
‘By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, Member States that apply the instalment scheme provided for in Article 15(1) shall complete the inspection report no later than 42 months after the end of the 12-month period concerned.’
;
(3)
in Article 27, the following paragraph 7 is added:
‘7. Member States that apply the instalment scheme provided for in Article 15(1) shall notify the Commission by 30 November 2016 and 30 November 2017 of the number of beneficiaries under the scheme and the amount not yet recovered from them concerning each yearly payment by mentioning them in column (i) of the table in Part 2 of the report set out in Annex IIa, using the comment “instalment scheme”.’