Article 12
Livestock premium declarations 1. A farmer who has received livestock premiums shall declare that, during his participation in the simplified scheme, he accepts a reduction, corresponding to the number of livestock premium rights to be blocked of which he has been notified by the competent authority in accordance with Article 2(1)(b) of this Regulation, of: (a) his individual premium rights as provided for in Article 6(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2467/98(23), and (b) his individual ceiling as referred to in Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999. 2. Article 23 (2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999(24) and Article 6a(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3567/92 shall not apply to the premium rights covered by the temporary reduction provided for in paragraph 1. 3. A farmer who has received extensification payments shall undertake not to hold, on average during any calendar year, more bovine animals expressed in livestock units as provided for in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 than either the average of those that have been taken into account for the calculation of stocking density, or, if higher, the number taken into account in the last year in which he qualified for the extensification payment. For the purpose of the first subparagraph, the number of bovine animals shall be rounded up to the next whole number. 4. The declaration referred to in paragraph 1 shall remain valid until the end of 2005 except in the case of explicit withdrawal from the simplified scheme by the farmer or loss of entitlement under the simplified scheme pursuant to Article 7(3). 5. Member States may, in duly justified circumstances, authorise the farmer to modify his declaration on condition that he respects the number of premium rights notified, or he accepts the application of Article 4(5) of this Regulation.