Article 11
Declarations of direct sales 1. At the end of each 12-month period, each producer shall make a declaration summarising by product any of his direct sales. In the case of leap years, the quantity of milk or milk equivalent shall be reduced by 1/60 of the quantities sold in February and March or by 1/366 of the quantities sold in the 12-month period concerned. 2. Before 15 May each year, producers shall forward the declaration provided for in paragraph 1 to the competent authority of the Member State. The Member State may require producers with reference quantities for direct sales to declare that they have not sold or transferred any milk or other milk products during the period concerned, where such is the case. 3. Member States shall require producers who fail to comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph 2 to pay an amount equal to the levy due for a 0,01 % overrun of their reference quantity for direct sales for each calendar day of delay. However, that amount may not be less than EUR 100 nor more than EUR 1000. Where the national reference quantity for direct sales has also been overrun, producers who have overrun their reference quantity shall also be required to pay a contribution to the levy calculated on the full overrun of their reference quantity and may not benefit from any reallocation of unused reference quantities as provided for in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003. Where producers submit incorrect declarations, the Member State shall require them to pay an amount in proportion to the quantity of milk concerned and the seriousness of the irregularity, up to a maximum amount equal to the theoretical levy applicable to the quantity of milk resulting once the correction is applied, multiplied by 1,5. 4. Where no declaration is submitted before 1 July, the reference quantity for direct sales of the producer concerned shall revert to the national reserve 30 days after the Member State has served notice. The first subparagraph of paragraph 3 of this Article shall continue to apply during the period of notice. 5. Penalties referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 shall not be imposed where the Member State recognises a case of force majeure or establishes that the irregularity was not committed deliberately or as a result of serious negligence, or where the irregularity is negligible in terms of the functioning of the scheme or the effectiveness of the checks.