State aid
Article 17
1. For the agricultural products covered by Annex I to the Treaty, to which Articles 107, 108 and 109 thereof apply, the Commission may authorise, in accordance with Article 108 of the Treaty, operating aid in the sectors producing, processing, marketing and transporting those products, with a view to alleviating the specific constraints on farming in the smaller islands as a result of their insularity, small size, mountainous terrain and climate, their economic dependency on a small number of products and their distance from markets. 2. Greece may grant additional financing for the implementation of the support programme. In such cases, Greece shall notify the Commission of the State aid and the Commission may approve it in accordance with this Regulation as part of the support programme. Aid thus notified shall be deemed to have been notified within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 108(3) of the Treaty. 3. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and by way of derogation from Article 180 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 and Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1184/2006 of 24 July 2006 applying certain rules of competition to the production of and trade in agricultural products ( 12 ) , Articles 107, 108 and 109 of the Treaty shall not apply to payments made under Chapters III and IV of this Regulation by Greece in conformity with this Regulation.