Acquisition of satellite images
Article 26
1. For the purposes of Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, each Member State shall inform the Commission by 1 November of each year at the latest, as to: (a) whether it wishes the Commission to acquire the satellite images necessary for its programme of checks and/or for its Land Parcel Identification System Quality Assessment; (b) the area to be checked and the number of planned control zones. 2. Member States requesting the Commission to obtain the satellite images shall finalise, in cooperation with the latter and before 15 January following the communication of information referred to paragraph 1, the zones to be covered and the timetable for obtaining those images. 3. The Commission shall supply free of charge to the authorised agents of the Member States the satellite images which it has acquired. Those agents must observe the provisions on copyright set out in the contracts with the suppliers and return the images on completion of the work. 4. If the total requests received by Member States exceed the budget available for the application of Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the Commission shall decide on a limitation of the satellite images to be provided, aiming at the most efficient use of the available resources.