Aid for forest-environmental-climate services and forest conservation
Article 46
1. Aid for forest-environmental and climate services and for forest conservation shall be compatible with the internal market within the meaning of Article 107(3), point (c), of the Treaty and shall be exempted from the notification requirement of Article 108(3) thereof where it fulfils the conditions laid down in this Article and in Chapter I of this Regulation. 2. Aid shall cover only voluntary management commitments targeted at achieving one or more of the climate- and environment-related specific objectives set out in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 which go beyond the relevant mandatory requirements established by national forestry legislation or other relevant national or Union legislation. 3. All mandatory requirements referred to in paragraph 2 shall be identified and described in the national legal basis. 4. Commitments shall be undertaken for a period of between five and seven years. However, where necessary and duly justified, Member States may provide for a longer period for particular types of commitments. 5. For commitments undertaken pursuant to this Article, the Member State shall provide a revision clause in order to ensure their adjustment in the case of amendments to the relevant mandatory requirements referred to in paragraph 2. 6. The aid shall compensate beneficiaries for all or part of the additional costs and income foregone as a result of undertaking the commitments referred to in paragraph 2. 7. The aid intensity shall be limited to 100 % of the eligible costs and shall not exceed EUR 200 per hectare per year. 8. Where aid is provided for under a Strategic Plan, the maximum amount provided for in paragraph 7 may be increased in exceptional cases, taking into account specific circumstances as provided for in that Strategic Plan.