Council Regulation (EC) No 378/2007 of 27 March 2007 laying down rules for voluntary modulation of direct payments provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005

CHAPTER I

VOLUNTARY MODULATION

Article 1

Without prejudice to Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, Member States:

(a) where at the entry into force of this Regulation the system of additional reductions of direct payments referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1655/2004 is applied; or

(b) which were granted a derogation by virtue of Article 70(4a) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 from the requirement to co-finance Community support,

may apply a reduction, hereinafter referred to as ‘voluntary modulation’, to all the amounts of direct payments within the meaning of Article 2(d) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 to be granted in their territory in a given calendar year within the meaning of Article 2(e) of that Regulation, during the period 2007 to 2012.

Article 2

Member States intending to apply rates that are regionally differentiated according to Article 3(1) shall also gauge the impact of such differentiated rates, taking into account the need to avoid unjustified unequal treatment between farmers.

The Member States concerned shall transmit their impact assessments to the Commission together with the communication referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 3

Any Member State where at the entry into force of this Regulation the system of additional reductions of direct payments referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1655/2004 is applied and the single payment scheme is applied at regional level as foreseen in Article 58 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 may, for the period 2007 to 2012 choose:

(a) by derogation from Article 1(3) of this Regulation, to apply the reductions under modulation on the basis of calculation applicable to modulation pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009, without taking into account the exclusion of EUR 5 000 provided for in paragraph 1 of that Article; and/or

(b) by derogation from Article 1(4), to apply rates that are regionally differentiated according to objective criteria. The maximum rate for any of the regions of each Member State concerned shall be 20 %.

By derogation from Article 2(1), any Member State applying regionally differentiated rates of voluntary modulation as provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall submit to the Commission, within two months of the entry into force of this Regulation, for the period 2007 to 2012, the following information subject to examination by the Commission:

(a) the annual rates of voluntary modulation for each region and for the whole territory;

(b) the annual total amounts to be reduced under voluntary modulation;

(c) where appropriate, the annual total additional amounts needed to cover the additional amount of aid referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 1(3);

(d) statistical and other supportive data used to establish the amounts referred to in points (b) and (c).

Article 4

The net amounts resulting from the application of voluntary modulation shall be fixed by the Commission, by means of implementing acts without the application of Article 6a, based on:

(a) a calculation in case of a single national rate of voluntary modulation;

(b) in the case of Member States applying regionally differentiated rates, the amounts communicated by the Member States in their application as provided for in Article 3(2) or the updated amounts as provided for in Article 3(3).

Those net amounts shall be added to the annual breakdown by Member State referred to in Article 69(4) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.

Article 25 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 shall not apply to the net amounts added to the annual breakdown by Member State pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article 5

The Member States applying voluntary modulation and the Commission shall monitor closely the impact of the implementation of voluntary modulation, in particular as regards the economic situation of the farms, taking into account the need to avoid unjustified unequal treatment between farmers. To this end, those Member States shall submit a report to the Commission by 30 September 2008.

Article 6

Article 6a

Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 7

Before 31 December 2008, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report on the application of voluntary modulation, accompanied, if needed, by appropriate proposals.

CHAPTER II

AMENDMENT OF REGULATION (EC) No 1290/2005 AND FINAL PROVISION

Article 8

Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 is amended as follows:

‘2. The Commission shall set the amounts which, pursuant to Articles 10(2), 143d and 143e of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and Article 4(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 378/2007 (^*1), are made available to the EAFRD.

‘Those rules shall include in particular:’

Article 9

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.