(1)

Article 11(4) and (5) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 (2) lays down specific rules on investments in irrigation for sectoral interventions in the fruit and vegetables sector, in the apiculture sector, in the wine sector, in the hops sector, in the olive oil and table olives sector and in the other sectors referred to in Title III, Chapter III, of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115.

(2)

With a view to ensuring that beneficiaries investing in irrigation under sectoral interventions and rural development interventions follow the same rules, the requirements on investments in irrigation under sectoral interventions need to be corrected and aligned with those set out in Article 74 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 for investments in irrigation under Rural Development.

(3)

The requirement to set up percentages for potential water savings and effective reduction in water use referred to Article 11(4), point (a), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 only applies to investments in the improvement of an existing irrigation installation or an element of irrigation infrastructure since this is the only investment in irrigation where such savings can be effectively measured. Consequently, the current wording of Article 11(4) and (5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be corrected in order to clearly place this requirement among the conditions applicable to investments in the improvement of existing irrigation systems included in Article 11(5) of that Delegated Regulation.

(4)

The conditions laid down in Article 11(6), points (a) and (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 are cumulative. The wording of that provision should be corrected to express this in an explicit way.

(5)

Several inadvertent syntax mistakes contained in Article 11(10) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be corrected.

(6)

Article 31(6), point (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 establishes rules regarding the basis for the calculation of the value of marketed production, in particular, as regards the cost of transport internal to the producer organisation. Due to an unintended omission of part of the text of this paragraph, the current provision provides for the exclusion of all costs of transport internal to the producer organisation, whereas the wording of the predecessor provision of Article 22(6), point (b), of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 (3) allowed for a part of these costs to be included in the calculation. Indeed, the value of marketed production covers several types of costs, including the costs of transport internal to the producer organisation, which are incurred and borne by the producer organisation. Those costs are included in the selling price when the producer organisation puts its production on the market. Therefore, such costs should not be completely excluded from the calculation of the value of marketed production. However, to prevent excessive use of those costs, only part of them should be included in the calculation, i.e., the costs of transport internal to the producer organisations, in circumstances where the distance between the centralised collection or packing points of the producer organisation and the point of distribution of the producer organisation does not exceed 300 km. Therefore, Article 31(6), point (b), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should be corrected by adding the missing part of the paragraph.

(7)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126 should therefore be corrected accordingly.

(8)

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the envisaged interventions and allow for appropriate planning by farmers and consideration by competent authorities, it is important to correct as a matter of urgency the inadvertent errors in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126. This Regulation should therefore enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

Article 11 is amended as follows:

(2)

in Article 31(6), point (b) is replaced by the following: