Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Beef and veal ° Special premium for producers ° Conditions for granting ° Inspections by the competent authorities ° Administrative controls ° Meaning ° On-farm inspections ° Criteria for selecting holdings

(Commission Regulation No 714/89, Art. 8)

2. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Beef and veal ° Special premium for producers ° Conditions for granting ° Identification of animals ° Requirement of additional specific marking in the event of consignment to another Member State ° Scope

(Commission Regulation No 714/89, Art. 7(1))

Summary

1. Under the control procedure provided for by Article 8 of Regulation No 714/89 laying down detailed rules applying to the special premium for beef producers, administrative controls and on-farm inspections were designed by the Community legislature as two means of verification which, although separate, complement each other.

Administrative controls preceding on-farm inspections must be carried out in such a way as to enable the national authorities to draw all possible conclusions, be they matters of certainty or of doubt, regarding compliance with the conditions for granting premiums. Accordingly, such controls should consist in checking that the claims and the undertakings or declarations accompanying them are in due order, comparing claims with any lodged by the same producer in earlier years, comparing claims with those relating to other holdings, above all the larger ones, and examining the information obtained in combination with the available statistics, and any other relevant data, so as to identify any dubious cases.

The selection of claimants to be subjected to an on-farm inspection must be based on a combination of appropriate criteria and not solely, or even mainly, on chance. Thus, on-farm inspections may, for example, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the control procedure, focus as a matter of priority on the largest holdings or those which, on the basis of the results of the administrative control, appeared suspect, and the others may be inspected on a random basis.

2. Article 7(1) of Regulation No 714/89, the purpose of which is to ensure that the premium is not paid to producers twice for the same animal, must be interpreted as meaning that the requirement of additional specific marking, laid down for animals which, after payment of the premium, are to be consigned to another Member State, relates only to animals identified by a marking system used both for cattle eligible for the special premium and for other purposes. In such circumstances, it is impossible for the authorities of other Member States to which such cattle are consigned to determine whether the mark borne by the animal relates to payment of the special premium or to something else. In contrast, animals already bearing specific marking which is used only for the purposes of the special premium and conforms to the first subparagraph can be identified by the authorities of the Member State to which they are consigned.