(1)

Article 79 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishes specific aid for rice, granted to farmers producing rice falling within CN code 1006 10 under the conditions laid down in Chapter 3 of Title IV of that Regulation.

(2)

Article 12 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004 (2) states that, to be eligible for the crop-specific payment for rice, the declared area must be sown once a year. However, in the case of French Guiana, provision is made for two sowing cycles per year and the aid is granted on the basis of the average of the areas sown for each of the two sowing cycles.

(3)

The French authorities intend to redefine the rice production system in French Guiana and reduce production to a single sowing cycle per hectare per year. This new production system would enable the producers concerned to make systematic use of the maintained set-aside, which would largely solve the problem of weeds and free up time needed for levelling. This would lead in particular to water savings and less use of plant protection products. This system would also permit better management of working time and equipment, resulting in lower overall operating costs for the activity. In order to implement this new production system, the means of calculating the specific aid for rice in French Guiana should be adapted, ensuring that the aid is calculated on the basis of a single sowing cycle per year, to be carried out on the latter of the two previously established dates, in other words on 30 June preceding the harvest in question at the latest.

(4)

Given that France and Spain have since 2006 applied the single payment scheme and the option provided for in Article 66(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, in accordance with the fourth subparagraph of Article 101 of that Regulation, the base areas of the Member States indicated in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004 must be reduced by the number of hectares corresponding to the compulsory set-aside entitlements. For clarification purposes, entries relating to Member States or regions of Member States where area payments for arable crops no longer apply after 1 January 2006 should be removed from this Annex, while the base areas of Malta and Slovenia which apply area payments for arable crops should be added to it in accordance with Annex XIb to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.

(5)

The amendment of Article 131(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004 introduced by Regulation (EC) No 1250/2006 did not take account of the time limit for the submission of applications established by the second subparagraph of Article 121(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004. This oversight should be corrected. Given this time limit, the deadline for the Member States to communicate the number of bovine animals other than calves in respect of which a slaughter premium has been applied for should be fixed for after 28 February.

(6)

There were errors in Article 106(2) and in Annexes VI, XI, XII and XVIII to Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1250/2006.

(7)

Given that in the case of the area payments for arable crops laid down in Article 100 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 the overall area determined used to calculate the coefficient of reduction and any definitive rate of overrun must be notified to the Commission by 15 November at the latest, and taking account of the base areas listed in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004, Annex IV, as amended by this Regulation, should apply from 1 November 2006.

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004 should therefore be amended and corrected accordingly.

(9)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Direct Payments,

1.

Article 12 is replaced by the following:

2.

Article 14(2) is deleted.

3.

Article 131(2)(a) is replaced by the following:

4.

Annex IV is replaced by the text set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

1.

In the introductory sentence of Article 106(2), ‘Part 3 of Annex XVIII’ is replaced by ‘Part 7 of Annex XVIII’.

2.

In Annex VI, the footnote is replaced by the following:

‘(*) Base area as referred to in Annex IV.’.

3.

In Annex XI, the first line of the title is replaced by the following:

‘referred to in Article 3(1)(a)(iii)’.

4.

In Annex XII, the first line of the title is replaced by the following:

‘referred to in Article 3(1)(e)(iv)’.

5.

Annex XVIII is replaced by the text contained in Annex II to this Regulation.