No L 196/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 24. 7. 97 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1422/97 of 22 July 1997 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (?), Whereas the support system for producers of certain arable crops introduced by Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 (%) provides that when the sum of the indivi- dual areas for which aid is claimed is in excess of the regional base area, two types of measures are to be applied, one in the form of a reduction in eligible area, the other in the form of extraordinary set-aside; whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 also provides that where exceptional climatic conditions have caused a reduction in yields and an overshoot of the regional base area, the producers concerned may be exempted from extraordin- ary set-aside; whereas severe climatic conditions have adverse financial consequences for the producers in the affected regions; whereas it is thus justified to broaden the scope of the exemption possible to include the reduction in eligible area provided that the budgetary situation allows it; whereas severe climatic conditions were noted in certain regions of the Community in 1995; whereas the exemption from one or both measures under such condi- tions should apply already from 1995 onwards; Whereas Member States may apply one or more national base areas; whereas, in such a case, the measures to be applied in the case of a possible overshoot of the base area are currently applied on a national basis; whereas it is considered appropriate that the Member States which choose this option should be able to divide each national base area into sub-base areas of a minimum size or into individual sub-base areas; whereas the minimum size of such sub-base areas should be laid down; whereas, when a national base area has been exceeded, the Member State concerned should be allowed to concentrate the applica- tion of the measures totally or partially on those areas for which the overshoot has been noted; whereas the Member States should be required to notify the Commission and () OJ No C 243, 22. 8. 1996, p. 3. @) O] No C 20, 20. 1. 1997, p. 401. () OJ No L 181, 1.7.1992, p. 12. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 922/97 (O] No L 133, 24. 5. 1997, p. 1). producers, in due time, of the exercise of this option and how they intend to apply the measures; Whereas the conditions under which durum wheat is grown in Pannonia entitle that region to be designated as a traditional production area; whereas, for that reason, the production of durum wheat in that area, which currently receives reduced aid, is henceforth eligible for the supple- ment to compensatory payments; Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 should be amended accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 is hereby amended as follows: 1. Article 2 (6) shall be replaced by the following: ‘6. In the case of a regional base area, when the sum of the individual areas for which aid is claimed under the arable producers’ scheme, including the set-aside provided for under that scheme and land counted as being set-aside pursuant to Article 7 (2), is in excess of the regional base area, the following measures will be applied in the region in question: — during the same marketing year, the eligible area per farmer will be reduced proportionately for all the aids granted under this Title, — in the following marketing year, producers in the general scheme will be required to make, without compensation, an extraordinary set-aside. The percentage rate for extraordinary set-aside shall be equal to the percentage by which the regional base area has been exceeded, established by deducting 85 % of the area set aside under voluntary set-aside in accordance with Article 7 (6). This shall be addi- tional to the set-aside requirement given in Article 7. However, if the excess in the regional base area leads to a level of extraordinary set-aside of less than 1 % being applied in respect of the 1996 harvest, the extraordinary set-aside shall not be applied.