10. 10. 95 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 241/23 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 25 September 1995 concerning the list of less-favoured farming areas within the meaning of Directive 75/268/EEC (Finland) (95/412/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 75/268/EEC of 28 April 1975 on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less-favoured areas ('), and in particular Article 2 (2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (3), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia- ment (%), Whereas a significant proportion of the territory of the acceding Member States suffers from permanent natural handicaps ; whereas Declaration No 37 of the 1994 Act of Accession recognizes that the boundaries of the mountain and other less-favoured farming areas within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive 75/268/EEC should be established without delay ; Whereas the permanent natural handicaps in these areas result in higher production costs and prevent farmers in these areas from obtaining a reasonable income from their production at a level similar to that available to comparable farmers in other regions ; Whereas, in accordance with Article 2 (1) of Directive 75/268/EEC, the Finnish Government has sent the Commission a list of municipalities (Kunta-Kommun) likely to appear on the Community list of less-favoured (') OJ No L 128, 19. 5. 1975, p. 1. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. ) OJ No C 193, 27. 7. 1995, p. 8. . (*) Opinion delivered on 22 September 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal). farming areas, together with the information relating to the characteristics of those areas; Whereas the areas situated north of the 62nd parallel and certain adjacent areas are to be included among the areas defined in the first subparagraph of Article 3 (3) of Direc- tive 75/268/EEC in so far as they are affected by very difficult climatic conditions the effect of which is substantially to shorten the growing season ; Whereas the difficult climatic conditions are assessed on the basis of ‘the sum of the effective average tempera- tures’ ; whereas the conditions set out in Article 3 (2) of Directive 75/268/EEC are met in respect of a value not exceeding 89 % of the value recorded in Helsinki; Whereas the information available shows that all the areas situated north of the 62nd parallel are affected by difficult climatic conditions and satisfy the abovementioned conditions ; Whereas in cases involving the presence of infertile land and where the economic results of farming are appreci- ably lower than the average, as referred to in Article 3 (4) (a) and (b) of Directive 75/268/EEC, the areas have been defined by using an agricultural comparability index known as the ‘Nikula index’ and notably the ‘potential natural yield' index; whereas this index is based on natural productivity (soil quality and climatic conditions) the value of which is adjusted using factors such as heterogeneity of the land, natural drainage conditions, etc., including production conditions. other than natural omnes ; Whereas, in view of Declaration No 37 referred to above and the maximum value of the index in Finland (460), the maximum value of the index taken into account for the less-favoured farming areas within the meaning of Article 3 (4) has been fixed at 440 ; whereas, in specific