30.12.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 347/31 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2182/2005 of 22 December 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 19732004 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 as regards the support schemes provided for in Titles IV and IVa of that Regulation and the use of land set aside for the production of raw materials THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93, (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) No 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001 (%), and in particular Articles 145 and 155 thereof, Whereas: (1)  Article 99(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides that the amount of seed aid claimed shall not exceed a ceiling fixed by the Commission. When the total amount of aid claimed exceeds the fixed ceiling, the aid per farmer should be reduced proportionally. (2)  Chapter 10 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1973/2004 (?) provides for the conditions for receiving seed aid. Article 49 of that Regulation provides that seed aid is to be granted only on the condition that the seed has been marketed for sowing by the recipient by 15 June of the year following the harvest of the latest. (3)  The need of applying an eventual reduction coefficient in the same year implies a serious difficulty for the imple- mentation of the new scheme In order to avoid the application of such reduction coefficient the only alter- native would be to grant all the payments principally when all the seed is marketed, ie. when the total quantity of seed is known. However, this would signifi- cantly delay the date of payment to the farmers and eventually cause financial problems for them. In order to avoid this situation a system of advances for seed aid should be introduced. () OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 118/2005 (O] L 24, 27.1.2005, p. 15). () OJ L 345, 20.11.2004, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 1044/2005 (O] L 172, 5.7.2005, p. 76). (4 Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2004 (%) defines the rules for the coupled support for cotton, olive oil and raw tobacco. (5)  In particular, Chapter 10a of Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 provides for the possibility of direct aid being granted for the production of cotton. It is therefore necessary to lay down detailed rules with regard to the granting of that aid. (6)  Article10b(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 states that, in order to be eligible for the aid per hectare, the farmer must sow the area under cotton with authorised varieties and grow the cotton on land authorised by the Member States. The authorisation criteria must therefore be specified for both the varieties and lands suitable for cotton production. (7 In order to receive the aid per hectare for cotton, farmers must sow authorised lands. A criterion defining ‘sowing’ must be established. The Member States’ fixing of the minimum planting density on these lands based on soil and climate conditions and specific regional features must be an objective criterion for establishing whether sowing has been conducted properly or not. (8)  Exceeding the national base areas laid down for cotton in Article 110c(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 shall result in a reduction of the amount of aid to be paid for each eligible hectare. In the case of Greece, however, the subdivision of the national area into sub-areas to which different aid rates apply means that the method for calcu- lating the reduced amount should be specified. (99  The Member States must authorise inter-branch cotton- producing organisations on the basis of objective criteria relating to their scale, duties and internal organisation. The scale of an inter-branch organisation must be fixed, taking into account the requirement on the member ginning undertaking to be able to take delivery of sufficient quantities of unginned cotton. As the main purpose of the inter-branch organisation is to improve the quality of the cotton to be delivered, it must take appropriate measures along these lines for the benefit of its members. () OJ L 161, 30.4.2004, p. 48, as corrected by OJ L 206, 9.6.2004, p. 20.