05 03 01 02 SAPS (Skema ta'Ħlas ta'Żona Unika) -Maqsum fi: -

05 03 01 02 SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme) -Split into: -

05 03 01 02 SAPS (Skema ta'Ħlas ta'Żona Unika) -2 111 000 000 -2 111 000 000 -

05 03 01 02 SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme) -2 111 000 000 -2 111 000 000 -

5.19. Skond ir-regolamenti, l-għajnuna SAPS għandha titħallas darba, bejn is-16 ta'Ottubru 2004 u t-30 ta'April 2005. L-Ungerija għamlet żewġ pagamenti. M’hemm ebda bażi legali għal din il-prattika.

5.19. According to the regulations, SAPS aid is to be paid once, between 16 October 2004 and 30 April 2005. Hungary made two payments. There is no legal basis for this practice.

b) Polonja: pagamenti top-up nazzjonali [21] isiru taħt kundizzjonijiet aktar restrittivi mill-pagamenti SAPS. Meta l-kriterji nazzjonali ma ntlaħqux, il-pagamenti tas-SAPS ġew imnaqqsa bl-istess mod bħall-pagamenti nazzjonali minkejja li l-kriterji tas-SAPS ntlaħqu. Dan mhux skond il-leġislazzjoni ta'l-UE. Minbarra dan, cross-checks amministrattivi jippermettu tolleranza għad-differenzi li nstabu bejn iż-żona ddikjarata u ż-żona eliġibbli rreġistrata fl-LPIS, li hija permessa biss għall-pakketti kkontrollati fuq il-post;

(b) Poland: national top-up payments [21] are made under more restrictive conditions than SAPS payments. When national criteria were not met, SAPS payments were reduced in the same way as national payments even though SAPS criteria were met. This is not in line with EU legislation. Moreover, the administrative cross-checks allow a tolerance for differences found between the claimed area and the eligible area registered in the LPIS, which is only permitted for parcels controlled on the spot;

Grafika 5.2 — Analiżi dettaljata tan-nefqa ta'Garanzija FAEGG skond is-settur — sena finanzjarja 2005Sors: Il-kontijiet Annwali tal-Kummissjoni għall-2005 — Volum II.(miljun euro)Uċuħ tar-Raba'li Jinħartu(17812)Ċanga u Vitella (8176)Żvilupp rurali (6329)Varji (2988)Żejt taz-Zebbuga (2311)Ħalib (2755)Frott u Ħxejjex (1748)Nagħaġ u laħam tal-moghoz (1837)Zokkor (1793)Inbid (1267)SAPS (1449)37%17%13%6%5%6%3%4%4%2%3% -

Graph 5.2 — Breakdown of EAGGF-Guarantee expenditure by sector — financial year 2005Source: The Commission's Annual accounts for 2005 — Volume II.(million euro)Arable crops (17812)Beef and Veal (8176)Rural development (6329)Miscellaneous (2988)Olive Oil (2311)Milk (2755)Fruit%amp% Vegetables (1748)Sheep and goatmeat (1837)Sugar (1793)Wine (1267)SAPS (1449)37%17%13%6%5%6%3%4%4%2%3% -

5.4.Sabiex tinkiseb assigurazzjoni dwar il-legalità u r-regolarità tat-tranżazzjonijiet ta'bażi tal-kontijiet tal-Komunità, il-Qorti vverifikat is-sistemi ta'sorveljanza u kontroll prinċipali (ara l-paragrafu 5.3) u ttestjat kampjun ta'pagamenti magħżula każwalment minn fost l-infiq ta'25 aġenzija li jagħmlu l-pagamenti fl-UE-15 (li kollettivament kienu responsabbli għal 66% ta'l-infiq PAK) (ara t-Tabella 5.1) u 20 pagament taħt l-Iskema ta'Ħlas Wieħed għaż-Żona (SAPS) [7] fl-Istati Membri l-Ġodda. --

5.4.In order to obtain assurance as to the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the Community's accounts, the Court audited the main supervisory and control systems (see paragraph 5.3) and tested a random sample of payments drawn from the expenditure of 25 paying agencies in EU-15 (which were collectively responsible for 66% of CAP expenditure) (see Table 5.1) and 20 payments under the Single Area Payments Scheme (SAPS) [7] in the New Member States. --

Leġiżlazzjoni biex titwaqqaf Aġenzija tal-Ħlas (PA) għall-amministrazzjoni ta'l-appoġġ nazzjonali u ta'l-UE liż-żoni agrikoli u rurali, lill-foresterija u s-sajd u dwar id-deċiżjonijiet strateġiċi kienet adottata mill-Parlament fi Frar ta'l-2006, fil-forma ta'emenda fil-Liġi dwar l-Appoġġ lill-Bdiewa. Kwistjonijiet kritiċi kienu fomalizzati, bħalma hija l-għażla biex tkun applikata l-Iskema ta'Ħlas f’Żona Unika (SAPS), biex ikun deċiż id-daqs minimu ta'l-ishma agrikoli eliħibbli, il-ħlasijiet diretti nazzjonali komplimentari u l-baġit xieraq.

Legislation to set up a Paying Agency (PA) for the administration of national and EU support to agriculture and rural areas, forestry and fisheries and on the strategic decisions was adopted by Parliament in February 2006, in the form of the amendment to the Law on Farmers'Support. Critical issues have been formalised, such as the option to apply the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS), to decide on the minimum size of eligible agricultural holdings, the complementary national direct payments and the appropriate budget.

5.13. Il-verifika tal-Qorti wriet illi fost l-Istati Membri vverifikati li japplikaw l-Iskema ta'Ħlas Wieħed għaż-Żona (SAPS) u li għażlu li jużaw blokok ta'produzzjoni bħala pakketti ta'referenza, fir-Repubblika Ċeka biss l-LPIS fih id-dejta ta'l-eliġibilità għall-pakketti agrikoli. Fl-oħrajn l-LPIS fih biss id-dejta ta'eliġibilità għall-pakketti tar-referenza. Iżda, dawn l-Istati Membri ma ħtiġux li l-applikazzjoni tkun sostenuta b’dettalji u akkumpanjata b’dokumenti li jippermettu kull pakkett agrikolu li jiġi lokalizzat u mkejjel [18] għalhekk l-informazzjoni disponibbli lill-awtoritajiet ma kinitx biżżejjed biex tassigura li kull pakkett agrikolu jista'jkun identifikat b’mod affidabbli. Dan in-nuqqas affettwa l-kapacità u l-effettività tal-kontrolli biex jinstabu u jkunu evitati l-iżbalji.

5.13. The Court’s audit has shown that amongst the Member States audited which apply the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) and have chosen to use production blocks as reference parcels, only in the Czech Republic does the LPIS contain eligibility data for agricultural parcels. In the others the LPIS only contains eligibility data for the reference parcels. These Member States did however not require the application to be supported with particulars and accompanied with documents that enable each agricultural parcel to be located and measured [18] so that the information available to the authorities was not sufficient to ensure that every agricultural parcel can be reliably identified. This failure affected the ability and effectiveness of the checks to detect and prevent errors.

Għall-Iskema ta'Ħlas Uniku (SPS) wieħed jassumi li Stati Membri, li huma ġodda għall-iskema, mhux se jwettqu l-baġit sal-limitu. Għalhekk, kien applikat tnaqqis ta'EUR 239 miljun. Barra minn hekk, il-limiti baġitarji għall-SPS naqsu bi EUR 29 miljun minn meta tfassal il-PDB[4]. Għall-Iskema ta'Ħlas ta'Żona Unika (SAPS), il-paketti finanzjarji annwali[5] tnaqqsu (-EUR 174 miljun) biex jisseparaw l-ammonti għall-ħlas taz-zokkor imsemmi fl-Artikolu 143ba tar-Regolament (KE) Nru 1782/2003 Għal dan l-iskop, inħolqot partita addizzjonali, intiża biex tkopri l-infiq taħt il-ħlas taz-zokkor[6] separat għall-Istati Membri l-ġodda li qed japplikaw SAPS (+ EUR 167 miljun). Id-differenza (-EUR 7 miljun) ġejja minn korrezzjoni li saret fir-rigward tar-riżerva tar-ristrutturar tal-ħalib.

For the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) it is assumed that Member States new to the scheme will not execute the budget up to the ceiling. Hence, a reduction of EUR 239 million has been applied. Also, the budgetary ceilings for the SPS decreased by EUR 29 million since the PDB was drawn up[4]. For the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS), the annual financial envelopes[5] were reduced (-EUR 174 million) to separate the amounts for the sugar payment referred to in Article 143ba of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. For this purpose, an additional item has been created, intended to cover expenditure under the separate sugar payment[6] for the new Member States applying SAPS (+ EUR 167 million). The difference (-EUR 7 million) stems from a correction made regarding the dairy restructuring reserve.

5.18. Taħt is-SAPS jekk l-għajnuna totali pagabbli fi Stat Membru qabżet l-envelopp finanzjarju nazzjonali l-għajnuna għal kull ettaru kellha titnaqqas bi proporzjon ekwivalenti. L-Istati Membri kellhom jinfurmaw lill-Kummissjoni bir-rata tat-tnaqqis sat-30 ta'Novembru 2004. L-awtoritajiet Ċeki ma kinux f’pożizzjoni li jissostanzjaw il-figura għaż-żona totali ddikjarata li ntużat sabiex ikun ikkalkulat it-tnaqqis ta'l-għajnuna b’1,63%. L-Ungerija u l-Litwanja ma kkomunikawx il-koeffiċjent tat-tnaqqis finali sa l-skadenza.

5.18. Under SAPS if the total aid payable in a Member State exceeded the national financial envelope the aid per hectare had to be reduced by an equivalent proportion. The Member States had to inform the Commission of the rate of reduction by 30 November 2004. The Czech authorities were not able to substantiate the figure for the total area claimed that was used to calculate the reduction of the aid by 1,63%. Hungary and Lithuania did not communicate the final reduction coefficient by the deadline.

5.20. Mill-kampjun ta'20 tranżazzjoni tas-SAPS magħżula każwalment mill-Qorti, instabu ħames pagamenti żejda, b’ivell sinifikant ta'żball. Erbgħa minn dawn kienu minħabba dikjarazzjonijiet żejda minn dawk li jagħmlu d-dikjarazzjoni u l-ħames kienet inkluża f’emenda għad-dikjarazzjoni wara l-iskadenza regolatorja.

5.20. From the sample of 20 SAPS transactions randomly selected by the Court, five overpayments were found, with a significant level of error. Four of these were due to overdeclarations by the claimants and the fifth was included in an amendment to the claim after the regulatory deadline.

a) Ungerija: riżultati ta'l-ispezzjoni ma ġewx ikkunsidrati jew ma ġewx ikkunsidrati b’mod korrett għall-kalkolu tal-pagament tas-SAPS [20];

(a) Hungary: inspection results were not or not correctly taken into account for the calculation of the SAPS payment [20];

[7] Is-SAPS jieħu post l-għajnuna diretta kollha b’pagament wieħed. Jinvolvi l-pagament ta'ammont standard għal kull ettaru ta'art agrikola. Tmienja mill-għaxar Stati Membri l-ġodda (minbarra Malta u s-Slovenja) japplikawh.

[7] The SAPS replaces all direct aid with a single payment. It involves payment of a uniform amount per hectare of agricultural land. Eight of the ten new Member States (excluding Malta and Slovenia) apply it.

5.6. Il-Qorti analizzat l-istatistiċi ta'l-ispezzjoni ta'l-IACS għall-Istati Membri kollha u vverifikat l-implimentazzjoni tagħha f’numru ta'Stati Membri antiki kif ukoll f’ħamsa [11] mit-tmien Stati Membri l-ġodda illi għażlu s-SAPS u fiż-żewġ Stati Membri l-Ġodda [12] illi għażlu l-iskemi ta'għajnuna diretta tradizzjonali (ara l-Annessi 5.2 u 5.3).

5.6. The Court analysed the inspection statistics of IACS for all Member States and audited its implementation in a number of old Member States as well as in five [11] of the eight new Member States that have opted for SAPS and in the two new Member States [12] that have opted for the traditional direct aid schemes (see Annexes 5.2 and 5.3).