1.Union aid of a total amount of EUR 350000000 shall be available to Member States to provide exceptional adjustment aid to milk producers and/or to farmers in the beef and veal, pigmeat and sheepmeat and goatmeat sectors (‘farmers in other livestock sectors’).Member States shall use the amounts available to them as set out in the Annex for measures taken on the basis of objective and non-discriminatory criteria, provided that the resulting payments do not cause distortion of competition.The measures taken by the Member States shall support milk producers and/or farmers in other livestock sectors who engage in one or more of the following activities that aim at fostering the economic sustainability of their holdings and that contribute to market stabilisation:
(c)the application of extensive production methods;
(d)the application of environmental and climate friendly production methods;
(e)the implementation of cooperation projects;
(f)the implementation of quality schemes or projects aiming at promoting quality and value added;
(g)training in financial instruments and risk management tools.
Member States shall ensure that, when milk producers and farmers in other livestock sectors are not the direct beneficiaries of the payments, the economic benefit of the aid is passed on to them in full.Member States' expenditure in relation to the payments under this Regulation shall only be eligible for Union aid if those payments have been made by 30 September 2017 at the latest.However, as regards the earthquake-stricken regions in Italy, expenditure in relation to the payments under this Regulation for livestock farmers shall only be eligible for Union aid if those payments have been made by 30 September 2018 at the latest.
2.In respect of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the operative event for the exchange rate as regards the amounts set out in the Annex shall be the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
3.Measures under this Regulation may be cumulated with other support financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.