Title III, Chapter I, Section 1, Article 17 · Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/126

Contents

Article 17Green harvesting and non-harvesting#

1.When Member States include, in their CAP Strategic Plans, interventions in the fruit and vegetables sector, in the wine sector, in the hops sector, in the olive oil and table olives sector or in other sectors referred to in Article 42, point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, in the form of ‘green harvesting’ for these sectors and ‘non-harvesting’ for these sectors except for wine, Member States shall ensure that these interventions are additional to and different from normal cultivation practices, and that they concern 100 % of the expected production of the product concerned in a given parcel.‘Green harvesting’ shall consist of the total harvesting on a given area of unripe non-marketable products which have not been damaged prior to the green harvesting. ‘Non-harvesting’ shall consist of the termination of the current production cycle on the area concerned where the product is well developed and is of sound, fair and of marketable quality.

2.Member States shall ensure that green harvesting interventions are implemented during the growing seasons in advance of the product reaching a marketable stage and shall not be undertaken in respect of the products for which the normal harvest has already begun.

3.Member States shall set, in their CAP Strategic Plans, maximum time limits during the production season for the application of the green harvesting interventions for each product subject to such interventions as well as other eligibility conditions for green harvesting and non-harvesting, including varieties and categories of products where relevant.

4.Member States shall exclude financial compensation for non-harvesting interventions undertaken where commercial production has been taken from the area concerned during the normal production cycle.

5.Support for green harvesting shall only cover the products which are physically on the fields and which are actually green harvested. For sectors other than the wine sector, compensation amounts, comprising both the Union financial assistance and contribution from the producer organisation, association of producer organisations, transnational producer organisation, transnational association of producer organisations or producer group for green harvesting and non-harvesting shall be set by the Member State, per hectare payments, at a level corresponding to not more than 90 % of the maximum support level for market withdrawals, other than free distribution, applicable to the same product.

6.Member States shall provide that the beneficiary has to notify the competent authorities of the Member State in writing or by electronic means in advance of an intention of green harvesting or non-harvesting.

7.Member States shall set in their CAP Strategic Plans:

(a)detailed provisions on the implementation of those interventions including their content and deadlines, on the amount of compensation to be paid and on the application of the interventions, as well as the list of products eligible under the interventions;

(b)provisions to ensure that no negative impact on the environment nor any negative phytosanitary consequences results from the implementation of the interventions;

(c)a prohibition to grant support in the fruit and vegetables sector in the case of green harvesting, if a significant part of the normal harvest has been carried out and, in the case of non-harvesting, if a significant part of the commercial production has already been taken.

8.Member States shall ensure that:

(a)the area concerned has been well maintained, that no harvest has already taken place, that the product is well developed, not damaged and would in general be sound, fair and of marketable quality;

(b)the harvested products are denatured;

(c)there is no negative impact on the environment or any negative phytosanitary consequences resulting from the intervention for which the producer organisation is responsible;

(d)the area of any vine parcel which has undergone green harvesting is not taken into consideration when calculating the yield limits set in the technical specifications of wines with a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication;

(e)by way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 4, in the fruit and vegetables sector, where fruit and vegetable plants have a harvesting period exceeding one month, green harvesting might take place after the normal harvest has already begun and non-harvesting might take place even if commercial production has been taken from the area concerned during the normal production cycle. In such cases, the financial compensation shall only compensate for the production that would be harvested in the six weeks following the green harvesting and non-harvesting operation and is not marketed as a result of such operations. Those fruit and vegetable plants shall not be used for further production purposes in the same growing season;

(f)in the fruit and vegetables sector, except for the case referred to in point (e), green harvesting and non-harvesting interventions cannot apply simultaneously for the same product and the same area in any given year.