A Department official recently called to the person named to inspect the land he included in his 1999 area aid application. The inspection could not be completed as part of the land included in his area aid application was submerged by water at the time. An inspector will re-visit the above named applicant as soon as conditions allow to conclude the inspection.
In the meantime, the area aid unit has processed the application based on the information to hand on its electronic database. The person named claimed a total of 24.14 hectares on his 1999 area aid application. Following processing of his application an area of 22.90 hectares was determined. This represents a difference of 1.24 hectares or 5.41% between the area claimed and that determined.
Under Article 9 of EU Regulation 3887/92, no penalty is applied when the difference is less than 3%, the penalty is based on double the difference when it is between 3% and 20% and when the difference is over 20%, a 100% penalty must be applied.
Therefore, in this case, a penalty of 2.48 hectares has to apply, leaving the area for payment purposes at 20.42 hectares. Payments have already issued based on this reduced figure, any further payments due will issue as soon as possible.
This case can be reviewed, if necessary, following the further inspection.