18.2.2012

Official Journal of the European Union

C 49/15

(Case C-592/11)

2012/C 49/25

Language of the case: Finnish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Anssi Ketelä

Defendant: Etelä-Pohjanmaan elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus.

Questions referred

1.How are Article 22(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 ( ‘are setting up for the first time on an agricultural holding as head of the holding’) and Article 13(4) and (6) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 to be interpreted in a situation where agriculture is being engaged in as part of activity in company form? When assessing whether a person has started for the first time as head of a holding, is decisive significance to be given (in the assessment of previous activity) to the fact that the person has authority based on share ownership in the company; or to the amount of income he obtains from agriculture; or to whether his activity in the company can be differentiated functionally and economically as an independent production unit? Or is being head of a holding to be assessed as a whole, taking into account (in addition to the above-mentioned factors) the person’s position in the company, and whether he in fact bears the risk pertaining to entrepreneurial activity?

2.When assessing the significance of previous activity when aid is being granted on the basis of other activity, is ‘being head of a holding’ to be interpreted in the same way in the case of previous activity and in that of the activity which forms the basis of the aid application? Does refusal of setting up aid for young farmers as referred to in Article 22 of the Council Regulation on the basis of activity previously engaged in require that the previous activity would be activity which, in principle, would be eligible for aid under the currently valid provisions?

3.Is Article 13(4) of the Commission Regulation to be interpreted in such a way that, the criteria mentioned in question 1 above on the basis of which a person is regarded as having set up as head of a holding can be made more precise or defined in more detail in national legislation, or does the provision merely give entitlement to define the date of setting up as a farmer?

Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD); OJ 2005 L 277, p. 1.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 of 15 December 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD); OJ 2006 L 368, p. 15.