GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

RESOLUTION No 189

of 13 February 2007

ON the designation of state institutions, municipalities and other legal persons responsible for the implementation of measures of the european Agricultural fund for rural development

Vilnius

Acting pursuant to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Agricultural and Rural Development (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 72-3009, 2002), the Law on Local Self-Government (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 55-1049, 1994; 91-2832, 2000), Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ L 209, 11.08.2005, p.1), 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 L 227, 21.10.2005, p. 1), Commission Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the accreditation of the paying agencies and other bodies and the clearance of the accounts of the EAGF and the EAFRD (OJ L 171, 23.06.2003, p. 90), as well as seeking to ensure the implementation of the measures set for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania h a s r e s o l v e d :

1. To designate the Ministry of Agriculture the Managing Authority and the Competent Authority for the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (hereinafter referred to as “the EAFRD“).

2. To establish that the National Paying Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as “the National Paying Agency“) shall be responsible for the administration of the EAFRD measures, the payment of allocations, accounting and control.

3. To vest the following responsibility in state institutions, municipalities and other legal persons:

3.1. the state enterprise the Centre of Agricultural Information and Rural Business (hereinafter referred to as “the Centre of Agricultural Information and Rural Business“) shall be responsible for managing the system of identification of parcels of land, organising and conducting remote inspections of the declared parcels, developing and managing a central computerised database for the system of livestock identification and registration;

3.2. municipalities shall be responsible:

3.2.1 for accepting, registering and conducting a primary assessment of applications and other documentation under the following EAFRD measures: “payments to farmers in areas with handicaps, other than mountain areas“, “NATURA 2000 payments and payments linked to Directive 2000/60/EC“, “NATURA 2000 payments”, “agri-environment payments“ (other than those under the Programme for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Lithuanian Livestock Breeds), and for making relevant entries in information systems in the wards, for forwarding applications printed out in the wards to the National Paying Agency, and for providing information to beneficiaries;

3.2.2. on the stage of accepting applications, for verifying whether the agricultural holdings of applicants under the EAFRD measures have been registered in the Agricultural and Rural Business Register;

3.2.3. for issuing documents certifying that entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures are actually engaged in agriculture;

3.3. the State Food and Veterinary Service shall be responsible for assessing projects submitted by entities, with reference to food quality, veterinary, hygiene and animal welfare requirements, for conducting inspections and issuing documents certifying that economic entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures comply with veterinary, hygiene and animal welfare requirements, for issuing documents certifying compliance with the requirements of good farming practice in the veterinary field, as well as for submitting to the National Paying Agency and entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures of the results of verification of compliance of protected geographical indications, designations of origin and traditional specialities guaranteed, with the requirements laid down in the specifications;

3.4. regional environmental protection departments of the Ministry of the Environment shall be responsible:

3.4.1. for assessing the environmental aspects of construction and infrastructure projects (where the economic activity planned is subject to environmental impact assessment under the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Environmental Impact Assessment of Planned Economic Activities (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 82-1965, 1996; No 84-3105, 2005) or where the project has been prepared in accordance with the Technical Regulation for Construction STR 1.05.05:2004 „Environmental Aspects of Construction Projects“ approved by Order No 701 of the Minister of the Environment of 24 December 2003 (Valstybės žinios (Official Gazette) No 50-1675, 2004) and for issuing, on the basis of such assessment, documents certifying compliance of such projects with the environmental requirements, to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.4.2. for assessing the quality of afforestation works, taking the inventory of forest plantations and issuing documents on the inspection of the afforested areas under the EAFRD measures “first afforestation of agricultural land” and “first afforestation of non-agricultural land“;

3.4.3. for issuing documents certifying that no main fellings have been performed in forest holdings in the key-biotops; for issuing documents to entities, certifying that main clear-felling could have been allowed instead of the designed and authorised non-clearfelling;

3.4.4. for inspecting forest holdings of forest owners and their associations applying for support under the EAFRD measure “NATURA 2000 payments”;

3.4.5. for negotiating forest management projects of entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.4.6. for issuing authorisations to perform non-clearfelling, to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.5. the Environmental Protection Agency shall be responsible for submitting digital information about basins of water bodies at risk, to the Centre of Agricultural Information and Rural Business and to the National Paying Agency, by 1 November 2007, and for updating this information periodically;

3.6. The State Protected Areas Service under the Ministry of the Environment shall be responsible for organising the issuance by protected areas directorates of certificates on restrictions imposed on owners of private forests or their associations applying for support under the EAFRD measure “NATURA 2000 payments“ with respect to their activities in their forest holdings;

3.7. the Ministry of the Environment and its subordinate institutions shall be responsible for assessing the impact of the implementation of construction projects on the NATURA 2000 sites in the manner prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Environmental Impact Assessment of Planned Economic Activities;

3.8. the Directorate General of State Forests under the Ministry of the Environment shall be responsible:

3.8.1. for assessing and approving afforestation projects for state forest enterprises (hereinafter referred to as forest enterprises) and for organising the assessment and approval of such projects by forest enterprises for other entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.8.2. for assessing and approving projects of regeneration of damaged forests for forest enterprises and for organising the assessment and approval of such projects by forest enterprises for other entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures, as well as for negotiating and approving forest fire-prevention measures and for organising the negotiation and approval of forest fire prevention activity plans and operational fire extinguishing plans;

3.8.3. for providing data and issuing the following certificates to forest enterprises applying for support under the EAFRD measures:

3.8.3.1. about fire risk classification of forests administered by forest enterprises;

3.8.3.2. about forests administered by forest enterprises, affected by natural disasters;

3.8.3.3. about forests administered by forest enterprises, affected by fire;

3.8.4. for organising the provision of data and the issuance by forest enterprises of the following certificates to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures:

3.8.4.1. about fire risk classification of forests in the territory of a forest enterprise, owned by other than the forest enterprise;

3.8.4.2. about forests in the territory of a forest enterprise, owned by other than the forest enterprise, affected by natural disasters;

3.8.4.3. about forests in the territory of a forest enterprise, owned by other than the forest enterprise, affected by fire;

3.9. the public institution Ekoagros shall be responsible for monitoring the size and boundaries of the organic farming parcels certified by entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.10. the State Forest Management Authority shall be responsible for issuing documents certifying that private forest holdings include a key-biotop of no less than 1 hectare, attributed to Forest Protection Classes III or IV, and certifying that stands that include a key-biotop have reached the minimum age of main felling defined for that relevant forest class, to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

3.11. the State Seed and Grain Service under the Ministry of Agriculture shall be responsible for attesting seed cultivation farms and for issuing certificates of plant propagating material providers to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures.

4. To charge:

4.1. the Ministry of Agriculture with the task of:

4.1.1. organising the accreditation of the National Payment Agency and, having established that it meets the accreditation criteria, accrediting, by 16 October 2007, the National Paying Agency for the administration of support under the EAFRD measures;

4.1.2. developing and approving rules of administration of support under the EAFRD measures and rules of implementation of the EAFRD measures;

4.2. the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture with the task of approving, by 28 February 2007, the rules laying down the procedure to be followed by applicants in developing farm schemes in accordance with the requirements of the measure “NATURA 2000 payments and payments linked to Directive 2000/60/EC“;

4.3. the State Protected Areas Service with the task of:

4.3.1. developing, by 31 December 2007, a database of electronic boundaries of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 sites, transferring this database to the Centre of Agricultural Information and Rural Business and to the National Paying Agency under data transmission agreements, and updating this data periodically;

4.3.2. drawing up, by 28 February 2007, a list of NATURA 2000 sites (or parts thereof), which are subject to certain restrictions on agricultural activity and the natural and legal persons having agricultural holdings wherein may apply for support under the measure “NATURA 2000 payments and payments linked to Directive 2000/60/EC“, making this list available on the website of the State Protected Areas Service, and transferring the database of electronic boundaries of such sites of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 to the Centre of Agricultural Information and Rural Business and to the National Paying Agency under data transmission agreements and updating this data periodically;

4.4. the Customs Department under the Ministry of Finance and the customs office authorised by it with the task of providing the National Paying Agency, within 10 working days of the latter’s request, with information about the discharge by entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures of their obligations towards customs authorities;

4.5. territorial state tax inspectorates with the task of providing the National Paying Agency, within 10 working days of the latter’s request, with information about any taxes owed by entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures to the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania, municipal budgets or funds administered by the State Tax Inspectorate (unless the payment of such taxes, late payment interests or penalties has been deferred in accordance with the procedure laid down by the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania or is the object of a tax dispute);

4.6. the State Social Insurance Fund Board under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour with the task of submitting information to the National Paying Agency about whether the entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures have made all payments due to the budget of the State Social Insurance Fund;

4.7. county governors with the task of issuing authorisations for afforestation works on non-forest land, to entities applying for support under the EAFRD measures;

4.8. the National Paying Agency with the task of drawing up and approving, once the Ministry of Agriculture has approved the legal acts provided for in paragraph 4.1.2 of this Resolution, the procedure for the implementation of the EAFRD measures, and developing information systems;

4.9. the state institutions, municipalities and other legal persons responsible under paragraph 3 of this Resolutions for the implementation of the EAFRD measures with the task of drawing up, once the Ministry of Agriculture has approved the legal acts provided for in paragraph 4.1.2 of this Resolution, and approving, having obtained an agreement from the National Paying Agency, the procedure for the implementation of the tasks assigned to them under this Resolution in accordance with the requirements laid down in Regulation (EC) No 885/2006;

4.10. the National Paying Agency, state institutions, municipalities and other legal persons referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4.3-4.7 of this Resolution with the task of signing, once the National Payment Agency has approved the procedure for the implementation of the EAFRD measures referred to in paragraph 4.8 of this Resolution, or revising co-operation agreements in accordance with the requirements laid down in Regulation (EC) No 885/2006.

5. To recommend that municipalities designate, for the implementation of tasks referred to in paragraph 3 of this Resolution, persons with higher education and having:

5.1. good knowledge of legal acts of the European Union and the Republic of Lithuania governing the functioning of the agriculture and rural development system, including the administration of support provided to agriculture and rural development by the European Union and the Republic of Lithuania;

5.2. good knowledge of the specifics of agriculture;

5.3. excellent computer skills.

Minister of Finance

Acting for the Prime Minister	Zigmantas Balčytis

Minister of Agriculture	Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė