COMMISSION DECISION of 13 February 1997 amending the boundaries of the mountain and hill areas in France within the meaning of Council Directive 75/268/EEC (Only the French text is authentic) (97/158/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 75/268/EEC of 28 April 1975 on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less-favoured areas (1), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 2 (3) thereof,

Whereas Council Directive 75/271/EEC (2), as last amended by Commission Decision 93/238/EEC (3), identifies the areas in France defined as mountain and hill areas within the meaning of Article 3 (3) of Directive 75/268/EEC and the specific criteria which resulted in their being so defined;

Whereas the French Government notified the Commission, in accordance with Article 2 (1) of Directive 75/268/EEC of new areas likely to be included on the Community list of mountain and hill areas and information on the characteristics of these areas; whereas, furthermore, the special aid scheme existing in the mountain and hill areas will be extended to the new areas;

Whereas, as the above notification indicates, the areas meet the criteria and indices in Council Directive 76/401/EEC (4) used to identify the areas covered by Article 3 (3) of Directive 75/268/EEC; whereas the said areas should therefore be included in the Community list of mountain and hill areas within the meaning of Article 3 (3) of Directive 75/268/EEC;

Whereas these amendments do not increase the utilized agricultural area of the less-favoured areas by more than 1,5 % of the utilized agricultural area of France;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Agricultural Structures and Rural Development,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Community list of mountain and hill areas of France, which appears in the Annex to Directive 75/271/EEC, is hereby supplemented by the list in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.

Done at Brussels, 13 February 1997.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 128, 19. 5. 1975, p. 1.

(2) OJ No L 128, 19. 5. 1975, p. 33.

(3) OJ No L 108, 1. 5. 1993, p. 134.

(4) OJ No L 108, 24. 4. 1976, p. 22.

ANNEX

Mountain and hill areas under Article 3 (3) of Directive 75/268/EEC

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