# Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the integrated administration and control system and conditions for refusal or withdrawal of payments and administrative penalties applicable to direct payments, rural development support and cross compliance, Article 9: Determination of areas where the agricultural parcel contains landscape features and trees

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1.) Where certain landscape features, in particular hedges, ditches and walls, are traditionally part of good agriculture cropping or utilisation practices on agricultural area in certain regions, the relevant authority may decide that the corresponding area shall be considered part of the eligible area of an agricultural parcel within the meaning of Article 67(4)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 provided that it does not exceed a total width to be determined by the relevant authority concerned. That width shall correspond to a traditional width in the region concerned and shall not exceed 2 metres.
However, where the United Kingdom notified to the Commission before 9 December 2009 of a width greater than 2 metres in conformity with the third subparagraph of Article 30(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004, that width may still be applied.
The first and the second subparagraph shall not apply to permanent grassland with scattered landscape features and trees where the relevant authority concerned has decided to apply a pro-rata system in accordance with Article 10.
(2.) Any landscape features subject to the requirements and standards listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 which form part of the total area of an agricultural parcel shall be considered part of the eligible area of that agricultural parcel.
(3.) An agricultural parcel that contains scattered trees shall be considered as eligible area provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a)agricultural activities can be carried out in a similar way as on parcels without trees in the same area; and
(b)the number of trees per eligible hectare does not exceed a maximum density.
The maximum density referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph shall be defined by the relevant authority... on the basis of traditional cropping practices, natural conditions and environmental reasons. It shall not exceed 100 trees per hectare. However, that limit shall not apply in relation to the measures referred to in Articles 28 and 30 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
This paragraph shall not apply to scattered fruit trees which yield repeated harvests, to scattered trees which can be grazed in permanent grassland and to permanent grassland with scattered landscape features and trees where the relevant authority concerned has decided to apply a pro-rata system in accordance with Article 10.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/640/article/9 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2014-640/article-9
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.