Technical guidance
This is an old version of the page
This is an old version of the page
Date published: 14 May, 2015
Date superseded: 6 August, 2016
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Annex I of the Consolidated Treaties
- Combined Nomenclature
- Single Common Market Organisation Regulation
- How to determine an agricultural product
- Download guidance
Introduction
Links to regulations referenced in this guidance can be found under Related Content in the right-hand margin |
1. These technical guidance notes aim to provide a detailed explanation of the definition of the term "agricultural products" within the context of European Union legislation.
2. It is important to understand this definition as the Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) Grant Scheme can only provide support for activities covered by relevant regulations. These are detailed in Annex I of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union.
A copy of this annex can be found in the List of eligible agricultural products section
List of eligible agricultural products
3. The phrase
- "products covered by Annex I to the Treaty"
means
- "agricultural products"
as listed in:
- article 38 and Annex I of the Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union of 17 December, 2012
This does not cover fishery and aquaculture products covered by Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000:
- products falling under Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes 4502, 4503 and 4504 (cork products
- products intended to imitate or substitute milk and milk products, as referred to in Article 3(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87
4. The term "processing of agricultural products" comes from European regulations and means:
- "any operation on an agricultural product resulting in a product which is also an agricultural product, except on farm activities necessary for preparing an animal or plant product for first sale."
See Article 2 – Definitions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 under related content for more information.
5. Because agricultural products are defined by the European Commission as being those products which are listed in Annex I of the Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the terms "agricultural product" and "Annex I product" are often used to mean the same thing.
6. References in regulations and Commission guidelines to "Annex I activity" refer to activities resulting in the production of Annex I products, so this covers most farming and horticultural activities, but not all. Fish farming and other forms of aquaculture are also Annex I activities.
7. These definitions have to be interpreted and understood in the wider context of European Union regulations because some agricultural products are not defined within the Annex I list and so fall outside the scope of a number of support schemes.
Wool, for example, is most certainly an agricultural product but it is not an Annex I product, so wool processing cannot be supported by this scheme.
8. To determine what is, or is not, an Annex I agricultural product cannot be done by simply looking it up in a definitive list. These guidance notes explain why this is the case, and how it can be done.