1. The aid shall be paid on the basis of an application for payment.

2. Applications for payment shall be submitted by eligible applicants who were granted authorisations referred to in Article 4 with the Member State where the applicant is established, using the method established by the Member State concerned. Applications for payment shall be submitted in such a way that they are received by the Member State within 45 days after the end of the reduction period.

Member States may decide that applications for payment may be submitted on behalf of eligible applicants by recognised producer organisations or by cooperatives. In that case, Member States shall ensure that the payment is passed on in full to those eligible applicants who have actually reduced their cow milk deliveries under the conditions laid down in this Regulation.

3. In order to be admissible, an application for payment shall include:

the following information on a form made available by the Member State:

the eligible applicant's name and address;

the total quantity of cow milk actually delivered to first purchasers in the reduction period;

the actual quantity of cow milk delivery reduction for which payment of the aid is applied for and which shall be no more than 50 % of the total quantity of cow milk delivered to first purchasers in the reference period and, where applicable, no more than the quantity resulting from the application of the allocation coefficient referred to in Article 4(2).

documents indicating the total quantity referred to in point (a)(ii).

4. Payment of the aid shall be carried out once Member States have checked, in compliance with Articles 58 and 59 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, that the cow milk delivery reduction for which Union aid is paid has actually taken place under the conditions laid down in this Regulation. Payment shall be made no later than the 90 th day following the end of the reduction period, unless an administrative inquiry is ongoing.

5. The aid amount shall cover the actual cow milk delivery reduction referred to in point (a)(iii) of paragraph 3 for each eligible applicant.

Where the actual cow milk delivery reduction is higher than the quantity resulting from the application of Article 4, the aid amount shall correspond to the latter quantity (‘the authorised quantity’). Where the actual cow milk delivery reduction is 80 % or more of the authorised quantity, the aid amount shall correspond to the actual cow milk delivery reduction referred to in point (a)(iii) of paragraph 3, provided that the authorised quantity is not exceeded. Where the actual cow milk delivery reduction is 50 % or more but less than 80 % of the authorised quantity, the aid amount shall be multiplied by a coefficient of 0,8. Where the actual cow milk delivery reduction is 20 % or more but less than 50 % of the authorised quantity, the aid amount shall be multiplied by a coefficient of 0,5. Where the actual cow milk delivery reduction is less than 20 % of the authorised quantity, no aid shall be paid.

6. Member States' expenditure in relation to the payments under this Regulation shall only be eligible for Union aid if the relevant payments have been made by 30 September 2017 at the latest.

COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2016/1612 of 8 September 2016 providing aid for milk production reduction