27. 1. 93 No L 18/1 Official Journal of the European Communities (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 125/93 of 18 January 1993 amending Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 on the common orgamzatlon of the market in beef and veal THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Amcle 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (3), Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 (°) was radically amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2066/92 (*) with respect to the premium scheme for beef producers; whereas, however, a number of specific problems remain to be settled ; Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2066/92 introduced a deseasonalization premium ; whereas the danger of an excessive number of animals being slaughtered during the slaughtering season exists only in the case of castrated male bovine animals ; whereas it is therefore appropriate to encourage deseasonalization of slaughtering only in the case of castrated male bovine animals and thereby to enable producers in a number of Member States to benefit from the premium ; Whereas, to date, eligibility for the suckler-cow premium has been restricted, in the case of holdings with a dairy herd and a suckler herd, to small producers with an indi- vidual reference quantity of 60 000 kilograms of milk or less ; whereas small or medium-sized producers with a reference quantity of more than 60 000 kilograms who . keep suckler cows but are not eligible for the premium will face price reductions from 1993; whereas the reference quantity for milk production should therefore be increased ; Whereas, in order to enable such small producers to develop their holdings, the restriction of the premium to ten animals should be abolished ; () OJ No C 264, 13. 10. 1992, p. 9. () OJ No C 337, 21. 12. 1992. () OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24. (9 OJ No L 215, 30. 7. 1992, p. 49. Whereas additional premium rights should be created and distributed between Member States to enable the pro- ducers concerned via the national reserves to set up an individual ceiling or to increase their number of premium rights on the basis of the number of suckler cows on their holding during a given period; Whereas it is appropriate to determine the total number of additional rights, in particular on the basis of the most recent statistical data available on beef and veal produc- tion and of applications for suckler cow premiums, account being taken, however, of certain particular situa- tions ; Whereas, in the framework of beef and veal production, the protection of the environment has become an im- portant element to be taken into consideration ; whereas, therefore, Member States should be afforded the possib- ility of restricting or removing the payments under the suckler cow premiums scheme if the producer concerned has not fully complied with the environmental rules set out by Member States, subject to the respect of the prin- ciple of proportionality ; Whereas the definition of suckler cow established under the reform excludes from the scheme producers whose suckler herds do not belong to beef breeds; whereas; in order to cushion transition to the new scheme, provision should be made for a transitional derogation from this definition for producers in the new German Linder, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :. Article. 1 Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 is hereby amended as follows : 1. In Article 4c, the words ‘male bovine animal(s)’ shall be replaced by ‘castrated male bovine animal(s).