Single compendium: assessment of objective requirements

One of the needs in the field of single compendium, in the silence of Legislative Decrees No. re. 99/2004 and 101/2005 and as a result of the lack of express regional provision, is to identify, in accordance with the relevant regulations, the appropriate person or body to certify the extent of land suitable to constitute a single compendium in relation to its profitability as determined by the regional rural development plans.
In the opinion of the writer, it is desirable that all the Regions pronounce themselves on the issue, however, it is worth noting how different views of the issues may lead to the regulation of the same situations in a completely different way: it happened, for example, in the Regions of Piedmont and Veneto, that, the Piedmont Region, as can be seen from the cited “Instructions for the application of regulations related to Legislative Decrees nos.99/04 and 100/05,” considered that the certification to be produced to the revenue agency, attesting to the achievement of profitability as defined by the Rural Development Plan, should be issued by the Province.
It seems appropriate to specify that for the issuance of the aforementioned certification, it is a consequence of the submission by the enterprise to the Province of the application for recognition of the single compendium together with the declaration of profitability of the enterprise prepared on the same form used for the declaration of profitability produced for the purpose of admission to the benefits of Measures A and B of the Rural Development Plan.
The above is based on the fact that the establishment of the Compendium Unico falls squarely within those activities transferred to the provinces in the provisions of Article 2 paragraph 1, sub-a of Regional Law No. 17/99 issued to regulate interventions related to the improvement of the efficiency of agricultural structures and the creation of new companies for the production phase as well as business processing.
Conversely, the Veneto Region, in Annex “A” to Regional Council Resolution no. 3470 of 05/11/2004, amended and supplemented by resolution of the same Council no. 3966 of 10/12/2005, considering that ” the rule does not specify the competence for the issuance of certifications and appropriate checks of the requirements”, in order to provide due guarantees of access to the benefits provided, as well as to carry out the appropriate checks through the competent regional offices, identifies the following procedural procedure: the user applies to the notary deed committing to the constitution of the single compendium and compliance with the constraints of the law by declaring under its responsibility the acquisition and the existence of the requirement of the achievement of the minimum level of profitability required by the Rural Development Plan, Measure 1 (Reg. (EC) 1257/99 and 1260/99) determined in the manner provided for under the same measure, and the Peripheral Services of the Regional Inspectorates for Agriculture are required to cooperate, when requested, with the competent Revenue Offices in order to certify the suitability of the possession by the user of the requirements
subjective and objective (namely: ascertainment of qualification, professional capacity and achievement of the minimum level of profitability), as well as to verify the maintenance of the obligations of cultivation or direct conduction provided for by Legislative Decree. 29/03/2004 n. 99.”
In the absence of regional provision, given the silence of Article 5-bis, a declaration made in the deed by the purchasing party, under his responsibility, preferably supported by a report and/or statement prepared by a land surveyor or other expert, attesting to the extent of land being purchased, its cultivation and profitability, in accordance with the regulations under comment, could be considered sufficient.
Since, as pointed out above, paragraph 5 of Art. 5-bis expressly provides that agricultural land may be formed into a single compendium even if it is not adjacent to each other as long as it is functional for the operation of the agricultural enterprise, it is to be considered that, even the assessment about the existence of the requirement of functionality, should be carried out by the same person or the body making the above attestation.

Attorney Chiara Roncarolo

Attorney Maurizio Randazzo