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1. If the total area covered by the eligible applications in a given year does not exceed the area made available by the Member State, all such applications shall be accepted. Member States may, for the purpose of this Article, apply one or more of the following objective and non-discriminatory eligibility criteria at national or regional level:

(a) the applicant shall have an agricultural area which is not smaller than the area for which he requests the authorisation;

(b) the applicant shall possess adequate occupational skills and competence;

(c) the application shall not pose a significant risk of misappropriation of the reputation of specific protected designations of origin, which shall be presumed unless the existence of such risk is demonstrated by the public authorities;

(ca) the applicant does not have vines planted without authorisation as referred to in Article 71 of this Regulation or without a planting right as referred to in Articles 85a and 85b of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007;

(d) where duly justified, one or more of the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, provided that they are applied in an objective and non-discriminatory manner.

2. If the total area covered by the eligible applications referred to in paragraph 1 in a given year exceeds the area made available by the Member State, authorisations shall be granted according to a pro-rata distribution of hectares to all applicants on the basis of the area for which they have requested the authorisation. Such granting may establish a minimum and/or a maximum area by applicant and also be partially or completely made in accordance with one or more of the following objective and non-discriminatory priority criteria that may apply at national or regional level.

(a) producers who are setting up vine plantings for the first time, and who are established as the head of the holding (new entrants);

(b) areas where vineyards contribute to the preservation of the environment or the conservation of the genetic resources of vines;

(c) areas to be newly planted in the framework of land consolidation projects;

(d) areas facing natural or other specific constraints;

(e) the sustainability of projects of development or replantations on the basis of an economic evaluation;

(f) areas to be newly planted which contribute to increasing the production of holdings of the wine-growing sector that show increased cost-efficiency or competitiveness or presence on the markets;

(g) projects with the potential to improve the quality of products with geographical indications;

(h) areas to be newly planted in the framework of increasing the size of small and medium-sized vine holdings;

2a. If the Member State decides to apply one or more of the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State may add the additional condition that the applicant shall be a natural person who is no more than 40 years of age in the year of submission of the application.

2b. Member States may take any necessary regulatory measures to prevent the circumvention by operators of the restrictive criteria that they apply pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a.

3. Member States shall make public the criteria referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a that they apply and shall notify them forthwith to the Commission.