Requests by Member States to amend programmes shall be approved in accordance with the following procedures:
(a)
The Commission shall decide, by means of implementing acts, on requests to amend programmes that concern one or more of the following:
(i)
a change in the programme strategy through a change of more than 50 % in the quantified target linked to a focus area;
(ii)
a change in the EAFRD contribution rate of one or more measures;
(iii)
a change of the entire Union contribution or its annual distribution at programme level;
(b)
The Commission shall approve, by means of implementing acts, requests to amend the programme in all other cases. These shall include, in particular:
(i)
the introduction or withdrawal of measures or types of operations;
(ii)
changes in the description of measures, including changes of eligibility conditions;
(iii)
a transfer of funds between measures implemented under different EAFRD contribution rates;
However, for the purposes of points (b)(i) and (ii), and point (b)(iii)where the transfer of funds concerns less than 20 % of the allocation to a measure and less than 5 % of the total EAFRD contribution to the programme, the approval shall be deemed to be given, if the Commission has not taken a decision on the request after a period of 42 working days from the receipt of the request. That period shall not include the period starting on the day following the date on which the Commission has sent its observations to the Member State and ending on the day that the Member State responded to the observations.
(c)
The approval of the Commission shall not be required for corrections of a purely clerical or editorial nature that do not affect the implementation of the policy and the measures. Member States shall inform the Commission of such amendments.