Today, EU Member States clearly voted in favour of the Commission’s proposal to stagger the superlevy fines in three equal interest-free instalments. Even the more liberal-minded countries such as the UK and Sweden were in favour of the proposal. Only three countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) voted against. Belgium, the Netherlands and France abstained. The implementing regulation is expected to be published in the coming days. According to the new regulation, the first yearly payment representing at least 1/3 of the total amount due would have to be made before Oct 1st, 2015. The second payment (at least 2/3 of the total sum) before October 2016 and the total amount should be settled before October 2017. Farmers are under no obligation to defer payments and can as well pay the full amount by October 2015. EU rules require that Member States still pay the Commission the amounts due by the end of November 2015, but this change provides flexibility on recovering the levy from the individual producers.