In the context of the common agricultural policy, the term levy may be used in three senses:a payment by farmers into a fund for a specific activity such as the promotion of the sale of farm products within and outside the European Union, a payment by farmers to a government in return for receiving particular services, such as the control of animal diseases, a payment by milk farmers whose volume of sales of milk has exceeded their individual production limit (known as an individual milk quota). In this latter sense, the farmer pays a penalty for selling a quantity of milk in excess of his milk quota. This levy, commonly known as ‘super levy,’ is paid to the European Union. Milk quotas were introduced in 1984 to curb the structural surpluses that had arisen in this sector.