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COMMISSION DECISION
of 28 March 1989
on the clearance of certain Member States' accounts in respect of expenditure incurred in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 on agricultural products supplied as food aid
(Only the Dutch, English, French and Italian texts are authentic)
(89/255/EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2681/74 of 21 October 1974 on Community financing of expenditure incurred in respect of the supply of agricultural products as food aid (1), and in particular the second indent of Article 3 (2) thereof,
Having consulted the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund Committee,
Whereas the Member States have sent to the Commission the supporting statements required for clearance of the accounts pursuant to Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 249/77 (2), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 681/86 (3);
Whereas, pursuant to Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 249/77, only the net quantities taken over by the consignee of the aid at the point of delivery provided for in Community Regulations can be financed;
Whereas expenditure is financed on the basis of the provisions of the mobilization regulations and calls for tender for each operation according to the relevant rules and of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1974/80 of 22 July 1980 laying down general rules of application for the execution of certain food-aid schemes in the form of cereals and rice (4) and Regulation (EEC) No 1354/83 of 17 May 1983 laying down general rules for the mobilization and supply of skimmed-milk powder, butter and butteroil as food aid (5);
Whereas some of the relevant expenditure does not meet this requirement and must be disallowed; whereas the amounts concerned for Belgium are Bfrs 320 573 for 1980, Bfrs 531 893 for 1981, Bfrs 32 987 328 for 1982 and Bfrs 4 492 219 for 1983; for Italy Lit 149 156 750 for 1982 and Lit 244 340 332 for 1983; for the United Kingdom £ 315 for 1980, £ 81 153, 93 for 1982 and £ 24 427, 30 for 1983; for France FF 132 566, 07 for 1980, FF 824,72 for 1981, FF 14 475,85 for 1982 and FF 2 695 452,07 for 1983; and for the Netherlands Fl 7 948,94 for 1980 and Fl 7 671,67 for 1982.
Whereas the reserves entered at points 7 and 8 of the Annex to Commission Decision 83/548/EEC of 7 November 1983 on the clearance of the 1975 accounts (6) submitted by Belgium in respect of food aid expenditure on agriculture products can be withdrawn;
Whereas the reserves entered at points 6, 7 and 8 of the Annex to Commission Decision 84/591/EEC of 12 November 1984 on the clearance of the 1976 accounts (7) submitted by Belgium in respect of food aid expenditure on agricultural products can be withdrawn;
Whereas the reserve entered at point 7 of the Annex to Commission Decision 84/593/EEC of 12 November 1984 on the clearance of the 1978 accounts (8) submitted by Belgium in respect of food aid expenditure on agricultural products can be withdrawn;
Whereas verification shows that an additional amount of Bfr 1 139 507 qualifies for Community financing in respect of 1981 for Belgium;
Whereas, as regards 1980, a clearance reserve must be entered in respect of the operation concerning 1 300 tonnes of butteroil carried out under Regulation (EEC) No 2494/79 by Belgium;
Whereas, as regards 1982, clearance reserves must be entered in respect of the aid operations carried out by Belgium, in particular those carried out pursuant to Regulations (EEC) No 2936/81 - lots AK, AL, AH and AI (2 000 tonnes of skimmed-milk powder), (EEC) No 93/82 (974 tonnes of wheat flour), (EEC) No 3611/81 and (EEC) No 1058/82 (550 tonnes of wheat flour);
Whereas, as regards 1983, a clearance reserve must be entered in respect of the aid operation concerning 500 tonnes per lot G of skimmed-milk powder carried out by Belgium pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2600/81;
Whereas the reserves entered at point 6 of Commission Decisions 84/610/EEC and 84/613/EEC of 12 November 1984 on the clearance of the 1976 and 1979 accounts (1), submitted by Italy in respect of food aid expenditure on agricultural products, can be withdrawn;
Whereas an additional amount of Lit 12 716 000 arising from the difference between the expenditure charged to the Community budget and that declared for clearance by Italy can be recognized;
Whereas verification shows that an additional amount of Lit 6 058 883 qualifies for Community financing in respect of 1983 for Italy;
Whereas, for 1980, a clearance reserve must be entered in respect of the aid operation carried out by Italy arising from Commission Decision 76/748/EEC of 13 September 1976 relating to the supply of 3 750 tonnes of rice to Niger, pending the outcome of proceedings before courts;
Whereas a clearace reserve must be entered in respect of the United Kingdom in connection with Regulation (EEC) No 30/83, lot H, and Regulation (EEC) No 516/83, lot AA;
Whereas the clearance reserves entered in the Commission Decisions relating to the following clearances of accounts submitted by France in respect of food aid expenditure on agricultural products can be withdrawn; for the 1970/71 programme (Decision 76/64/EEC (2)), for 1973 (Decision 76/94/EEC (3)), for 1974 (Decision 77/755/EEC (4)), for 1975 (Decision 83/549/EEC (5)), for 1976 (Decision 84/602/EEC (6)) and for 1979 (Decision 84/605/EEC (7)); thus giving rise to additional expenditure of FF 12 743, 48;
Whereas verification shows that additional amounts of FF 135 980,95 for 1980 and FF 184 246,13 for 1982 qualify for Community financing for France;
Whereas for 1982 and 1983 clearance reserves must be entered in respect of aid operations carried out by France using milk products drawn from intervention stocks;
Whereas, for 1982, a clearance reserve must be entered in respect of DM 181 308,18 for aid operations carried out by France under Regulation (EEC) No 2186/82 - 10 000 tonnes of common wheat to Zaire;
Whereas, for 1983, clearance reserves must be entered in respect of aid operations carried out by France, in particular those carried out under Regulation (EEC) No 298/83 - Lot V - 175 tonnes of butteroil - Guinea Bissau, Regulation (EEC) No 1530/83 - Lot C - 240 tonnes of butteroil - WFP, Regulation (EEC) No 2433/83 - Lot A - 345 tonnes of butteroil - Tunisia, Regulation (EEC) No 2434/83 - Lot A - 1 000 tonnes of skimmed-milk powder - Tunisia, Regulation (EEC) No 1630/82 - 20 000 tonnes of common wheat - UNHCR, Regulation (EEC) No 2779/83 - 5 748, 516 tonnes of flour - Egypt, and Regulation (EEC) No 1611/83 - 15 000 tonnes of maize - Mozambique;
Whereas verification shows that an additional amount of Fl 26 516, 70 qualifies for Community financing for the Netherlands;
Whereas the Member States had been informed in detail of the corrections to their accounts and have had opportunities to comment;
Whereas this Decision is without prejudice to any financial consequences that may be drawn, on the occasion of a subsequent accounts clearance, from investigations being carried out at the time of this Decision, from irregularities within the meaning of Article 8 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 (8), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2048/88 (9), or from judgments of the Court of Justice on cases now pending concerning matters which are the subject of this Decision,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The accounts of the Member States concerning expenditure financed in respect of food aid in the form of agricultural products in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 are hereby cleared as shown in the Annexes to this Decision.
Article 2
Claims disallowed, remaining chargeable to the Member States, are the following:
Belgium: Bfrs 37 192 506
Italy: Lit 374 722 199
U.K.: £ 105 896,23
France: FF 2 510 348, 15
Article 3
The net amount to be recognized as supplementary expenditure by the Netherlands is Fl 10 896,09.
Article 4
The amounts referred to in Article 2 must be credited to the Commission's accounts within one month of notification of this Decision.
Article 5
This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Italian Republic, the United Kingdom, the French Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Done at Brussels, 28 March 1989.