1995R1554 — EN — 01.09.1996 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 1554/95
of 29 June 1995
laying down the general rules for the system of aid for cotton and repealing Regulation (EEC)No
2169/81
(OJ L 148, 30.6.1995, p. 48)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 1584/96 of 30 July 1996 L 206 16 16.8.1996
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▼B
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 1554/95
of 29 June 1995
laying down the general rules for the system of aid for cotton and
repealing Regulation (EEC)No 2169/81
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Greece, and in particular
paragraph 9 of Protocol 4 on cotton, as last amended by Regulation(EC) No 1553/95 (
1),
Having regard to the proposal by the Commission (2),
Whereas Protocol 4 of the Act of Accession of Greece and Council
Regulation (EEC) No 1964/87 of 2 July 1987 adjusting the system ofaid for cotton introduced by Protocol 4 annexed to the Act of Accessionof Greece (
3) have been amended by Regulation (EC) No 1553/95;
whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2169/81 of 27 July 1981 layingdown the general rules for the system of aid for cotton (
4) should
accordingly be amended; whereas the significance of the adjustmentsthat need to be made to Regulation (EEC) No 2169/81 and the largenumber of amendments already made to it make it appropriate to recastthis Regulation for the purposes of clarity and transparence; whereasRegulation (EEC) No 2169/81 should therefore be repealed;
Whereas, pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol, it is necessary to lay
down the rules of procedure and sound management for its application,the general rules of the system of production aid, the criteria fordetermining the world market price and the rules concerning thefinancing of the measures envisaged;
Whereas, in order to facilitate the management and control of the aid
system, provision should be made for a procedure establishing closecooperation between the Member States and the Commission within aManagement Committee; whereas it is advisable to use the ManagementCommittee forFlax and Hemp as pr ovided forin Council Regulation(EEC) No 1308/70 of 29 June 1970 on the common organization of themarket in flax and hemp (
5);
Whereas, in accordance with Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 1964/
87, the aid shall be altered by adjustments yet to be determined wherethe Community production exceeds a quantity fixed in advance;whereas, in consequence, the amount of aid to be granted cannot bedetermined until the actual quantity produced is itself known; whereas,to offset the adverse effects of late payment of aid for the partiesinvolved, provision should be made for the part of the aid to be paid inadvance;
Whereas, pursuant to the third subparagraph of paragraph 3 of the
Protocol, the aid is determined on the basis of the difference between aguide price for unginned cotton and the world market price; whereas,since there is no international trade in unginned cotton, and there aretherefore no offers or quotations, provision should be made to enable aworld market price for this product to be determined; whereas this pricemay be established on the basis of the historical relationship betweenthe price agreed for ginned cotton and that calculated for unginnedcotton;
(1) See page 45 of this Official Journal.
(2) OJ No C 94, 14. 4. 1995, p. 6.
(3) OJ No L 184, 3. 7. 1987, p. 14.
(4) OJ No L 211, 31. 7. 1981, p. 2. Regulation as last amended by Regula-
tion (EEC) No 1554/93 (OJ No L 154, 25. 6. 1993, p. 23).
(5) OJ No L 146, 4. 7. 1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 3290/94 (OJ No L 349, 31. 12. 1994, p. 105).
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Whereas, when calculating the price of ginned cotton, account should
be taken of the offers made on the world market and of the quotationson those exchanges that are important for international trade; whereasthe price on the world market must be calculated using the mostfavourable offers and quotations on that market among those that areconsidered representative of the real market trend;
Whereas, for the aid system to operate correctly, the world market price
must be recorded for a Community frontier crossing point; whereas, infixing this point, account should be taken of the extent to which it isrepresentative for imports of the products in question; whereas, there-fore, in the case of multiple origins the ports of Northern Europe shouldbe chosen and in the case of a limited number of origins, offers orquotations recorded on an exchange outside Europe the port of Piraeusshould be chosen, whereas, in the latter case the offers and quotationsadopted will need to be adjusted if they relate to some other frontiercrossing point;
Whereas such adjustments should also be made to the offers and quota-
tions adopted in order to compensate for any variation from the presen-tation and quality taken as a basis forfixing the guide pr ice;
Whereas the producer Member States should be required to set up the
control arrangements necessary to ensure that the aid system operatescorrectly;
Whereas, with a view to subjecting the Community expenditure on
applying the planned measure to financial and monetary rules andappropriate procedures, Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (
1),
should apply mutatis mutandis to the matters dealt with herein, as
should the Regulations relating to the value of the unit of account andthe exchange rates to be applied within the framework of the commonagricultural policy;
Whereas the provisions of this Regulation should apply as from the
1995/96 marketing year so that the adjustments to the system providedforin Regulation (EC) No 1553/95 may be implemented by that date;
Whereas the adjustments to the system as laid down in this Regulation
must be implemented as smoothly as possible; whereas provisionalmeasures may therefore be necessary,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Forthe pur poses of this Regulation:
(a) ‘unginned cotton' means the fruit of the cotton plant Gossypium )
which has reached maturity and has been harvested, and whichcontains pod waste, leaves and earthy matter;
(b) ‘ginned cotton' means the cotton fibres (other than linters and
waste), neither carded nor combed, from which the seeds and mostof the pod waste, leaves and earthy matter have been removed.
Article 2
The guide price for unginned cotton of a specified quality shall remain
applicable throughout a given marketing year; the marketing year shallrun from 1 September to 31 August.
Article 3
1. The world market price for unginned cotton shall be determined
by taking account of the historical relationship between the worldmarket price for ginned cotton and that calculated for unginned cotton.
(1) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13. Regulation as last amended by Regula-
tion (EEC) No 2048/88 (OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 1).
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It shall be determined periodically on the basis of the world market
price recorded for ginned cotton.
2. If the world market price for unginned cotton cannot be deter-
mined in accordance with paragraph 1, this price shall be established onthe basis of the most recent price determined.
Article 4
1. The world market price for ginned cotton shall be determined on
the basis of a grade 5 (white middling) product with a fibre length of 28mm (1-3/32 /primedbl1), account being taken of the offers made on this market
and of the quotations on one or more European exchanges that areimportant for international trade. This price shall be determined usingthe most favourable offers and quotations among those that are consid-ered representative of the real market trend.
2. For the purposes of the above calculation, an average shall be
established of the offers and quotations on one or more Europeanexchanges for a product delivered cif at a port in Northern Europe andcoming from the various supplier countries considered the most repres-entative in terms of international trade.
However, where the world market price cannot be determined in
accordance with the preceding subparagraph, it shall be determined:
— on the basis of a limited number of the most representative offers
and quotations for a product delivered cif at Piraeus recorded on theLiverpool exchange, or on another European exchange, or
— on the basis of the offers and quotations on a non-European
exchange either by calculating an average of the offers and quota-tions for a product delivered cif at Piraeus coming from varioussupplier countries that are considered the most representative interms of international trade, or by using a limited number of themost representative offers and quotations for a product delivered cifat Piraeus.
3. Where the offers and quotations recorded do not satisfy the
requirements referred to in the preceding paragraphs, the necessaryadjustments shall be made.
Article 5
1. Without prejudice to Article 2 (3) and (4) of Regulation (EEC) No
1964/87, when the world market price determined in accordance withArticle 3 is below the guide price, aid equal to the difference betweenthese two prices shall be granted for unginned cotton harvested in theCommunity.
▼
M1
2. The amount of the aid to be paid shall be the amount applicable onthe day the application foraid is made.
3. Entitlement to the aid shall be acquired when the cotton is ginned.
However, aid may be paid in advance from 16 October following thestart of the marketing year when the unginned cotton enters the cotton-ginning undertaking, provided that an adequate security has beenlodged. The level of the advance shall be equal to the guide price minusthe world price and reduced further by an amount calculated using themethod provided for in Article 6, but replacing actual production by theestimated production of unginned cotton plus 15 %. Any aid balanceoutstanding shall be paid once the actual quantity produced has beendetermined and any adjustments to the aid as referred to in Article 2 (3)and (4) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1964/87 (
1). It shall be paid
before the end of the marketing year, at the latest.
(1) OJ No L 184, 3. 7. 1987, p. 14. Regulation as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1553/95 (OJ No L 148, 30. 6. 1995, p. 45).
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4. The aid shall be paid by the pr oducerMemberState on whoseterritory ginning takes place.
5. The aid shall only be paid fora pr oduct of sound, fairand
merchantable quality.
6. If the quantity of ginned cotton is less than orequal to 33 % of the
quantity of unginned cotton that has entered the cotton ginning under-taking, aid shall be granted for the quantity of cotton ginned, multipliedby 100 and divided by 32.
If the quantity of ginned cotton exceeds 33 % of the quantity of
unginned cotton that has entered the cotton ginning undertaking, aidshall be granted for the quantity of unginned cotton, multiplied by 33and divided by 32.
The quantity of ginned cotton eligible forthe aid shall be calculated on
the basis of its weight, adjusted where necessary for any differencebetween:
— the representative percentage of recorded impurities compared to the
representative percentage for grade 5, and
— the percentage moisture content recorded compared to that repres-
entative of marketed fibre.
The representative percentages referred to in the above indents shall be
determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(1).
Article 6
The reduction in the guide price referred to in Article 2 (3) of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 1964/87 shall be established as follows:
(a) if the actual production in Spain or Greece exceeds the guaranteed
national quantity (GNQ), the excess in each MemberState shall becalculated as a percentage of the GNQ and the guide price shall bereduced by a percentage equal to half the percentage excess;
(b) in other cases, the actual production in excess of the guaranteed
maximum quantity (GMQ) shall be calculated as a percentage ofthe GNQ of the Member State concerned, and the guide price shallbe reduced by a percentage equal to half the percentage excess.
Article 7
Aid shall be granted only to those cotton ginning undertakings which
apply forit and which:
1. have submitted:
(a) either a contract stipulating payment to the producer of a price at
least equal to the minimum price referred to in Article 8a ofProtocol 4 and containing a clause specifying that:
— in the event of application of Article 2 (3) or (4) of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 1964/87, the agreed price shall be adjusted inconsequence of the effect of the application of that Articleupon the aid,
— in the event of a difference between the quality of the cotton
delivered and the standard quality, referred to in paragraph 8of Protocol 4, the price agreed will be adjusted proportionallyby common consent between the contracting parties;
b) ora statement giving details of the conditions underwhich the
ginning is carried out and how the aid is passed on to theproducers where the undertaking gins cotton on behalf of anindividual producer or a producer associated with that under-taking;
2. keep stock accounts on ginned and unginned cotton that satisfy
requirements to be laid down, with a view to enabling entitlement tothe aid to be checked;
3. provide the other supporting documents needed for checking entitle-
ment to the aid;
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4. furnish proof that the cotton delivered under the contract or under the
statement referred to in point 1 (b) has been the subject of thedeclaration of area sown referred to in Article 8.
Article 8
Before 1 October, the estimated production of cotton referred to in
Article 5 (3) shall be drawn up using the procedure referred to in Article11 (1), account being taken of crop estimates.
In order to draw up these estimates, a system of declarations of the
areas sown shall be established.
Article 9
Actual production in each marketing year shall be determined before the
end of June of that same year using the procedure referred to in Article11 (1), account being taken in particular of the quantities for which aidhas been requested.
Article 10
The pr oducerMemberStates shall set up a system of contr ols to:
— ascertain the quantity of unginned Community cotton which has
entered each cotton ginning undertaking,
— ascertain the quantity of unginned Community cotton which has
been ginned,
— ascertain the quantity of ginned cotton obtained in each cotton
ginning undertaking from the quantity referred to in the first indent,
— ensure that the minimum price is complied with.
Article 11
1. Detailed rules for the application of this Regulation shall be deter-
mined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 12 ofRegulation (EEC) No 1308/70.
These detailed rules shall, in particular, concern any necessary control
measure; these measures may use certain elements provided under theintegrated system.
2. If it proves necessary to introduce transitional measures in order to
facilitate implementation of the adjustments to the system as laid downby this Regulation, such measures shall be adopted in accordance withthe procedure provided for in paragraph 1. They shall apply until theend of the 1995/96 marketing year at the latest.
Article 12
1. Regulation (EEC) No 2169/81 is hereby repealed.2. References made to the repealed Regulation or to any Articles
thereof shall be construed as being made to this Regulation or to thecorresponding Articles hereof.
Article 13
The provisions of the Regulations relating to the value of the unit of
account and the exchange rates to be applied in connection within thecommon agricultural policy, and those of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70shall apply mutatismutandis to the matters dealt with in this Regulation.
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Article 14
This Regulation shall enterinto for ce on the day of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply from the 1995/96 marketing year. However, Article 11 (2)
shall apply as from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all MemberStates.