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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 716/96
of 19 April 1996
adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market in the United Kingdom
(OJ No L 99, 20. 4. 1996, p. 14)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
Commission Regulation (EC) No 774/96 of 26 April 1996 L 104 21 27. 4. 1996
Commission Regulation (EC) No 835/96 of 6 May 1996 L 112 17 7. 5. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 1512/96 of 29 July 1996 L 189 93 30. 7. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 1846/96 of 25 September 1996 L 245 9 26. 9. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/96 of 15 October 1996 L 262 2 16. 10. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 2149/96 of 8 November 1996 L 288 14 9. 11. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 2423/96 of 18 December 1996 L 329 43 19. 12. 1996Commission Regulation (EC) No 1365/97 of 16 July 1997 L 188 6 17. 7. 1997
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ICOMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 716/96
of 19 April 1996
adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market in the United Kingdom
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the T reaty establishing the EuropeanCommunity,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of
27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market
in beef and veal (
1), as last amended by Commission Re-
gulation (EC) No 2417/95 (2)and, in particular, Article 23
thereof,
Whereas Commission Decision 96/239/EC of 27 March
1996 on emergency measures to protect against bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (3) prohibits the ex-
portation of live bovine animals, or any part of them, from
the United Kingdom to other Member States and their ex-port to third countries as a result of the incidence of BSE
in the United Kingdom; whereas the United Kingdom has
prohibited the introduction of bovine animals of more than
30 months at the time of slaughter into the human food
and animal feed chains; whereas these measures involve
serious disturbances in the market of the United Kingdom;
whereas it is therefore necessary to take exceptional
measures to support this market; whereas it is appropriate
to establish a Community co-financed scheme authorizing
the United Kingdom to purchase the animals covered by
the abovementioned prohibition with a view to killing and
subsequently destroying them;
Whereas, in view of the extent of the disease, in particular,
of its probable duration, and consequently of the magni-
tude of the efforts needed to support the market, it would
be appropriate for such efforts to be shared by the Com-
munity and the United Kingdom;
Whereas, in most cases animals slaughtered above the age
of 30 months are cull cows; whereas the most recently ob-
served price of carcases of cows on the United Kingdom
market was equivalent to ECU 1 per kilogram live weight
and that it is therefore appropriate to base the purchase
price on this, without prejudice to the possibility of subse-
quent adjustment in the light of developments; whereas, in
similar cases the Community has contributed to the overall
expenditure incurred at a rate of 70 %; whereas a price of
ECU 1 per kilogram is equal on average to a price of
ECU 560 per animal; whereas it is appropriate, in view of
the large numbers of animals concerned and in the in-terests of simplification, to provide a Community contribu-
tion of ECU 392 per animal;
(1) OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24.
(2) OJ No L 248, 14. 10. 1995, p. 39.
(3) OJ No L 78, 28. 3. 1996, p. 47.
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IIWhereas, it is necessary to ensure that the animals con-
cerned are killed and destroyed in a manner which does
not pose any threat to human health or the health of other
animals; whereas, it is therefore necessary to specify the
conditions for the destruction of these animals and of the
controls to be carried out by the United Kingdom author-
ities; whereas, so as to avoid that animals to be slaugh-
tered under this scheme mix with animals not covered by
this scheme and that mistakes as to identity occur, they
should be kept separately in the lairage to a slaughter-
house, as well as in the slaughterhouse itself;
Whereas, provision should be made for Commission ex-
perts to check compliance with the conditions as specified;
Whereas the Management Committee for Beef and Veal
has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by
its chairman,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
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1Article 1
1. The United Kingdom competent authority shall be
authorized to purchase any bovine animal aged more than
30 months which does not show any clinical sign of BSE,
presented to it by any producer or his agent, which was,
during a period of at least six months prior to its sale,
present on a holding located on the territory of the United
Kingdom.
2. The animals referred to in paragraph 1 shall be killedin specially designated slaughterhouses, the heads, internal
organs and carcases shall be permanently stained. The
stained material shall be transported in sealed containers
to specially authorized incineration or rendering plants,
where it shall be processed and then destroyed. No part of
the abovementioned animals may enter into the human
food or animal feed chains or be used for cosmetic or
pharmaceutical products. A representative of the UnitedKingdom competent authority shall be permanently present
in the slaughterhouse referred to above in order to super-
vise the operations in question.
Notwithstanding the first subparagraph:
— the United Kingdom competent authority may allow
the on-farm slaughter of an animal where existing ani-
mal welfare practice would require this,
— the hides of the animals referred to in paragraph 1 do
not have to be stained or destroyed provided that they
have been treated in such a way that they can only be
used for leather production.
3. The slaughterhouses referred to in paragraph 2 shallbe organized and operated in such a way as to ensure that:
— no bovine animal, the product from the slaughter of
which is intended for human or animal consumption, is
present in the slaughterhouse when animals are being
slaughtered under this scheme,
— where it is necessary for bovine animals to be slaugh-
t e r e du n d e rt h es c h e m et ob eh e l di nl a i r a g e ,t h e y
shall be kept separate from bovine animals which it is
intended to slaughter for human or animal consump-
tion, and
— where it is necessary for products derived from animals
slaughtered under this scheme to be stored, such stor-
age shall be separate from any storage facility used for
meat or other products destined for human or animal
consumption.716/96
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24. The United Kingdom competent authority shall:
— carry out the necessary administrative checks and ef-
fective on-the-spot supervision of the operations re-
ferred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, and
— control those operations on the basis of frequent and
unannounced inspections, in particular to verify that all
stained material has been effectively destroyed; (SIC! .)
The results of these checks and controls shall be made
available to the Commission on request.
5. If the number of animals presented for sale and
subsequent destruction exceeds the number for which there
is capacity to destroy in the United Kingdom, the compet-
ent authority may limit access to this scheme.
6. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 and subject to thenecessary control, the United Kingdom competent author-
ity shall be authorized, before processing and destruction,
to use a limited number of animals for research or educa-tional purposes.
Article 2
1. The price to be paid to producers or their agents by
the United Kingdom competent authority pursuant to Ar-
ticle 1 (1) shall be:
— ECU 0,8 per kilogram live weight for cows,
— ECU 0,9 per kilogram live weight for other animals.
No payment shall be made for weights in excess of
560 kilograms live weight, calculated where necessary using
the coefficients referred to in paragraph 2.
2. Where it is necessary to weigh the animal concerned
after slaughter, in order to calculate what the live weight
would have been, the dead weight after bleeding and re-
moval of the hide, head, feet and viscera shall be multi-
plied by a coefficient of:
— 2i nt h ec a s eo fc o w s ,
— 1,70 in the case of all other animals.
3. The Community shall co-finance the expenditure in-
curred by the United Kingdom for the purchases referred
to under Article 1 (1) at a rate of ECU 291 per head in
t h ec a s eo fc o w sa n dE C U3 2 8p e rh e a di nt h ec a s eo f
animals other than cows for each purchased animal de-
stroyed in accordance with the provisions of Article 1.
However, an advance equal to 80 % of the Community
contribution shall be paid after the animal concerned has
been rendered in accordance with Article 1 (2).716/96
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34. Should the purchase referred to in Article 1 (1) in-
v o l v eac a s t r a t e dm a l eb o v i n ea n i m a l ,p a y m e n to ft h ef u l l
price referred to in paragraph 1 shall be conditional on no
application for a deseasonalization premium as referred to
in Article 4c of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 having been
made for the animal that was sold.
The producer or his agent shall undertake to ensure that
this premium is not sought for the animal in question.
Should this undertaking not be given, the amount of the
price to be paid in accordance with paragraph 1 for the
animal in question shall be reduced by an amount equal to
the applicable amount of the deseasonalization premium.
Should an application for this premium be presented for
this animal, the producer concerned shall be obliged to re-
fund out of the price received for the animal an amount
equal to the applicable deseasonalization premium. In
t h e s et w oc a s e s ,t h er a t eo ft h eC o m m u n i t yc o n t r i b u t i o nprovided for in paragraph 3 shall be reduced by an
amount equal to the applicable deseasonalization premium.
5. The conversion rate to be applied shall be the agricul-
tural rate valid on the first day of the month of the pur-
chase of the animal in question.
Article 3
The United Kingdom shall adopt all measures necessary to
ensure proper application of this scheme and full com-
pliance with the provisions of this Regulation. It shall in-
form the Commission as soon as possible of the measures
which it has taken and of any amendments thereto.
Article 4
The United Kingdom competent authority:
(a) shall inform the Commission each Wednesday, of the
number of animals:
—p u r c h a s e d , a n d
— slaughtered
under this scheme during the previous week;
(b) shall establish a detailed report of the controls which
they have taken under the measures referred to in Ar-
ticle 3 and shall communicate this to the Commission
each quarter.1365/97
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4Article 5
Without prejudice to Article 9 of Council Regulation
(EEC) No 729/70 (4), Commission experts, accompanied
where appropriate by experts from the Member States,
shall carry out, in collaboration with the United Kingdom
competent authority, on-the-spot checks to verify com-
pliance with all the provisions of this Regulation.
Article 6
The measures taken under this Regulation shall be con-
sidered to be intervention measures within the meaning of
Article 1 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.
Article 7
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Commu-
nities .
It shall be applicable from 29 April 1996.
(4) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.716/96