2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1334/2002
of23July2002
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 as regards
theworkprogrammesofoperatorsorganisationsintheolivesectorforthemarketingyears2002/
03and2003/04
(OJ L 195, 24.7.2002, p. 16)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 1965/2002 of 4 November 2002 L 300 4 5.11.2002
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1334/2002
of23July2002
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regula-
tion (EC) No 1638/98 as regards the work programmes ofoperators organisations in the olive sector for the marketing years
2002/03and2003/04
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 of 20 July 1998
amending Regulation No 136/66/EEC on the establishment of a
common organisation of the market in oils and fats(1), as amended by
Regulation (EC) No 1513/2001(2), and in particular the second indent
of the first subparagraph of Article 4a(3) and Article 4a(4) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)Article 4a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 provides that,
under the common organisation of the market in oils and fats,
in force as from 1 November 2002, Member States producingolive oil may withhold within certain limits a portion of aid,where appropriate intended for olive oil and/or table olive produ-cers, to ensure Community finance of work programmes drawn
up by approved operators' organisations. It should be laid down
that the work programmes in question cover the marketing years2002/03 and 2003/04 only, in accordance with Regulation No136/66/EEC of the Council of 22 September 1966 on the estab-lishment of a common organisation of the market in oils andfats(
3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1513/2001.
(2)To ensure that approved operators' organisations are effective,approval must relate to the various categories of operatorshaving a major impact in the olive oil and/or table olives sectors,while ensuring that those organisations are large enough to
obtain economically significant results. Member States should
also be able, with respect to local situations, to lay down addi-tional approval criteria to ensure that the approvedorganisations have sufficient capacity.
(3)To ensure efficient administrative management of the system ofapproved operators' organisations in the olive sector, the proce-dures and time limits for the approval of such organisations, thecriteria for selecting their work programmes and the arrange-ments for paying Community funding should be laid down.
(4)To ensure overall consistency between the activities of approvedoperators' organisations in the olive sector, it is necessary to laydown the types of activities that are eligible for Communityfunding and the selection criteria for the work programmes. TheMember States concerned should, however, be allowed to lay
down additional eligibility conditions so as to gear activities
more closely to national realities in the olive sector.
(5)To allow work to commence in good time, operators' organisa-tions in the olive sector should be able to receive an advance
on the approved Community funding, subject to the lodging of
a security under the terms laid down by Commission Regulation(EEC) No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down commondetailed rules for the application of the system of securities foragricultural products(
4), as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 1932/1999(5).2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 210, 28.7.1998, p. 32.
(2) OJ L 201, 26.7.2001, p. 4.
(3) OJ 172, 30.9.1966, p. 3025/66.
(4) OJ L 205, 3.8.1985, p. 5.
(5) OJ L 240, 10.9.1999, p. 11.
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(6)For the purposes of proper management of the rules on opera-
tors' organisations in the olive sector, the Member States
concerned should draw up a control plan and specify a systemof penalties for any irregularities committed. Provision shouldalso be made for operators' organisations to notify the results oftheir work to the national authorities in the Member Statesconcerned and to transmit those results to the Commission.
(7)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordancewith the opinion of the Management Committee for Oils andFats,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Purposeanddefinitions
1. This Regulation lays down, for the marketing years 2002/03 and
2003/04, detailed rules for the application of Article 4a(1) of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1638/98 as regards the approval of and the workprogrammes drawn up by producer organisations and associationsthereof, interbranch organisations and other operators' organisations inthe olive oil and table olives sectors as referred to in that paragraph.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) (a) ‘operators' organisation in the olive sector’ means an organisa-
tion or association as referred to in Article 4a(1) of Regulation(EC) No 1638/98;
(b) (b) ‘regional area’ means an area as defined in the Annex to
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2366/98(
1), and the area consti-
tuted by the rest of the territory in each producer Member State.
In the case of Italy the following are also deemed regional areas:
— Liguria, Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, or
— Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia
Giulia, or
— Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna, or
— Basilicata, or
— Sardinia, or
— Abruzzi and Molise.
Article 2
Conditionsfortheapprovalofoperators'organisationsintheolive
sector
1. Member States shall approve operators' organisations in the olive
sector which undertake to submit to any controls provided for in thisRegulation and which meet certain conditions.
2. For the various kinds of operators' organisation in the olive
sector, the conditions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be those indicatedin points (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively, whereby the minimum
number of members and other minimum size criteria may be increased
by the Member State concerned, and those laid down, where applic-able, by the competent national authorities as regards operationalcapacities, available means and controls on operators' organisations inthe olive sector.
(a) Producer organisations must be composed exclusively of olive
producers who are not members of any other producer organisationapproved under this Regulation which has received production aidas referred to in Article 5 of Regulation No 136/66/EEC for the2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 293, 31.10.1998, p. 50.
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year before the preceding marketing year or has lodged a crop
declaration for the current marketing year; and
(i) have at least 2 500 member producers or
(ii) account for 2 % of olive producers or of average olive oil or
table olive production in the regional areas concerned;
(b) Associations of producer organisations must be composed exclu-
sively of producer organisations approved under point (a) which
are not part of another association of producer organisations
approved under this Regulation, and
(i) have at least 10 member organisations which are established in
several regional areas of the Member State concerned,
(ii) or account for at least 15 % of the average production of olive
oil or table olives in that Member State.
(c) Other operators' organisations in the olive sector must be composed
exclusively of operators in the olive sector who are not part ofanother organisation approved under point (c) and, in the yearpreceding the current marketing year, either generated at least
50 % of their turnover from the processing of olives or the sale of
olive oil or table olives, or marketed more than 5 000 tonnes ofolive oil or more than 1 000 tonnes of table olives and have atleast:
(i) 20 member operators marketing or processing a total quantity
greater than the equivalent of 15 000 tonnes of olive oil or3 000 tonnes of table olives,
(ii) or 15 % of the average production of olive oil or table olives of
the Member State concerned.
(d) Interbranch organisations recognised by the Member States in
which they conduct their activities within the meaning of Article
4a(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 and which provide a broadand balanced representation of all economic activities linked tothe production and processing of, and trade in, olive oil and/ortable olives;
3. Without prejudice to Article 10(1) of this Regulation, operators'
organisations in the olive sector and associations thereof approvedunder Article 20c of Regulation No 136/66/EEC and other operators'organisations in the olive sector recognised by the Member State whichsubmit a work programme in accordance with Article 5 shall be
deemed approved under this Regulation where they meet the criteria
referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.
Article 3
Procedure for approving operators' organisations in the olive
sector
1. For the purposes of approval, operators' organisations in the olive
sector must lodge, by a date to be determined by the Member State butno later than 31 March 2003, an application demonstrating that theymeet the conditions laid down in Article 2.
2. During the two months following that in which the full applica-
tion file is lodged, the operators' organisation in the olive sector shallbe approved by the Member State and shall receive an approvalnumber.
3. Approval shall be rejected, suspended or withdrawn immediately
if the operators' organisation in the olive sector does not meet theconditions for approval or is being prosecuted by the competentnational body for irregularities in respect of this Regulation.
Article 4
Activities eligible forCommunityfunding
1. The activities that are eligible for Community funding under
Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 (hereinafter referred to as2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 4
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‘eligible activities’) in the area of market follow-upand administrative
management in the olive oil and table olives sectors are:
(a) collecting data on the sector and the market, in accordance with
specifications relating to method, geographical representativenessand precision laid down by the competent national authority;
(b) drawing upstudies, in p articular on subjects linked to the other
activities provided for in the work programme of the operators'organisation concerned.
2. Eligible activities in the area of improving the environmental
impacts of olive cultivation are:
(a) collective operations to maintain olive groves of high environ-
mental value at risk of abandonment, in conformity with specified
conditions, on the basis of objective criteria, by the competent
national authority in particular concerning the areas which may beeligible and the area and the minimum number of olive oil produ-cers who must be involved to make the operations in questioneffective;
(b) developing good agricultural practice in olive growing, based on
environmental criteria adapted to local conditions, its disseminationamong olive growers and following up its practical application;
(c) practical demonstrations of olive growing techniques geared
towards environmental protection and stewardship of the country-
side;
(d) adding environmental data to the geographic information system
(GIS) referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98.
3. Eligible activities in the area of improving the production quality
of olive oil and table olives are:
(a) improving conditions for growing (in particular controlling olive
fly), harvesting, delivering and storing olives prior to processing,in accordance with the technical specifications laid down by thecompetent national authority;
(b) improving conditions for storage and use of the residues of olive
oil and table olive production;
(c) technical assistance to the olive oil processing industry on aspects
linked to the quality of products;
(d) setting upand imp roving laboratories for the analysis of virgin
olive oils.
4. Eligible activities in the area of traceability, certification and
protection of the quality of olive oil and table olives are:
(a) setting upand managing systems allowing p roducts to be traced
from the olive grower through to packaging and labelling, in accor-dance with specifications set out by the competent national
authority;
(b) setting upand managing quality certification systems, based on a
system of risk analysis and checks on critical points, which is in
conformity with technical criteria adopted by the competent
national authority;
(c) setting upand managing systems to monitor comp liance with
norms attesting to the authenticity, quality and marketing of theolive oil and table olives placed on the market, in accordance withthe technical specifications laid down by the competent nationalauthority.
5. The following activities shall not be eligible for Community
funding under Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98:
(a) activities which are in receipt of Community funding other than
that provided for in Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98;
(b) activities aiming at a direct increase in production or involving a
rise in storage or processing capacity;2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 5
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(c) activities linked to the purchase or storage of olive oil or table
olives or having an impact on their prices;
(d) activities linked to the commercial promotion of olive oil or table
olives;
(e) activities linked to scientific research.
6. Member States may adopt additional conditions specifying the
eligible activities referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this Article,
without rendering the implementation or presentation of activities in
these fields impossible.
Article 5
Workprogrammesofoperators'organisationsintheolive sector
1. The work programmes eligible for Community funding under
Article 4a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 shall be composed of
activities as referred to in Article 4 of this Regulation and shall becarried out between 1 November 2002 and 31 October 2004.
2. Each operators' organisation in the olive sector approved under
this Regulation may lodge an application for Community funding forone single work programme by a date to be determined by the MemberState but no later than 31 March 2003.
The application shall consist of the following:
(a) details of the operators' organisation in question;
(b) information on the selection criteria referred to in Article 6(1);
(c) a description and justification of the proposed activities, and a
timetable;
(d) the planned expenditure, broken down by activity and by area of
activities as referred to in Article 4, separately listing the over-heads, which may not exceed 2 % of the total, and the other maintypes of cost;
(e) the financing plan by area of activities referred to in Article 4, indi-
cating in particular the Community funding applied for and, where
appropriate, the financial contributions from operators and thenational contribution;
(f) the description of the quantitative and qualitative indicators of effi-
ciency allowing the ex-post assessment of the programme;
(g) proof that a bank security for an amount equivalent to at least 5 %
of the requested Community funding has been lodged;
(h) where appropriate, an application for an advance under Article 8;
(i) a declaration from the organisation concerned to the effect that no
other Community funding has been granted for the programmeactivities;
(j) for interbranch organisations and associations of producer organisa-
tions, details of the operators' organisations responsible for the
actual implementation of the subcontracted activities in theirprogrammes;
(k) for operators' organisations in the olive sector forming part of an
association of producers or of an interbranch organisation, a state-
ment that the activities provided for in their programmes are not
covered by any of another application for Community fundingunder this Regulation.
Article 5a
AllocationofCommunityfunding
1. The maximum Community funding for the 2002/2003 and 2003/
2004 marketing years that under Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002 may be allocated to the eligible activities of operators' organisa-tions in the olive sector shall be cumulable in each Member State for2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 6
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the purposes of the range of programmes indicated in Article 5 of this
Regulation.
2. In each Member State a minimum percentage of the maximum
Community funding established in line with Article 2 of Regulation(EC) No 1873/2002 shall be devoted to each field of activity, as
follows:
— market follow-upand administrative management in the olive oil
and table olive sector: 15 %,
— improving the environmental impact of olive cultivation: 15 %,
— improving the production quality of olive oil and table olives: 15 %,
— traceability, certification and quality protection for olive oil and
table olives: 10 %.
3. If the Community funding required for all the programmes
approved in a Member State in a particular field of activity accounts
for less than the minimum percentage indicated in paragraph 2 the
difference between the two amounts shall, subject to compliance withthe requirement indicated in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002, be allocated to the olive oil production aid indicated in Article5 of Regulation No 136/66/EEC.
Article 6
Selection ofworkprogrammes
1. Member States shall select the work programmes on the basis of
the following criteria:
(a) the general quality of the programme and its consistency with the
goals and priorities of the olive sector in the area concerned, as laiddown by the Member State;
(b) the sufficiency of the financial resources of the operators' organisa-
tion concerned for the purposes of implementing the proposedactivities;
(c) the extent of the area involved in the work programme;
(d) the relation between the amount of Community funding requested
and the volume of olive production sold by the members of theoperators' organisation concerned;
(e) the differences in the economic situation of the area involved taken
into account in the work programme;
(f) the existence of several areas of activities and the size of the finan-
cial contribution from the operators.
Member States shall take account of the distribution of applications
among the different types of operators' organisations in the olive sectorreferred to in Article 2 and of the extent of olive-growing in each area.
2. Member States shall exclude from the selection process any work
programmes that are incomplete or contain inaccurate information, orcontain one of the ineligible activities referred to in Article 4(5).
3. No later than 31 May 2003, Member States shall approve the
work programmes to which they have granted the correspondingnational funding. The Member States shall inform the operators' orga-nisations concerned thereof.
Final approval of a work programme may be made subject to the incor-
poration of amendments judged necessary by the Member State.
Should the proposed work programme not be selected, the Member
State shall immediately release the security referred to in Article5(2)(g).2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 7
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Article 7
Amendmentstoworkprogrammes
Operators organisations in the olive sector may, in accordance with a
procedure laid down by the Member State, request that their approvedwork programme be amended in respect of one of the fields of activity
referred to in Article 4, provided that this does not involve any increase
in funding.
Requests for amendment shall be accompanied by supporting docu-
ments setting out the reasons for and the nature and implications ofthe proposed changes.
Article 8
Advances
1. An operators' organisation in the olive sector which has lodged an
application in accordance with Article 5(2)(h) shall receive, under theconditions referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, an advance of amaximum 90 % of the Community contribution provided for in theperiod concerned by the approved work programme.
2. During the month following the approval of the work programme
in question, the Member State shall pay to the operators' organisationconcerned one-third of the amount referred to in paragraph 1 and, after16 October 2003, the remaining two-thirds, once it has verified that thefirst tranche of the advance has actually been spent.
3. The payments referred to in paragraph 2 shall be subject to the
lodging of a security by the operators' organisation concerned in accor-dance with Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 of an amount equal to 110 %of the advance requested. The main requirement within the meaning of
Article 20 of that Regulation is the implementation of the measures
listed in the approved work programme.
4. By a date to be determined by the Member State but no later than
31 May 2004, the operators' organisations concerned may lodge an
application for release of the security referred to in paragraph 3 up to
an amount equal to half the expenditure actually carried out. TheMember State shall lay down which supporting documents mustaccompany this application and check them, and shall release the secu-rities corresponding to the expenditure concerned no later than in thecourse of the second month following that in which the application is
lodged.
Article 9
PaymentofCommunityfunding
1. For the purposes of payment of the Community funding under
Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 or, where appropriate, thebalance thereof, operators' organisations in the olive sector shall lodge,by a date to be determined by the Member State but no later than 31January 2005, an application with the competent national authority.
The Community funding corresponding to the above applications
submitted after that date shall be reduced by an amount equal to 1 %per working day late. Applications submitted after 25 February 2005shall be inadmissible.
2. To be admissible the applications referred to in paragraph 1 shall
be accompanied by
(a) supporting documents proving:
(i) the expenditure effected in the period concerned;
(ii) where appropriate, payment of the financial contributions of
the operators and the Member State concerned;
(b) a summary report comprising the following:
(i) a description of the work implemented under the programme,
broken down by area of activity as referred to in Article 4;2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 8
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(ii) where appropriate, the justification and the financial repercus-
sions of the gaps between forecasts and work actuallyimplemented;
(iii) an evaluation of the results based on the indicators laid down
in Article 5(2)(f).
3. In the case of activities completed by 31 October 2004 and for
which payment is made after that deadline, the Community fundingshall be reduced by 1 % per day late in the first 30 days and by 2 %for each day thereafter.
4. During the three months following the month in which the full
application file referred to in paragraph 1 is lodged, and once they
have carried out the examination of the documents referred to in para-graph 2 and the checks referred to in Article 10, Member States shallpay the Community funding that is due and release the correspondingsecurity.
Article 10
Checksandpenalties
1. Member States shall verify that the conditions for granting
Community funding are met, in particular as regards compliance with
the approval requirements, implementation of the approved workprogrammes, the expenditure actually implemented and the financialcontribution by the olive operators concerned. To that end, they shallcarry out a control plan involving a sample determined on the basis ofa risk analysis and comprising at least 30 % of producers organisations
in the olive sector and all the other operators' organisations in the olive
sector in receipt of Community funding under this Regulation.
2. Member States shall specify or, as appropriate, lay down a system
of penalties for irregularities under this Regulation. Those penaltiesmust be effective, proportionate and act as a deterrent and comprise,
for the most serious cases, withdrawal of approval and financial penal-
ties of an amount at least double that of the Community fundinginvolved in the irregularity.
3. Under the system of controls referred to in paragraph 1, an indi-
vidual file shall be opened on each operators' organisation in the olivesector that has been subject to checks. These files shall include proof of
the verifications and checks carried out and, where appropriate, an indi-
cation of the anomalies found and the penalties applied.
Article 11
CommunicationsfromtheMember States
1. No later than 31 December 2002 the Member States producing
olive oil shall communicate to the Commission the national provisionsrelating in particular to:
(a) the conditions for approval of the operators' organisations referred
to in Article 2(2),
(b) the additional specifications and conditions relating to the eligible
activities referred to in Article 4(1), (2), (3), (4) and (6) of thisRegulation,
(c) the goals and priorities of the olive sector referred to in Article
6(1)(a),
(d) the arrangements for the system of advances referred to in Article 8
and, where appropriate, the system for paying the national funding,
(e) the control plan and system of penalties referred to in Article 10.
1a. By 28 February 2003 Member States shall notify the Commis-
sion of their decisions for each of the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004marketing years on the derogation from Article 20d(1) of RegulationNo 136/66/EEC for which Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002provides.2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 9
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2. Before 30 June 2003 Member States shall inform the Commission
of their decisions for each of the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 marketingyears on the derogation from Article 5(9) of Regulation No 136/66/
EEC for which Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002 provides.
Before 30 June 2003 Member States shall send the Commission data
on the approved olive sector operators' organisations and workprogrammes and the features of the latter (to be broken down by typeof producer organisation as indicated in Article 2 above and byregional area) and on the funding amounts withheld under Article
4a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 for the 2002/2003 and 2003/
2004 marketing years (to be broken down by field of activity).
3. No later than 30 April 2005, Member States shall transmit to the
Commission a report on the implementation of this Regulationcomprising at least the following:
(a) numbers of programmes funded, recipients, areas, mills, processing
facilities and volumes of oil and table olives concerned;
(b) characteristics of the activities developed in each of the areas of
activity referred to in Article 4;
(c) any discrepancy between activities planned and activities actually
carried out;
(d) a description and evaluation of results, based in particular on the
evaluations of the work programmes referred to in the third indentof Article 9(2)(b)(iii);
(e) a description of the controls carried out and the penalties proposed
and applied in accordance with Article 10;
(f) expenditure by programme and by area of activity referred to in
Article 4, and the Community, national and operators' financial
contributions.
Article 12
Entryintoforce
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply from 1 November 2002.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.2002R1334 — EN — 01.11.2002 — 001.001 — 10
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