1999R1923 — EN — 12.09.1999 — 000.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1923/1999
of 8 September 1999
amending Regulation (EC) No 411/97 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards operational programmes, operational funds and
Community financial assistance
(OJ L 238, 9.9.1999, p. 11)
Corrected by:
►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 287, 10.11.1999, p. 14 (1923/1999)
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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1923/1999
of 8 September 1999
amendingRegulation(EC)No411/97layingdowndetailedrulesfor
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regardsoperational programmes, operational funds and Community finan-
cial assistance
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October
1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and veget-ables (
1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 (2) and in
particular Article 48 thereof,
(1) Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 411/97 (3), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1013/1999 (4) lays down
detailed rules for operational programmes, operational funds andCommunity financial assistance;
(2) Whereas the factors comprising production marketed by producerorganisations should be amended to exclude quantities relating todirect sales because the latter do not involve activity on the partof the producer organisation and are very difficult to monitor;
(3) Whereas, in order to allow producer organisations to draw uptheir operational programmes on the basis of actual data andtaking account of experience gained, the reference period forestablishing the value of production marketed by producer organ-isations should be postponed so as to avoid the establishment ofan estimated operational fund requiring updating; whereas inorder to guarantee the maximum flexibility taking account ofnational needs a time limit should be set for postponement of thereference period with Member States given the responsibility ofchoosing an earlier twelve-month period if need be; whereas, inaddition, to guarantee equal treatment for all products intendedfor processing eligible for an aid system under Council Regula-tions (EC) No 2201/96 on the common organisation of themarket in products processed from fruit and vegetables (
5), as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 2199/97 (6), and No 2202/96 of
28 October 1996 introducing a Community aid scheme for produ-cers of certain citrus fruit (
7), the aid referred to in Article 1 of
Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 received by producer organisationsshould be added to the value of marketed production of citrusfruit;
(4) Whereas the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 411/97 should beamended so as to stipulate that investments by producer organ-isations for the processing of fruit and vegetables are excludedfrom financing under operational programmes while specifyingthat certain operations preparing products for processing tradi-tionally carned out by farmers are not to be considered asprocessing;
(5) Whereas, to take account of experience gained, certain adjust-ments should be made to the rules on applications for and thepayment of Community financial assistance and on penalties;
(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.
(3) OJ L 62, 4.3.1997, p. 9.
(4) OJ L 123, 13.5.1999, p. 42.
(5) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 29.
(6) OJ L 303, 6.11.1997, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 49.
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(6) Whereas amendments having a direct impact on the preparation
and content of operational programmes must be made to apply tothe next annual period for the application of operationalprogrammes, which starts on 1 January 2000; whereas, however,it is necessary to grant Member States the possibility of retainingprogrammes approved before the entry into force of this Regula-tion if adjusting them would be inappropriate given their state ofadvancement;
(7) Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are inaccordance with the opinion of the Management Committee forFresh Fruit and Vegetables,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 411/97 is hereby amended as follows:
1. In Article 2, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:
‘4. For the purposes of this Regulation, “marketed production”
means the products of members of producer organisations forwhich the latter are recognised, disposed of under the conditionslaid down in the first and second subparagraphs of Article11(1)(c)(3), with the exception of the first indent thereof, of Regu-lation (EC) No 2200/96.'
2. The first subparagraph of Article 2(5) is replaced by the following:
‘5. For the purpose of applying the third subparagraph of
Article 15(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, the ceiling on finan-cial assistance shall be calculated on the basis of the value ofmarketed production during a one-year reference period to bedetermined by the Member States. That period shall commence noearlier than 1 January of the second year preceding that for whichthe ceiling is fixed and shall end no later than 30 June of the yearpreceding that for which the ceiling is fixed. The value ofmarketed production shall be increased by the amount of the aid asprovided for in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 receivedby producer organisations during the same period.
On the basis of objective criteria, Member States may set two
different reference periods.'
3. In the second subparagraph of Article 7(1), point (b) is replaced by
the following:
‘(b) the value of marketed production established in accordance
with the first subparagraph of Article 2(5).'
4. Article 7(3) is deleted.5. Article 7(4) is replaced by the following:
‘4. Before 31 January, Member States shall send the Commis-
sion a summary of the estimated amounts of the operational funds,indicating separately the value of marketed production on whichthose amounts are calculated, and a summary of the estimatedamounts of financial assistance. They shall also forward the infor-mation referred to in Article 2(6).'
6. The second subparagraph of Article 8(1) is replaced by the
following:
‘Applications for advance payments shall be made in January,
April, July and October. They shall cover foreseeable expenditurearising from operational programmes for the three-month periodstarting in the month in which the application is submitted. Totaladvance payments made for a given year may not exceed 90 % ofthe estimated amount of financial assistance and ►
C12,5 % of
the value of production marketed ◄by the producer organisation,
less the estimated expenditure on withdrawals as referred to atpoint (a) of the second subparagraph of Article 7(1).'
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7. The following paragraph is added to Article 8:
‘4. Alternatively, at their request producer organisations may
opt for a system of applications for a proportion of the Communityfinancial assistance covering expenditure resulting from the opera-tional programme. Applications for a proportion of the financialassistance shall be submitted in April, July and October and shallcover expenditure incurred during the three preceding months.They shall be accompanied by suitable supporting documents.Total payments in respect of applications for a proportion of thefinancial assistance may not exceed 90 % of the estimated amountof financial assistance and 2,25 % of the value of the producerorganisation’s marketed production, less estimated expenditure onwithdrawals as referred to at point (a) of the second subparagraphof Article 7(1).
Applications for a proportion of the financial assistance covering
withdrawals may, where applicable, be submitted together withapplications as referred to in the first subparagraph. Such applica-tions shall be subject to the limits referred to in the third subpara-graph of paragraph 2.'
8. The following paragraph is added to Article 9:
‘4. Once the checks laid down have been carried out, Member
States shall pay the financial assistance to the producer organ-isations which have submitted applications for financial assistancenot exceeding 2,5 % of the value of their marketed production.Once the checks laid down have been carried out, they may paythe other producer organisations a first instalment of the financialassistance not exceeding 2,5 % of the value of their marketedproduction. The balance shall be paid once the ceiling is set inaccordance with the second paragraph of Article 10.'
9. Article 13(2) is replaced by the following:
‘2. Without prejudice to application of the ceiling referred to in
the second paragraph of Article 10, where the difference betweenthe assistance applied for in accordance with Article 9(1) or thatactually paid and the assistance payable is greater than 20 % of theassistance payable, the applicant shall not qualify for the assistancein respect of the year in question and the recipient shall be requiredto repay all of the assistance paid, plus interest as provided for inparagraph 1.'
10. The following point is added to the Annex:
‘17. Investments for the processing of fresh products; operations
carried out by producer organisations concerning preparationof the product, in particular cleaning, cutting, trimming,drying and packaging, with a view to its marketing, are notdeemed processing.'
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
Article 1(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (10) shall apply for the first time
to operational programmes implemented in 2000. Operationalprogrammes approved by Member States before the entry into force ofthis Regulation and whose application continues into 2000 must complywith this Regulation, if necessary by means of an amendment to berequested by producer organisations before 15 September 1999.
However, Member States may provide for the retention of programmes
approved before the entry into force of this Regulation if adjusting themwould be inappropriate given their state of advancement.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.