COMMISSION DECISION of 21 September 1993 on financial aid from the Community within the framework of the Community action concerning reserves of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines (Only the English, French, German and Italian texts are authentic)

(93/527/EEC)THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,

Having regard to Council Decision 90/424/EEC of 26 June 1990 on expenditure in the veterinary field (1), as last amended by Commission Decision 93/439/EEC (2), and in particular Article 14 thereof,

Whereas, in conformity with Council Decision 91/666/EEC of 11 December 1991 establishing Community reserves of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines (3), the constitution of banks of antigens is a part of the Community action to establish Community reserves of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines;

Whereas, in accordance with Article 3 of the said Decision the Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright (United Kingdom), the Laboratoire de pathologie bovine du centre national d'études vétérinaires et alimentaires, Lyon (France), Bayer AG, Cologne (Germany), and the Istituto (Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, Brescia (Italy), have been nominated as antigen banks, to provide storage for the Community reserves;

Whereas all the functions and duties to be carried out by the antigen banks in connection with the vaccine reserves have been determined in Article 4 of that Decision;

Whereas therefore provisions should be made for Community financial aid to the banks to enable them to carry out the functions and duties provided for in that Decision;

Whereas in the first instance, Community financial aid should be provided for a period of one year; whereas this will be reviewed with a view to extension prior to expiry of the initial period;

Whereas in accordance with Article 40 of Council Decision 90/424/EEC, checks provided for in Articles 8 and 9 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21 April 1970 concerning the financing of the common agricultural policy (4), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2048/88 (5), shall apply; whereas, moreover, certain particular provisions should be made;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Veterinary Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Community shall provide financial assistance to the antigen banks provided for in Article 3 (1) of Decision 91/666/EEC up to a maximum of ECU 700 000.

Article 2

1. To meet the objectives of Article 1, the Commission shall conclude a contract, in the name of the European Economic Community, with each of the antigen banks.

2. The Director-general of the Directorate-General for Agriculture shall be authorized to sign the contracts on behalf of the Commission of the European Communities.

3. The contracts referred to in Article 1 shall have a duration of one year.

4. The financial aid provided for in Article 1 shall be paid to the antigen banks in accordance with the terms of the contracts provided for in paragraph 1.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Done at Brussels, 21 September 1993.

For the Commission

René STEICHEN

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 224, 18. 8. 1990, p. 19.

(2) OJ No L 203, 13. 8. 1993, p. 34.

(3) OJ No L 368, 31. 12. 1991, p. 21.

(4) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.

(5) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 1.