COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1437/97 of 23 July 1997 fixing for the 1997/98 marketing year the minimum price to be paid to producers and the buying-in price to be applied by storage agencies for unprocessed dried figs, the amount of production aid for dried figs, and amending Regulation (EEC) No 626/85

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organization of the market in products processed from fruit and vegetables (1), and in particular Articles 3 (3), 4 (9) and 9 (8) thereof,

Whereas Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/97 of 19 March 1997 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 as regards the system of production aid for products processed from fruit and vegetables (2) fixes the dates of the marketing years;

Whereas Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 set the criteria for fixing the minimum price and the amount of the production aid respectively;

Whereas Articles 1 and 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1709/84 of 19 June 1984 on minimum prices payable to producers and amounts of production aid for certain processed fruit and vegetables eligible for production aid (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2322/89 (4), define the categories of unprocessed dried figs and dried figs respectively for which the minimum price and the aid are fixed; whereas, therefore, the minimum price and production aid for the 1997/98 marketing year should be fixed;

Whereas the criteria for fixing the price at which storage agencies but in dried figs are determined in Article 9 (2) (a) of Regulation (EC) No 2201/96; whereas a single buying-in price equal to the minimum price reduced by 5 %, corresponding to category D as defined in Part I of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 1709/84 should be fixed;

Whereas paragraph 3 of Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 626/85 of 12 March 1985 on the purchasing, selling and storage of unprocessed dried grapes and figs by storage agencies (5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1363/95 (6), should be deleted since the provisions of that paragraph are now null and void;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Products processed from Fruit and Vegetables,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

For the 1997/98 marketing year:

(a) the minimum price referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 shall be ECU 80,496 per 100 kilograms net from the producer for unprocessed dried figs in category C;

(b) the production aid referred to in Article 4 of that Regulation shall be ECU 27,986 per 100 kilograms net for dried figs in category C.

Article 2

For the 1997/98 marketing year, the buying-in price referred to in Article 9 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 shall be ECU 58,741 per 100 kilograms net.

Article 3

Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 626/85 is hereby deleted.

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from 1 July 1997.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 23 July 1997.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 297, 21. 11. 1996, p. 29.

(2) OJ No L 78, 20. 3. 1997, p. 14.

(3) OJ No L 162, 20. 6. 1984, p. 8.

(4) OJ No L 220, 27. 9. 1989, p. 58.

(5) OJ No L 72, 13. 3. 1985, p. 7.

(6) OJ No L 132, 16. 6. 1995, p. 8.