Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) providing for additional payments to be made in 1996 with the premia referred to in Article 4b (6) and Article 4d (7) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal and amending Article 4i (4) of that Regulation

(96/C 205/06)

COM(96) 242 final - 96/0148(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 3 May 1996)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty of the European Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 (1) provides for the payment of premia in respect of male bovine animals and of suckler cows, designed to compensate producers for the consequences of a reduction in the intervention price at the time of reform of the sector;

Whereas the market for beef has been seriously disturbed as a result of consumer concerns in relation to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and with a view to assuring the future of the sector, additional resources shall be made available; whereas in order to enable rapid payment and to achieve the desired economic effect, such resources shall generally be made available in the form of payments in addition to the premia due in respect of animals eligible in the 1995 calendar year, as the necessary data is already available; whereas, however, producers shall only be entitled to such additional payments to the extent that the number of eligible animals for which they are entitled to premium in respect of the 1996 calendar year is not reduced as compared with the 1995 calendar year;

Whereas overpayments shall be set off against a producer's entitlement to premia in respect of the 1996 calendar year or, where this is not possible, repaid to the competent authority of the Member State concerned; whereas the sum of money represented by such overpayments shall be allocated to producers whose entitlement to premia in respect of the 1996 calendar year is greater than that in respect of the 1995 calendar year, pro rata to their additional entitlement;

Whereas the additional payments to producers who receive a premium may not, depending on the particular production structure of a Member State, address fully the problems of certain producers; whereas Member States should be given the possibility to make payments to such producers; whereas the amount of money available to a Member State for this purpose should reflect the size, of its bovine herd, excluding dairy cows;

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 provides for a processing premium payable in relation to male calves removed from production before they exceed ten days old; whereas experience has shown that the period between the time when a calf may be moved off a farm and its required removal from production is extremely short; whereas it should therefore be made possible for the Commission to allow an increase in the ten-day age limit in certain circumstances;

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING REGULATION:

Article 1

1. A producer whose entitlement to beef special premium under Article 4b of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 in respect of animals kept in the 1995 calendar year is established shall, subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, be entitled to an additional ECU 21 for each premium which he receives. The additional payment shall, where possible, be made together with the payment of the premium referred to in Article 4b (6).

2. A producer whose entitlement to suckler cow premium under Article 4d of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 in respect of animals kept in the 1995 calendar year is established shall, subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, be entitled to an additional ECU 25 for each premium which he receives. The additional payment shall, where possible, be made together with the payment of the premium referred to in Article 4d (7).

3. Entitlement to the additional payments referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be subject to the establishment of entitlement to premium for at least the same number of animals retained in the 1996 calendar year as that for which the producer concerned received additional payments in respect of the 1995 calendar year.

4. Member States shall take all the necessary measures to ensure that when the additional payments are made to producers they are made aware of the fact that their entitlement to those payments is subject to the condition set out in paragraph 3.

Article 2

1. Where the number of animals for which entitlement to premia is established in relation to the 1996 calendar year is less than that for which a producer received additional payments under Article 1, the part of the additional payments to which he was not entitled shall be set off against his entitlement to premia under Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 for the 1996 calendar year.

2. Where a producer does not make an application for premia under Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 in respect of the 1996 calendar year or where the premia to which he is entitled are insufficent to make the set off referred to in paragraph 1, he shall be required to repay the additional payments made under Article 1 to which he was not entitled.

Article 3

Producers whose entitlement to premia in respect of the calendar year 1996 relates to more animals than their entitlement in respect of the calendar year 1995 shall be eligible for further additional payments. Such payments shall only be made:

- to the extent that additional payments made to producers who were not eligible for them are repaid or recouped, and

- pro rata to the additional number of premia received in respect of the 1996 calendar year.

Article 4

Member States may:

(a) use the amounts set out in the Annex to make payments to producers in the beef and veal sector who are facing acute problems as a result of the market situation, which are not fully addressed by the measures referred to in Articles 1 to 3; and

(b) pay national aid to such producers in addition to the payments under point (a) to the extent that such national aid does not lead to the estimated income loss being exceeded.

Article 5

The conversion rate to be applied shall be the agricultural rate valid on 1 January 1996.

Article 6

The measures introduced by this Regulation, with the exception of the national aid referred to in Article 4, shall be deemed to be intervention intended to stabilize agricultural markets within the meaning of Article 3 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.

The Community shall finance the expenditure incurred by Member States in relation to the payments referred to in Article 1 and Article 4 (1) (a) only where such payments are made by them by 15 October 1996 at the latest.

Article 7

In Article 4i (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 the following indent shall be added:

'- may, on the basis of a duly justified application setting out adequate control measures to be carried out, authorize a Member State to pay the premium referred to in paragraph 1 in respect of animals withdrawn from production before exceeding the age of 20 days.`

Article 8

Member States shall take all the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Regulation.

Article 9

Any detailed rules necessary for the application of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.

Article 10

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

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

(1) OJ No L 114, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24. Regulation last amended by . . .

ANNEX

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