Commission Regulation (EC) No 94/98 of 14 January 1998 on olive oil storage contracts for the 1997/98 marketing year
Date: 1998-01-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: contract, intervention agency, intervention stock, marketing, olive oil, storage

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 94/98

of 14 January 1998

on olive oil storage contracts for the 1997/98 marketing year

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation No 136/66/EEC of
22 September 1966 on the establishment of a common
in oils and fats (1), as last
organisation of
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1581/96 (2), and in par-
ticular Article 20d(3) and (4) thereof,

the market

are met,

that, when certain conditions

Whereas Article 20d(3) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC
provides
a
decision may be taken that producer groups and associa-
tions recognised pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC)
No 1360/78 (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
3669/93 (4), may conclude storage contracts for olive oil;
whereas the market prices in certain producer Member
States, at
the production stage and primarily for the
quality of olive oil which is of greatest importance in
terms of the prices of most of the olive oils consumed in
the Community, have been found to be close to the inter-
vention price; whereas therefore the conditions laid down
by Regulation No 136/66/EEC and Commission Regula-
tion (EEC) No 314/88 (5), as amended by Regulation
(EEC) No 3788/89 (6), are met in those Member States;
whereas permission to conclude storage contracts should
therefore be granted for this marketing year;

Whereas the aim behind private storage must be the
improved marketing of olive oil; whereas the period
during which storage contracts may be concluded should
therefore be restricted; whereas, moreover, the offering of
oil
the storage contract
should be discouraged; whereas it is accordingly desirable
to reduce the storage aid if the oil is subsequently offered
for intervention;

for intervention on expiry of

Whereas it is desirable to specify that entitlement to aid
for a storage contract is annulled by the acceptance of an
export declaration;

Whereas the Management Committee for Oils and Fats
has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by
its chairman,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The intervention agencies in the producer Member States
shall conclude olive oil storage contracts for the 1997/98
marketing year as provided for in this Regulation.

Whereas the aim behind private storage contracts is
temporary withdrawal of products from a market in im-
balance, without change of ownership, so that they can be
put on the market again when the situation has returned
to normal; whereas it should therefore be specified that
storage contracts may be entered into only for olive oil
produced during the current marketing year and ceilings
for each country should be fixed;

Whereas only recognized groups and associations may be
authorised to store oil produced by their members;
whereas in order to enable them to refrain from mar-
keting the oil that they hold, aid should be granted;

(1) OJ 172, 30. 9. 1966, p. 3025/66.
(2) OJ L 206, 16. 8. 1996, p. 11.
(3) OJ L 166, 23. 6. 1978, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 338, 31. 12. 1993, p. 26.
(5) OJ L 31, 3. 2. 1988, p. 16.
(6) OJ L 367, 16. 12. 1989, p. 44.

Article 2

1.
Storage contracts (hereinafter called ‘contracts’) shall
be concluded only with recognised groups or associations
within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 1360/78
which hold olive oil of Community origin produced by
their own members and which have appropriate storage
facilities at their disposal.

2.
Contracts shall relate only to olive oil qualities
that may be offered for intervention and to lots of at least
100 tonnes net.

3.
Contracts shall be concluded for a period of 60 days.
They shall be automatically renewed for 60-day periods if
the party concerned does not, before expiry of the period,
ask the intervention agency to cancel the contract, always

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the new expiry date is not

provided that
later than
31 October 1998 and, except where the possibility of
concluding new contracts or renewing them is suspended,
as provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 314/88.

4.
The maximum quantity that may be covered by
contracts at any one time during the 1997/98 marketing
year shall be 100 000 tonnes, broken down as follows:

— 70 000 tonnes in Italy,

— 30 000 tonnes in Greece.

Article 3

1. With a view to conclusion of a contract, a written
application must be lodged, by 19 May 1998 at the latest,
with the intervention agency of
the Member State in
which the olive oil is located. It must be accompanied by
proof that security of ECU 1 per 100 kilograms of oil has
been lodged.

2.
Applications must be lodged on Mondays or Tues-
days of each week. On Thursdays, by 2 p.m. Brussels time
at the latest, Member States shall notify the Commission
of the quantities for which valid applications have been
made and for which contracts expired in the previous
week.

(a) the business name of the co-contracting party;

(b) its full postal address;

(c) the name and address of the intervention agency;

(d) the exact address of the place of storage;

(e) the number and individual particulars of

the lots
covered by the contract and the net weight and
quality of each lot;

(f)

the consent of the owner of the oil stored,
co-contracting party is not himself the owner;

if the

(g) the date of commencement of the contract;

(h) the reference to this Regulation;

(i)

the date of conclusion of the contract.

Contracts

2.
incumbent upon the co-contracting party:

shall make the following obligations

(a) that of holding in store during the period stipulated
the agreed quantity of the relevant product on his own
behalf and at his own risk in containers specified in
the contract, any change to be authorized by the inter-
vention agency;

(b) that of storing oils of differing qualities in separate

and identifiable containers;

(c) that of allowing the intervention agency to verify at
laid down in the
the obligations

any time that
contract are in fact being complied with.

The Commission shall each week total the quantities for
which applications have been made and shall, until
the maximum quantity specified in
exhaustion of
Article 2(4), authorize Member States to accept the appli-
cations made. Should there be a risk of exhaustion of the
quantity it shall authorise acceptance proportionally to
the quantities applied for within the limit of the quantity
available.

3.
The co-contracting party may, at any time, cancel
the contract by notifying the intervention agency. He
shall
to aid for the current
60-day period.

thereby lose entitlement

4.
The obligation of compliance with the quantity
shown in the contract shall be deemed to be met if at
least 98 % of that quantity has been maintained in store.

3.
After authorisation by the Commission, contracts
shall be concluded without discrimination and as rapidly
as possible. The date of conclusion of the contract shall
be that on which notification of acceptance of the rel-
evant application is sent by the intervention agency. The
date of commencement of the contract shall be the day
following the date of conclusion, unless the applicant has
requested a later date.

4. Only olive oil produced in the Community during
the current marketing year may be the subject of a
contract.

Article 4

Article 5

For each 60-day period, the following aid shall be

1.
granted:

— ECU 5,4 per 100 kilograms if

the storage agency
provides evidence, within 60 days following the date
of expiry of the contract, that the olive oil has been
placed on the market,

— ECU 0 per 100 kilograms in all other cases.

2.
For the purposes of this Regulation ‘placed on the
market’ means that the oil has either been sold and de-
to
livered to a packaging plant approved pursuant
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2677/85 (1) or to a
refiner or has been exported.

Contracts shall be drawn up in two copies and shall

1.
include the following information:

(1) OJ L 254, 25. 9. 1985, p. 5.

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3.
An amount of ECU 1 per 100 kilograms may be
paid in advance on conclusion or renewal of the contract
against security for an equivalent amount.

The rate applicable for the conversion into national
4.
currency for the amount of the storage aid shall be the
agricultural conversion rate in force on the day of conclu-
sion of the contract.

The amount of

the aid shall be calculated by
5.
reference to the net weight ascertained on the date of
commencement of the contract.

Article 6

1.
Subject to Article 7, the aid shall be paid only where
all the obligations in the contract have been complied
with.

The aid shall be paid, and the securities specified in
Articles 3(1) and 5(3) released, after verification of compli-
ance with the said obligations, within 60 days following
expiry of the contract.

2.
Acceptance of an export declaration shall terminate
the storage arrangement. In this case no aid shall be paid
for the period in progress at the time of such acceptance
for the quantity entered in the export declaration.

Article 7

1.
In cases of force majeure, the intervention agency
shall determine what action is deems necessary given the
in particular,
circumstances invoked. Such action may,
involve payment of the aid due pro rata for the quantity
stored and the actual period of storage.

Article 8

1.
The Member States shall take all action necessary to
ensure, throughout the contractual storage period, verifica-
tion of compliance with the obligations laid down in the
contract. Such verification shall include physical inspec-
tion of the goods in store, removed from store or placed
in store and verification of the appropriate registers.

inspection shall

include verification that

the
Physical
stocks meet the requirements specified in Article 2(2) and
are capable of identification, and checks as to whether the
quantities stored and marked tally with the quantities
declared.

2.
Failure to comply with the contractual obligations
shall entail forfeiture of the security specified in Article 3
(1), without prejudice to any other penalties applicable.

3. Member States
national measures adopted in implementation of
Regulation, with a specimen of the contract.

shall notify to the Commission
this

Article 9

Member States shall notify the Commission by the 10th
of each month:

— of the quantities and qualities of olive oil for which
contracts have been concluded or renewed during the
preceding month,

— by quality, of the total quantities of olive oil in storage
at the end of the preceding month, and the total
number of current contracts.

Article 10

2. Member States shall inform the Commission of all
cases they deem to be cases of force majeure and of the
action taken in each case.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following 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.

Done at Brussels, 14 January 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission