Commission Regulation (EC) No 142/98 of 21 January 1998 laying down detailed rules for granting the compensatory allowance for tuna intended for the processing industry
Date: 1998-01-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: cannery, monetary compensatory amount, processing industry, producer organisation, sea fish

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 142/98

of 21 January 1998

laying down detailed rules for granting the compensatory allowance for tuna
intended for the processing industry

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92
of 17 December 1992 on the common organisation of
the market in fishery and aquaculture products (1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 3318/94 (2), and in
particular Article 18(6) thereof,

Whereas Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92
provides for an allowance to be paid to producers’ organ-
isations if it is found that the prices of given products,
during a given quarter, are below a specified triggering
threshold;

Whereas,
for the purposes of applying the allowance
system, the selling price referred to in Article 18(1) of
Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92 should be defined;

Whereas, for the quantities for which entitlement to the
allowance has been established, rules should be laid down
governing the
and
payment of the allowance, including conditions relating
to furnishing proof of the Community origin and the
Community nature of the products;

submission of

applications

for

Whereas the framework and objectives of the control
procedure should be laid down, while it should be left to
the Member States’ control authorities to adopt suitable
provisions for effective regular monitoring of the system
introduced;

Whereas the allowance system is open to specific risks of
fraud, in particular on account of the fact that the alloca-
tion and payment of the allowance are decided after the
expiry of the quarterly periods concerned; whereas, with a
in the case of a false
view to minimising such risks,
declaration made intentionally or by serious negligence,
the beneficiary should pay the Member State an amount
equal to 50 % of the allowance concerned without pre-
judice to the recovery of the allowance and payment of
interest; in the case of a second infringement, the organ-
isation or the member concerned shall also be ineligible
for the allowance for the eight quarters following the
quarter concerned;

Whereas it should be laid down that an infringement of
the tuna allowance scheme with limited implications
does not entail the total withdrawal of the right to the
allowance but only a standard reduction thereof;

Whereas, to ensure the correct functioning of the system
in question, certain rules should be laid down regarding
the notifications to be made by the Member States;

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2381/89 of 2
August 1989 laying down detailed rules for granting
the canning
compensation to producers of
industry (3) should be repealed;

tuna for

Whereas the Management Committee for Fishery Prod-
ucts could not express an opinion as regards the measures
provided for in this Regulation within the time required
by its President,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

This Regulation lays down detailed rules for granting the
allowance referred to in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC)
No 3759/92, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Basic Regula-
tion'.

Article 2

The grant of

1.
the allowance and its maximum
amount shall be determined by means of a Regulation
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 32 of the Basic Regulation, where it has been
ascertained that the conditions laid down in Article 18(1)
of the Basic Regulation are met for the quarter in ques-
tion.

The allowance shall be granted to producers’ organ-
2.
isations, subject to the limits laid down in Article 18(3) of
the Basic Regulation, for the products listed in Annex III
to the said Regulation, caught by its members and sold
and delivered to processors established within the
customs territory of the Community for complete and
definitive processing into products falling within CN
code 1604.

Article 3

The average selling price recorded on the Community
market referred to in the first indent of Article 18(1) of
the Basic Regulation shall be determined by the

(1) OJ L 388, 31. 12. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 350, 31. 12. 1994, p. 15.

(3) OJ L 225, 3. 8. 1989, p. 33.

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Commission on the basis of the monthly average prices
notified by the Member States pursuant to Article 7(1)(b)
of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2210/93 (1).

(c) proof of delivery of the products in question to a
processor established in the customs territory of the
Community;

Member States shall determine the monthly average
prices on the basis of the selling prices during the refer-
ence month as invoiced by the producers’ organisations
or their members, at the stage of the first-hand sale in the
Community. The selling price shall be determined:

(cid:190) in the case of products sold at landing, for merchan-

dise on board, alongside quay,

(cid:190) in the case of products sold following storage by the
producers’ organisation or its members, at warehouse.

Article 4

Within the limits of the volumes as laid down in Article
18(3) of the Basic Regulation, the competent authorities
of the Member State concerned shall grant the allowance
to producers’ organisations in accordance with Article
18(4) of the said Regulation.

Article 5

The operations to be taken into account for determining
entitlement to the allowance shall be sales which have
invoice dates within the relevant quarter and which have
been taken into account
for calculating the average
monthly selling price referred to in Article 3.

Article 6

1. Applications for payment of the allowance, accom-
panied by the supporting documents referred to in para-
graph 2, shall be submitted by the producers’ organisa-
tion concerned, for all the operations taken into account
pursuant to Article 5, to the competent authorities of the
Member State in which the producers’ organisation is
established, not later than 45 days after the entry into
force of the Regulation provided for in Article 2(1).

2.

The supporting documents shall be as follows:

(a) a copy of the invoice for the sale of the products,
showing at least the names and addresses of the buyer
and seller, as referred to in Article 2(2) and, for each
consignment of a given category of product:

(cid:190) the quantity sold,

(cid:190) the selling price actually charged,

(cid:190) the date of delivery,

(cid:190) the place of delivery;

(b) proof of the Community origin and hence of the

Community nature of the products;

(d) proof of payment for the goods at the price referred

to in the second indent of point (a);

(e) a declaration by the processor

the quantity
purchased is intended for processing in accordance
with Article 2(2).

that

3.
Proof of Community origin and of Community
nature as required by paragraph 2(b) shall be furnished
by:

(cid:190) the T2M document in accordance with Articles 325
to 337 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/
93 (2).

To that end, the customs office which validated the
entry of the products into the customs territory of the
Community in accordance with Article 334 of Regu-
lation (EEC) No 2454/93 shall provide the applicant
with a single copy of the T2M document bearing the
‘SINGLE COPY FOR COMPENSATORY
words
ALLOWANCES'.

The applicant specified in box 1 of the T2M docu-
ment must be the producer who caught the products
for which the allowance application is submitted,

(EEC) No

(cid:190) where the customs authorities at the port where the
products are landed have waived production of the
T2M document within the meaning of Article 326(2)
of Regulation
of
2454/93,
established by the
Community origin shall be
declaration provided for in Article 8(1) of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (3) or by a document
duly endorsed by the competent authorities of the
Member State of landing certifying landing in the
customs territory of the Community,

proof

(cid:190) the document furnished as proof of origin of the
products must clearly indicate the species, presenta-
tion and weight of products. If necessary, it will be
supplemented by a certificate of weighing on landing
in the customs territory of the Community issued by
the competent authorities of the Member State of
landing.

Article 7

The allowance shall be paid to the producer’s or-
1.
ganisation by the Member State concerned within 75 days
of receipt of the complete file as referred to in Article
6(1), except where an administrative inquiry into entitle-
ment to the allowance has been initiated.

2.
The allowance shall be passed on by the producers’
organisation to its members within 90 days of receipt of
the amount from the Member State.

(1) OJ L 197, 6. 8. 1993, p. 8.

(2) OJ L 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 261, 20. 10. 1993, p. 1.

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The Member States concerned shall notify the
3.
Commission each quarter, not later than one month after
the end of the quarter in question, of the payments made
by producers’ organisations and the period for which they
are granted under paragraph 1 and the quantities of each
relevant species.

Article 8

The Member States concerned shall set up a control
1.
system for checking that
the products for which the
allowance is claimed qualify for it and that all other
relevant Community rules are observed.

2. Detailed rules governing the control system must
provide at least for the following:

(cid:190) provisions concerning verification of the Community
origin and Community nature of the products, partic-
ularly on the basis of ship’s documents,

(cid:190) identification in the sales records of the producers’
organisations or of their members or their service
providers of the operations taken into account under
these arrangements and, for each quantity in question,
the reference to the T2M document or document
replacing it, the date of sale and delivery, the buyer of
the product, the price at which the said quantity was
sold and the reference number of the invoice. The
sales records will therefore be accordingly,

(cid:190) unannounced inspections at the premises of produ-
cers’ organisations or their members or their service
providers in order to verify on the spot that the data
mentioned in Article 6(2) and (3) correspond to the
actual situation,

(cid:190) direct inspections of the processing establishments, in
particular with the aim of verifying on the spot that
products purchased under these arrangements have in
for processing in accordance with
fact been sent
Article 2(2).

amount equal to 50 % of the allowance applicable to the
quantities concerned by the infringement and in respect
of which the allowance was or was to be granted. In the
case of a second infringement, the organisation or the
member concerned shall also be ineligible for the allow-
following the quarter
ance
concerned.

eight quarters

the

for

2. Where an infringement of the allowance scheme,
with limited implications, has been committed by a re-
cipient of the allowance and where it is shown by the
said recipient, to the satisfaction of the Member State
concerned, that such infringement was not committed
with intention to defraud or as the result of serious neg-
ligence,
the Member State shall withhold an amount
equal to 10 % of the allowance applicable to the quant-
ities concerned by the infringement and in respect of
which the allowance was or was to be granted.

The amount withheld shall be credited to the Euro-
and Guarantee Fund

3.
pean Agricultural Guidance
(EAGGF).

4. Where undue payment is made the recipient shall
be required to repay the allowance in accordance with
Article 8 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21
April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural
policy (1), plus interest corresponding to the inter-bank
interest
rate plus 1 % applicable from the date of
payment of the allowance until its recovery.

5. Member States shall notify the Commission each
quarter not later than one month after the end of the
quarter concerned of
the cases to which this Article
applies.

Article 10

The Member States concerned shall notify the Commis-
sion of the control measures set up pursuant to Article 8
not later than three months after the date of entry into
force of this Regulation and of any adjustments to those
measures within three months of their introduction.

Article 11

3.
Inspections shall be covered by a detailed report on
the extent to which the recipient of the allowance has
fulfilled the commitments, as well as on the nature and
scope of the checks carried out.

The conversion rate applicable to the allowance shall be
that set in Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No
3516/93 (2).

The Member States shall notify the Commission
the inspections undertaken and their

4.
each quarter of
outcome.

Article 9

Article 12

Regulation (EEC) No 2381/89 is hereby repealed.

Article 13

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

1. Where an infringement of the allowance scheme has
been committed as a result of serious negligence or with
intention to defraud by a producers’ organisation or one
the Member State shall withhold an
of

its members,

It shall apply from 1 January 1998.

(1) OJ L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 320, 22. 12. 1993, p. 10.

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

Done at Brussels, 21 January 1998.

For the Commission

Emma BONINO

Member of the Commission