Commission Regulation (EC) No 785/98 of 14 April 1998 laying down detailed rules for the granting of private storage aid for long-keeping cheeses
Date: 1998-04-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid system, hard cheese, intervention agency, private stock, product quality, storage

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Official Journal of the European Communities

15. 4. 98

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 785/98

of 14 April 1998

laying down detailed rules

for

the granting of private storage aid for

long-keeping cheeses

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 of
27 June 1968 on the common organisation of the market
in milk and milk products (1), as last amended by Regula-
tion (EC) No 1587/96 (2), and in particular Articles 9(3)
and 28 thereof,

508/71 (3)
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No
provides that private storage aid may be granted for
certain long-keeping cheeses where there is a serious
imbalance of the market which may be eliminated or
reduced by seasonal storage;

Whereas the seasonal nature of Emmental and Gruy(cid:138)re
cheese production is aggravated by the fact
the
seasonal trend in consumption of such cheeses is the
opposite of their production; whereas, therefore, provision
should be made for recourse to such storage in respect of
a quantity corresponding to the difference between
summer and winter production;

that

Whereas the detailed rules of this measure should deter-
mine the maximum quantity to benefit from it as well as
the duration of
the contracts in relation to the real
requirements of the market and the keeping qualities of
the cheeses in question; whereas it is necessary to specify
the terms of the storage contract so as to enable the iden-
tification of the cheese and to maintain checks on the
stock in respect of which aid is granted; whereas the aid
should be fixed taking into account storage costs and the
foreseeable trend of market prices;

Whereas, in view of experience in controls, the provisions
relating thereto should be specified,
in particular as
regards the documents to be presented and the on-the-
spot checks to be conducted; whereas these new require-
ments on the subject make it necessary to stipulate that
the Member States may provide that the costs of controls
be fully or in part charged to the contractor;

Whereas Article 1(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
1756/93 of 30 June 1993 fixing the operative events for
the agricultural conversion rate applicable to milk and
milk products (4), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No

(1) OJ L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 206, 16. 8. 1996, p. 21.
(3) OJ L 58, 11. 3. 1971, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 161, 2. 7. 1993, p. 48.

420/98 (5), fixes the conversion rate to be applied in the
framework of private storage aid schemes in the milk
products sector;

Whereas it is appropriate to guarantee the continuation of
the storage operations in question;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Milk and Milk Products,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Aid shall be granted in respect of the private storage of
21 600 tonnes of Emmental and Gruy(cid:138)re cheeses manu-
factured in the Community which satisfy the require-
ments of Articles 2 and 3 hereof.

Article 2

The intervention agency may conclude storage
1.
contracts only if the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) the batch of cheeses to which a contract relates must

comprise at least 5 tonnes;

(b) the cheeses shall be indelibly marked with an indica-
tion (which may take the form of a number) of the
undertaking in which they were manufactured and of
the day and month of manufacture;

(c) the cheeses must have been manufactured at least 10
days before the date specified in the contract as being
the date of commencement of storage;

(d) the cheeses must have undergone quality tests which
establish that their classification after maturing could
be expected to be:

— ‘Premier choix’ in France,
— ‘Markenk(cid:132)se’ or ‘Klasse fein’ in Germany,
— ‘Special grade’ in Ireland,
— ‘I luokka’ in Finland,
— ‘1. G(cid:129)teklasse Emmentaler/Bergk(cid:132)se/Alpk(cid:132)se’

in

Austria,

— ‘V(cid:132)sterbotten/Pr(cid:132)stost/Svecia/Grev(cid:130)’ in Sweden;

(e) the storer shall undertake:

— not, during the term of the contract, to alter the
composition of the batch covered by the contract
intervention
without

authorisation from the

(5) OJ L 52, 21. 2. 1998, p. 21.

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agency. If the condition concerning the minimum
quantity fixed for each batch continues to be met,
the intervention agency may authorise an altera-
tion which is limited to the removal or replace-
found to have
ment of
deteriorated to such an extent that they can no
longer be stored.

cheeses which are

In the event of
quantities:

release from store of certain

(i) if the aforesaid quantities are replaced with the
authorisation of the intervention agency, the
contract is deemed not to have undergone any
alteration;

(ii) if the aforesaid quantities are not replaced, the
contract is deemed to have been concluded ab
initio for the quantity permanently retained.

Any costs of controls arising from an alteration
shall be met by the storer,

— to keep stock records and to inform the interven-
tion agency each week of the cheeses put into
storage during the previous week and of scheduled
withdrawals.

2.

Storage contracts shall be concluded:

(a) in writing, stating the date when storage covered by
the contract begins; this date may not be earlier than
the day following that on which the operations
connected with putting the batch of cheese covered by
the contract into storage are completed;

(b) after completion of

the operations connected with
putting the batch of cheese covered by the contract
into storage and at the latest 40 days after the date
when storage by the contract begins.

Article 3

1.
Aid shall be granted only for such cheeses as are put
into storage during the storage period. This period shall
begin on 1 April 1998 and end on or before 30
September of the same year.

2.
Stored cheese may be withdrawn from storage only
during the period for withdrawal. This period shall begin
on 1 October 1998 and end on 31 March of the following
year.

Article 4

1.

The aid shall be as follows:

2. No aid shall be granted in respect of storage under
contract for less than 90 days. The maximum aid payable
shall not exceed an amount corresponding to 180 days’
storage under contract.

By way of derogation from the first indent of Article 2(1)
(e), when the period of 90 days specified in the first
subparagraph has elapsed and the period for withdrawal
referred to in Article 3(2) has begun,
the storer may
the batch under contract. The
remove all or part of
minimum quantity that may be removed shall be 500
kilograms. The Member States may, however, increase this
quantity to 2 tonnes.

The date of the start of operations to remove the batch of
cheese covered by the contract shall not be included in
the period of storage under contract.

Article 5

The Member States shall ensure that the conditions

1.
granting entitlement to payment of the aid are fulfilled.

The contractor shall make available to the national
2.
authorities responsible for verifying execution of
the
measure any documentation permitting in particular the
following particulars of products placed in private storage
to be verified:

(a) ownership at the time of entry into storage;
(b) the origin and the date of manufacture of the cheeses;
(c) the date of entry into storage;
(d) presence in the store;
(e) the date of removal from storage.

The contractor or, where applicable, the operator of
3.
the store shall keep stock accounts available at the store,
covering:

(a) identification, by contract number, of

the products

placed in private storage;

(b) the dates of entry into and removal from storage;
(c) the number of cheeses and their weight by batch;
(d) the location of the products in the store.

4.
Products stored must be easily identifiable and must
be identified individually by contract. A special mark
shall be affixed to cheeses covered by the contract.

5. On entry into storage, the competent agencies shall
conduct checks in particular to ensure that products
stored are eligible for the aid and to prevent any poss-
ibility of substitution of products during storage under
contract, without prejudice to the application of Article
2(1)(e).

(a) ECU 100 per tonne for the fixed costs;

(b) ECU 0,35 per tonne per day of storage under contract

for the warehousing costs;

(c) ECU 0,63 per tonne per day of storage under contract

for the financial costs.

The national authorities responsible for controls

6.
shall undertake:

(a) an unannounced check to see that the products are
present in the store. The sample concerned must be
representative and must correspond to at least 10 % of

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15. 4. 98

for a private
the overall quantity under contract
storage aid measure. Such checks must include,
in
addition to an examination of the accounts referred to
in paragraph 3, a physical check of the weight and
identification. Such
and their
type of products
physical checks must relate to at least 5 % of the
quantity subject to the unannounced check;

(b) a check to see that the products are present at the end

of the storage period under contact.

Checks conducted pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 6

7.
must be the subject of a report stating:

— the date of the check,

— its duration,

— the operations conducted.

shall be extended to a larger sample to be determined by
the competent agency.

The Member States
Commission within four weeks.

shall notify such cases

to the

The Member States may provide that the costs of
in part charged to the

9.
controls are to be fully or
contractor.

Article 6

The Member States shall
before 15 October 1998 particulars as to the following:

forward to the Commission

(a) the quantities of cheese for which storage contracts

have been concluded;

(b) any quantities in respect of which the authorisation

referred to in Article 2(1)(e) has been given.

The report on checks must be signed by the official
responsible and countersigned by the contractor or, where
applicable, by the store operator.

In the case of irregularities affecting at least 5 % of
8.
the quantities of products subject to the checks the latter

Article 7

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

It shall apply with effect from 1 April 1998.

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

Done at Brussels, 14 April 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission