Commission Regulation (EC) No 1490/98 of 13 July 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 659/97 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards intervention arrangements in the fruit and vegetables sector
Date: 1998-07-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common organisation of markets, fruit, market intervention, marketing standard, producer organisation, vegetable

14. 7. 98

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 196/7

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1490/98

of 13 July 1998

amending Regulation (EC) No 659/97 laying down detailed rules for the
application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards intervention
arrangements in the fruit and vegetables sector

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of
28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the
and vegetables (1),
market
amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2520/97 (2), and in par-
ticular Article 30(6) and Articles 48 and 57 thereof,

in fruit

as

Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 659/97 (3), as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1946/97 (4), lays down
detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No
2200/96 as regards intervention arrangements in the fruit
and vegetables sector;

Whereas minimum requirements should be laid down for
products to be withdrawn for which there is no Com-
munity marketing standard;

Whereas tomatoes produced in the period 16 July to 15
October must meet
the marketing standard and must
therefore comply with the packaging requirements, given
the particular harvest and production conditions for that
product;

Whereas the second subparagraph of Article 15(3) of
Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 provides that Member States
may set a maximum level for the supplement to the
Community withdrawal compensation; whereas, however,
that Article provides that the amount of the supplement
added to the Community withdrawal compensation may
not exceed the maximum level of withdrawal prices
applying in the 1995/96 marketing year; whereas criteria
should be laid down for setting that supplement in order
to maintain the withdrawal of products from the market
as an instrument
in fresh
products and not an outlet substituting the market;

for stabilising the market

Whereas, in the case of tomatoes intended for processing,
the Community withdrawal
any
supplement set by the Member States may not exceed the
minimum processing price set for the marketing year in

compensation plus

(1) OJ L 297, 21. 11. 1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 346, 17. 12. 1997, p. 41.
(3) OJ L 100, 17. 4. 1997, p. 22.
(4) OJ L 274, 7. 10. 1997, p. 4.

question to prevent withdrawal of those products from
being an alternative to processing;

Whereas Article 24 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96
provides that growers who are not members of any
producer organisation may benefit from the intervention
system via such organisations; whereas provision should
be made to allow measures to be laid down at national
level where necessary to ensure that those provisions are
applied effectively;

for the purposes of

Whereas,
the free distribution of
products withdrawn from the market, social, educational
and/or health institutions should be treated in the same
way as the institutions laid down to that end in Regula-
tion (EC) No 2200/96;

Whereas in the case of free distribution operations in
third countries the Member States must submit plans for
those operations to the Commission; whereas plans must
contain in particular the agreement of the third countries
concerned; whereas, in the case of transport by sea, a coef-
ficient of 0,6 should be applied to the transport costs that
may be borne by the Commission;

Whereas Article 15a of Regulation (EC) No 659/97
should be prolonged until the 2000/01 marketing year;

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 659/97 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 2(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2. Where standards have been adopted pursuant to
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, products
withdrawn from the market comply with those
standards, with the exception of the provisions on the
presentation and marking of the product. Products
may be withdrawn without sizing by quality class,
provided that the lower limit for class II is met.

However, tomatoes withdrawn from 16 July to 15
October must comply with the marketing standard
laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 778/83.’

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14. 7. 98

2. The following paragraph 3 is added to Article 2:

‘3. Where no marketing standards have been
adopted pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No
2200/96, the minimum requirements laid down in
Annex VII must be met. Member States may lay
down provisions
supplementing those minimum
requirements.’

pursuant
to Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No
2200/96 or, where, no such standards exist, the
minimum requirements laid down in Annex VII.

shall notify the
The producer organisations
competent national authorities of the measures
taken in accordance with the national framework
referred to in Article 10 with a view to protecting
the environment during withdrawal operations.’

3. Article 6 is replaced by:

— Article 8(2)(b) is replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

Article 2 of

1.
this Regulation notwithstanding,
Regulation (EC) No 411/97 shall apply to the
payment of withdrawal compensation for products
not listed in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2200/96
and for the grant of a supplement to the Community
withdrawal compensation provided for
in Article
15(3)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.

The maximum prices applying to the 1995/96
2.
marketing year and the supplements which the
Member States applying the second subparagraph of
Article 15(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 may not
exceed are set out in Annex VIII.

3. Member States which set a maximum level for
to the Community withdrawal
the
supplement
compensation under
the second subparagraph of
Article 15(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 shall
take account of the following:

— withdrawals are a short-term instrument to stab-
ilise supply on the market in fresh products,

— withdrawals must in no case constitute an outlet

substituting the market,

— withdrawals must not disturb management of the
intended for

in fruit and vegetables

market
processing.

One month before the start of the marketing year,
Member States shall notify the maximum levels of the
supplements set for each product in Annex II.

In the special case of tomatoes intended for proces-
sing, the supplement to be set must be at a level such
that the sum of the Community withdrawal compen-
sation and the supplement thus set does not exceed
the minimum price for processing set for the mar-
keting year in question under Regulation (EC) No
2201/96.’

4. — The third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 8(1)

are replaced by the following:

‘The producer organisations shall certify that the
products withdrawn comply with the standards in
force where such standards have been adopted

‘(b) by no later than two months after the start of
each marketing year, an estimate of the areas
cultivated per product listed in Annex II and,
where applicable, per variety.’

— The following paragraph 3 is added to Article 8:

take,

‘3. Member States
if necessary,
shall
measures to ensure that farmers who are members
of any producer organisation are actually allowed
the benefits of the intervention scheme provided
for in Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.’

5. In Article 12, ‘and (b)’ is inserted after ‘second indent
of Article 30(1)(a)’ and the following sentence is
added:

‘Rest homes, day-nurseries, psychiatric establishments
and other social, educational and-or health institu-
tions shall be treated in the same way as those institu-
tions.’

6. Article 14(3) is replaced by the following:

to the
shall
‘3. Member States
Commission for each free distribution operation,
together with:

submit plans

— the names of

the producer organisations with-

drawing the products in question,

— the quantity intended to be distributed,

— the names

organisations
approved by the Member State and responsible for
the operation,

charitable

the

of

— the substance of the agreements as provided for in

Article 16(4),

— the names of

the charitable organisations
charge of distribution in the third countries,

in

— the

agreements with

the

third

countries

concerned,

— details of the means of transport to be used.

They shall send the Commission copies of the noti-
fications to the FAO Consultative Subcommittee on
Surplus Disposal after the operation has been au-
thorised by the Commission.

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The Commission shall decide on a case-by-case basis
whether to authorise such operations in the light in
particular of the guarantees of successful conclusion
and the situation on the market.

At the end of each operation, the Member States shall
send the Commission the information specified in
Annex VI. On request,
to the
Commission on the operation’s implementation in
the third countries.’

they shall

report

7. The following sentence is added to the second sub-

paragraph of Article 15(1):

exceed the costs of land transport over the shortest
distance between the place of loading and the theor-
etical point of exit. A correcting factor of 0,6 shall be
applied to the amounts referred to in point 1 of
Annex V.’

8. The third indent of

the second subparagraph of

Article 15(2) is replaced by:

‘— take-over by the beneficiary bodies,’.

9. In Article 15a ‘For the 1997/98 marketing year:’ is
replaced by ‘Up to and including the 2000/01 mar-
keting year’.

‘In the case of transport by sea, the Commission shall
determine the transport costs which may be defrayed
on the basis of the real costs of transport and the
distance. The compensation thus determined may not

10. The fourth indent of Article 16(6) is replaced by:

‘— take-over by the beneficiary bodies,’.

11. The following new Annexes VII and VIII are added:

‘ANNEX VII

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCTS WITHDRAWN

1. Products withdrawn must be:

— intact,
— sound: produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for

consumption is excluded,

— clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter,
— practically free from pests and attacks of pests,
— free of abnormal external moisture,
— free of any foreign smell and/or taste.

2. The products must be sufficiently developed and sufficiently ripe having regard to their

type.

3. The products must have the characteristics of the variety and/or commercial type.

ANNEX VIII

MAXIMUM PRICES APPLICABLE TO THE 1995/96 MARKETING YEAR AND THE
RESULTING SUPPLEMENTS TO THE COMMUNITY WITHDRAWAL COMPENSATION

Product

Maximum
price
1995/96

1997/98
marketing
year

1998/99
marketing
year

1999/2000
marketing
year

2000/01
marketing
year

2001/02
marketing
year

From
2002/03

Maximum supplement

(ecu/100 kg)

Tomatoes
Cauliflowers
Apples
Grapes
Apricots
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Aubergines
Oranges
Mandarins
Clementines
Satsumas
Lemons

12,84
13,51
15,04
15,45
23,36
25,43
22,53
14,83
7,62
15,85
17,48
13,70
10,49
17,26

6,40
4,17
4,35
4,76
4,46
8,04
7,88
4,65
2,33
1,52
1,33
0,96
0,00
3,89

6,72
4,64
4,73
5,29
5,41
8,91
8,61
5,01
2,59
1,59
1,96
0,91
0,00
3,96

7,04
5,10
5,10
5,83
6,35
9,78
9,35
5,37
2,86
1,65
2,59
0,86
0,00
4,04

7,37
5,57
5,48
6,36
7,30
10,65
10,08
5,73
3,12
1,72
3,22
0,80
0,00
4,11

7,69
6,04
5,86
6,90
8,24
11,52
10,81
6,09
3,39
1,78
3,85
0,75
0,00
4,19

8,01
6,50
6,23
7,43
9,19
12,39
11,54
6,44
3,65
1,85
4,48
0,70
0,00
4,26’

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

Article 2

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

Done at Brussels, 13 July 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission