Council Regulation (EC) No 1626/98 of 20 July 1998 fixing the amounts of aid for flax fibre and hemp and the amount withheld to finance measures to promote the use of flax fibre for the 1998/99 marketing year
Date: 1998-07-20
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: aid to agriculture, flax, hemp, marketing

L 210/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28. 7. 98

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1626/98

of 20 July 1998

fixing the amounts of aid for flax fibre and hemp and the amount withheld to
finance measures to promote the use of flax fibre for the 1998/99 marketing year

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1308/70
of 29 June 1970 on the common organisation of the
market in flax and hemp (1), and in particular Articles 2(3)
and 4(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (2),

Whereas Article 2(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1308/70
provides that the portion of aid for financing Community
measures to encourage the use of flax fibre is to be fixed
when the aid is fixed for the marketing year in question
in accordance with the criteria referred to in the said
Article 2(3); whereas it is to be fixed in the light of trends
on the market in flax, the amount of the aid for flax and
the cost of
the measures to be introduced; whereas
account should also be taken of the financing already
provided for;

Whereas application of the abovementiond criteria entails
fixing the amount of aid and the portion of the aid to be
used for financing measures to promote the use of flax
fibre at the levels set out below,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-
ment (3),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (4),

Article 1

Whereas Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1308/70
provides that the amounts of aid for flax grown mainly for
fibre and for hemp grown in the Community are to be
fixed each year;

Whereas, in accordance with Article 4(2) of that Regula-
tion, this amount shall be fixed per hectare of area sown
and harvested so as to ensure an even balance between the
volume of production required in the Community and
the amount that can be marketed; whereas it must be
fixed, taking into account the price for fibres and flax and
hemp seed on the world market;

Whereas over recent marketing years the hemp market
has
seen a marked and continuing trend towards
increasing the area sown to hemp; whereas to curb this
trend, which could unbalance the longer-term equilib-
rium of the market, and reduce the impact on budget
expenditure, the level of aid should be adjusted accord-
ingly;

(1) OJ L 146, 4. 7. 1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 3290/94 (OJ L 349, 31. 12. 1994, p. 105).

(2) OJ C 87, 23. 3. 1998, p. 9.
(3) OJ C 210, 6. 7. 1998.
(4) OJ C 214, 10. 7. 1998.

For the 1998/99 marketing year,
the amounts of aid
provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1308/70
shall be:

(a) ECU 815,86 per hectare as regards flax;

(b) ECU 662,88 per hectare as regards hemp.

Article 2

For the 1998/99 marketing year, the amount of the aid for
flax to be used to finance the measures to promote the
use of flax fibre referred to in Article 2 of Regulation
(EEC) No 1308/70 shall be ECU 0 per hectare.

Article 3

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

It shall apply from 1 August 1998.

28. 7. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 210/7

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

Done at Brussels, 20 July 1998.

For the Council

The President

W. MOLTERER