Commission Regulation (EC) No 1923/1999 of 8 September 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 411/97 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards operational programmes, operational funds and Community financial assistance
Date: 1999-09-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, common organisation of markets, fruit, operational programme, producer organisation, vegetable

9. 9. 1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 238/11

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1923/1999

of 8 September 1999

amending Regulation (EC) No 411/97 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards operational programmes, operational funds and Community
financial assistance

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

vegetables are excluded from financing under opera-
tional programmes while specifying that certain opera-
tions preparing products for processing traditionally
carned out by farmers are not
to be considered as
processing;

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28
October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in
fruit and vegetables (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
1257/1999 (2) and in particular Article 48 thereof,

(5) Whereas, to take account of experience gained, certain
adjustments should be made to the rules on applications
for and the payment of Community financial assistance
and on penalties;

(1) Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 411/97 (3), as
last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1013/1999 (4) lays
down detailed rules for operational programmes, opera-
tional funds and Community financial assistance;

(2) Whereas the factors comprising production marketed by
producer organisations should be amended to exclude
quantities relating to direct sales because the latter do
not involve activity on the part of the producer organ-
isation and are very difficult to monitor;

(3) Whereas,

in order to allow producer organisations to
draw up their operational programmes on the basis of
actual data and taking account of experience gained, the
reference period for establishing the value of production
marketed by producer organisations should be post-
poned so as to avoid the establishment of an estimated
operational fund requiring updating; whereas in order to
guarantee the maximum flexibility taking account of
national needs a time limit should be set for postpone-
ment of the reference period with Member States given
the responsibility of choosing an earlier twelve-month
period if need be; whereas,
in addition, to guarantee
equal treatment for all products intended for processing
eligible for an aid system under Council Regulations (EC)
No 2201/96 on the common organisation of the market
in products processed from fruit and vegetables (5), as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 2199/97 (6), and No
2202/96 of 28 October 1996 introducing a Community
aid scheme for producers of certain citrus fruit (7), the
aid referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2202/
96 received by producer organisations should be added
to the value of marketed production of citrus fruit;

(4) Whereas the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 411/97
should be amended so as to stipulate that investments
by producer organisations for the processing of fruit and

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.
(3) OJ L 62, 4.3.1997, p. 9.
(4) OJ L 123, 13.5.1999, p. 42.
(5) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 29.
(6) OJ L 303, 6.11.1997, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 49.

(6) Whereas amendments having a direct impact on the
preparation and content of operational programmes
must be made to apply to the next annual period for the
application of operational programmes, which starts on
it is necessary to
1 January 2000; whereas, however,
grant Member States
retaining
programmes approved before the entry into force of this
Regulation if adjusting them would be inappropriate
given their state of advancement;

the possibility of

(7) 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 411/97 is hereby amended as follows:

1. In Article 2, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

For

this Regulation,

the purposes of

“marketed
‘4.
production” means the products of members of producer
organisations for which the latter are recognised, disposed
of under the conditions laid down in the first and second
subparagraphs of Article 11(1)(c)(3), with the exception of
the first indent thereof, of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.’

2. The first subparagraph of Article 2(5) is replaced by the

following:

‘5.
For the purpose of applying the third subparagraph
of Article 15(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, the ceiling
on financial assistance shall be calculated on the basis of
the value of marketed production during a one-year refer-
ence period to be determined by the Member States. That

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Official Journal of the European Communities

9. 9. 1999

period shall commence no earlier than 1 January of the
second year preceding that for which the ceiling is fixed
and shall end no later than 30 June of the year preceding
that for which the ceiling is fixed. The value of marketed
production shall be increased by the amount of the aid as
provided for in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2202/96
received by producer organisations during the same
period.

Applications for a proportion of the financial assistance
covering withdrawals may, where applicable, be submitted
together with applications as referred to in the first
subparagraph. Such applications shall be subject to the
limits referred to in the third subparagraph of paragraph
2.’

8. The following paragraph is added to Article 9:

On the basis of objective criteria, Member States may set
two different reference periods.’

3. In the second subparagraph of Article 7(1), point (b) is

replaced by the following:

‘(b) the value of marketed production established in
accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 2(5).’

Once the checks laid down have been carried out,
‘4.
Member States shall pay the financial assistance to the
producer organisations which have submitted applications
for financial assistance not exceeding 2,5 % of the value of
their marketed production. Once the checks laid down
have been carried out, they may pay the other producer
organisations a first instalment of the financial assistance
not exceeding 2,5 % of the value of their marketed produc-
tion. The balance shall be paid once the ceiling is set in
accordance with the second paragraph of Article 10.’

4. Article 7(3) is deleted.

9. Article 13(2) is replaced by the following:

5. Article 7(4) is replaced by the following:

funds,

‘4.
Before 31 January, Member States shall send the
Commission a summary of the estimated amounts of the
indicating separately the value of
operational
marketed production on which those amounts are calcu-
lated, and a summary of the estimated amounts of finan-
cial assistance. They shall also forward the information
referred to in Article 2(6).’

6. The second subparagraph of Article 8(1) is replaced by the

following:

‘Applications for advance payments shall be made in
January, April, July and October. They shall cover foresee-
able expenditure arising from operational programmes for
the three-month period starting in the month in which the
application is submitted. Total advance payments made for
a given year may not exceed 90 % of
the estimated
amount of financial assistance and 25 % of the value of
production marketed by the producer organisation,
less
the estimated expenditure on withdrawals as referred to at
point (a) of the second subparagraph of Article 7(1).’

7. The following paragraph is added to Article 8:

‘4.
Alternatively, at their request producer organisations
may opt for a system of applications for a proportion of
the Community financial assistance covering expenditure
resulting from the operational programme. Applications
the financial assistance shall be
for a proportion of
submitted in April,
July and October and shall cover
expenditure incurred during the three preceding months.
They shall be accompanied by suitable supporting docu-
ments. Total payments in respect of applications for a
proportion of the financial assistance may not exceed 90 %
of the estimated amount of financial assistance and 2,25 %
of
the producer organisation's marketed
production, less estimated expenditure on withdrawals as
referred to at point (a) of the second subparagraph of
Article 7(1).

the value of

the ceiling
‘2. Without prejudice to application of
referred to in the second paragraph of Article 10, where
the difference between the assistance applied for in accord-
ance with Article 9(1) or that actually paid and the assis-
tance payable is greater than 20 % of
the assistance
payable, the applicant shall not qualify for the assistance in
respect of the year in question and the recipient shall be
required to repay all of the assistance paid, plus interest as
provided for in paragraph 1.’

10. The following point is added to the Annex:

‘17. Investments for the processing of

fresh products;
operations carried out by producer organisations
concerning preparation of the product, in particular
cleaning, cutting, trimming, drying and packaging,
with a view to its marketing, are not deemed
processing.’

Article 2

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

Article 1(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (10) shall apply for the first
time to operational programmes implemented in 2000. Opera-
tional programmes approved by Member States before the
this Regulation and whose application
entry into force of
continues into 2000 must comply with this Regulation,
if
necessary by means of an amendment to be requested by
producer organisations before 15 September 1999.

However, Member States may provide for the retention of
programmes approved before the entry into force of this Regu-
lation if adjusting them would be inappropriate given their
state of advancement.

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

Done at Brussels, 8 September 1999.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission