Commission Regulation (EC) No 1068/2000 of 19 May 2000 laying down detailed rules for the granting of private storage aid for long-keeping cheeses
Date: 2000-05-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: financial aid, hard cheese, storage, terms for aid

20.5.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 119/11

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1068/2000

of 19 May 2000

laying down detailed rules for the granting of private storage aid for long-keeping cheeses

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(7)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 of
May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk
and milk products (1), and in particular Article 10 thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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

Whereas:

Article 1

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 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.

The seasonal nature of Emmental and Gruyère cheese
production is aggravated by the fact that the seasonal
trend in consumption of such cheeses is the opposite of
their production. Therefore, provision should be made
for recourse to such storage in respect of a quantity
corresponding to the difference between summer and
winter production.

The detailed rules of this measure should determine the
maximum quantity to benefit from it as well as the
duration of the contracts in relation to the real require-
ments of the market and the keeping qualities of the
cheeses in question. It is necessary to specify the terms
of the storage contract so as to enable the identification
of the cheese and to maintain checks on the stock in
respect of which aid is granted. The aid should be fixed
taking into account storage costs and the foreseeable
trend of market prices.

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. These requirements 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.

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 (2), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
569/1999 (3), fixes the conversion rate to be applied in
the framework of private storage aid schemes in the
milk products sector.

(6)

It is appropriate to guarantee the continuation of the
storage operations in question.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 48.
(2) OJ L 161, 2.7.1993, p. 48.
(3) OJ L 70, 17.3.1999, p. 12.

Aid shall be granted in respect of the private storage of 23 000
tonnes of long-keeping (Emmental and Gruyère) cheeses manu-
factured in the Community which satisfy the requirements of
Articles 2 and 3 hereof.

Article 2

The intervention agency may conclude storage contracts

1.
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 indication
(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 estab-
their classification after maturing could be

lish that
expected to be:

— ‘Premier choix’ Emmental, Gruyère, Beaufort Comté in

France,

— ‘Markenkäse’ or ‘Klasse fein’ Emmentaler/Bergkäse in

Germany,

— ‘Special grade’

in Ireland,

— ‘I luokka’

in Finland,

— ‘1. Güteklasse Emmentaler/Bergkäse/Alpkäse’ in Austria,

— ‘Västerbotten/Prästost/Svecia/Grevé’

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
without authorisation from the intervention agency. If
the condition concerning the minimum quantity fixed
for each batch continues to be met, the intervention
agency may authorise an alteration which is limited to
the removal or replacement of cheeses which are found
to have deteriorated to such an extent that they can no
longer be stored.

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EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

20.5.2000

In the event of release from store of certain quantities:

(i) if

the aforesaid quantities are replaced with the
the
to have undergone any

intervention agency,

is deemed not

the

authorisation of
contract
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 intervention
agency each week of
into storage
during the previous week and of scheduled withdrawals.

the cheeses put

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
May 2000 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 2000 and end on 31 March of the following year.

Article 4

1.

The aid shall be as follows:

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

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

the warehousing costs;

(c) EUR 0,50 per tonne per day of storage under contract for

the financial costs.

No aid shall be granted in respect of storage under
2.
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 remove all or part of the batch
under contract. The 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

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

the conditions

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.

3.
The contractor or, where applicable, the operator of 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.

On entry into storage,

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

The national authorities responsible for controls shall

6.
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
the overall
quantity under contract for a private 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 type of products and their identification.
Such physical checks must relate to at least 5 % of the
quantity subject to the unannounced check;

least 10 % of

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

the storage period under contract.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 119/13

Checks conducted pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 6 must

7.
be the subject of a report stating:

The Member States may provide that the costs of controls

9.
are to be fully or in part charged to the contractor.

— the date of the check,
— its duration,
— the operations conducted.

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

8.
In the case of irregularities affecting at least 5 % of the
quantities of products subject to the checks the latter shall be
extended to a larger sample to be determined by the competent
agency.

The Member States shall notify such cases to the Commission
within four weeks.

Article 6

The Member States shall forward to the Commission before 15
October 2000 particulars as to the following:

(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.

Article 7

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply with effect from 1 May 2000.

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

Done at Brussels, 19 May 2000.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission