Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999  on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal
Date: 2001-02-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid system, beef, common organisation of markets, production aid

29.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 154 E/297

Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 on the common
organisation of the market in beef and veal

(2001/C 154 E/31)

COM(2001) 87 final (cid:151) 2001/0042(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 15 February 2001)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Articles 36 and 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Whereas:

(1) The market for beef and veal has been seriously disrupted
because consumers, concerned at the appearance of new
cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), have lost
confidence in and turned away from the sector’s products.
in
Demand has
consumption and exports and owing to a rise in the
is
number of
causing a serious deterioration of
is
difficult to control. A number of measures that seek to
regulate the market by reducing future production should
accordingly be adopted.

livestock held back on holdings. This
that

tumbled as a result of a sharp fall

the market

instruments

currently subject

the main support

(2) The special premium for male bovine animals provided for
in Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 (1) is
for beef/veal
one of
production. The premium is
to a
regional ceiling. If the number of animals that can qualify
for the special premium is smaller,
there will be less
incentive to produce.
In addition, the introduction of a
system of individual rights will make management more
precise than by using a regional ceiling. A system of this
sort, based on payments made in previous years, plus 3 %
to create a reserve, should therefore be introduced, without
exceeding the regional ceilings currently in force.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21.

(3) The possibility recognised to the Member States of
changing or waiving the headage limit of 90 animals per
holding and age bracket which determines the granting of
the special premium may produce an increase in the
number of the animals admitted to the premium on large
In order to reduce this incentive, the
production units.
strict
should be
envisaged by suppressing the possibility of changing or
waiving it.

application of

this headage

limit

(4) As beef/veal production depends mainly on the number of
cows, future meat production can be reduced by cutting
down the number of suckler cows. To do this, the effect (cid:151)
in terms of reducing production (cid:151) achieved by including
heifers among the animals eligible for the suckler-cow
premium provided for in Article 6 of Regulation (EC)
No 1254/1999 should be
a
minimum percentage
and increasing the
for heifers
maximum percentage of such animals. This involves a
corresponding adjustment to the separate national ceiling
for heifers referred to in Article 10 of that Regulation. To
achieve such a reduction,
the possibility of reallocating
premium rights returned to the national reserve should
also be suspended for a limited period.

reinforced by

setting

(5) The number of animals qualifying for the special premium
and the suckler-cow premium is currently limited by the
application of a stocking density of two livestock units (LU)
to Article 12 of Regulation (EC)
per hectare pursuant
to reduce the number of
No 1254/1999.
animals on intensive holdings
those
that qualify for
premiums and so encourage extensification, the stocking
density should be brought down to 1,8 LU.

In order

(6) To deal with current production generated by the fall in
consumption, the quantities that must be bought in are
likely to lead to an overrun in the ceiling set in Article
47(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999. That ceiling
should not apply for 2001 and 2002 in order to prevent
triggering the use of the (cid:145)safety net(cid:146) system provided for in
Article 47(5) of that Regulation.

(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation seek to
address
situation on the market. Further
measures could be required in the future depending on
the way the situation develops,

the current

C 154 E/298

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.5.2001

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

2. Article 4(4) and (5) are deleted.

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

3. The part of the first subparagraph of Article 6(2) following

point (b) is replaced by the following:

1. Article 4(1) is replaced by the following:

Producers holding male bovine animals on their
(cid:145)1.
holdings may qualify, on application,
special
premium. Subject to individual ceilings, it shall be granted
in the form of an annual premium per producer and, in the
case of steers, per age bracket. It shall be granted on not
more than 90 animals in each of the age brackets referred
to in paragraph 2, per calendar year and per holding.

for

a

Each producer’s individual ceiling shall be fixed by the
Member States in the light in particular of the number of
animals on which the premium has been granted in
previous years.

Each Member State shall set up an initial national reserve of
at least 1 % and at most 3 % of the total number of animals
on which the special premium may be granted within its
territory.

Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to
ensure that,
the
premium rights within its territory does not exceed its
national ceiling.

from 1 January 2002,

the sum of

In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 43,
the Commission will, before 1 January 2002,
fix the
national ceilings at the level:

(cid:145)provided that he keeps suckler cows and heifers for at least
six consecutive months
from the day on which the
application is lodged and that the number of the latter is
equal to at least 20 % and at most 40 % of the total number
of animals for which the premium is applied for.(cid:146)

4. The following subparagraph is added to Article 9(3):

(cid:145)However, in 2002, 2003 and 2004, rights returned to the
national reserve may not be reallocated.(cid:146)

5. The first sentence of the second subparagraph of Article

10(1) is replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Such separate national ceiling shall not exceed 40 % of the
national ceiling of the Member State concerned set out in
Annex II to this Regulation.(cid:146)

6. The first sentence of Article 12(1)

is replaced by the

following:

(cid:145)The total number of animals qualifying for the special
premium and the suckler-cow premium shall be limited
by the application of a stocking density on the holding of
two livestock units (LU) per hectare and calendar year. From
1 January 2002, the stocking density shall be 1,8 LU.(cid:146)

(cid:151) corresponding to the highest premium payments for the
years 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, increased by 3 %,

7. The second subparagraph of Article 47(2) is replaced by the

following:

(cid:151) if need be, reduced proportionally so that the sum of the
national ceilings is not higher than 8 453 814 animals
for the first age bracket and 2 402 647 animals for the
second age bracket.

The provisions of the footnotes in Annex I regarding the
regional ceilings of the Member States remain applicable to
the national ceilings.

Producers may cede or transfer some or all of their special-
premium rights subject to compliance with Article 8.

Member States shall set up and maintain their national
reserves of special-premium rights subject to compliance
with Article 9, with the
second
subparagraph of paragraph 3 thereof.(cid:146)

exception of

the

(cid:145)Such buying-in may not cover more than 350 000 tonnes
per year for the Community as a whole. However, that limit
shall not apply to 2001 and 2002.(cid:146)

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2002. However, Article 1(7) shall
apply from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

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