Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing the premiums and guarantee thresholds for leaf tobacco by variety group and Member State for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests and amending Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92
Date: 2001-11-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, agricultural guidance, consumer information, guarantee threshold, harvest, product quality, redirection of production, tobacco

C 51 E/382

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.2.2002

Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing the premiums and guarantee thresholds for leaf tobacco
by variety group and Member State for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests and amending
Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92

(2002/C 51 E/31)

COM(2001) 684 final (cid:151) 2001/0276(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 22 November 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:

the market

(1) Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 of 30 June 1992
on the common organisation of
in raw
tobacco (1) provides for the fixing of the amount of the
each
premium and the
tobacco harvest, taking particular account of past and fore-
seeable possibilities for the disposal of the various types of
tobacco, under normal conditions of competition. The
premiums should therefore be fixed and linked to the
guarantee thresholds fixed for 2002, 2003 and 2004.

supplementary amounts

for

(2) In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 8 and
Article 9(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92, the guarantee
thresholds for each variety group and Member States
should be fixed for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests,
taking particular account of market conditions and socio-
economic and agronomic conditions in the production
in
areas concerned. The threshold levels should be set
good time so that the producers can plan their production
for the harvests in question.

(3) Article 6(5) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 allows
the Member States to apply a cultivation contract auction
scheme. Under the provisions currently in force,
if this
scheme is applied it must cover all the groups of tobacco
varieties produced in a Member State. The system has not
yet been applied because the Member States believe that
auctioning is warranted only for certain variety groups.
With a view to encouraging auctions as a way of increasing
raw tobacco, more flexible
the commercial price of
provisions
the Member
this mechanism to certain variety
States can restrict
groups only.

should be introduced so that

(4) The national quota reserves created under Article 9(5) of
Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 have failed to achieve the
for which
farm-restructuring objectives
conversion or
they were
in
level,
created. Application at national
particular the criteria laid down by the Member States
for
redistributing the reserves and the small amounts
involved in their establishment, has proved inadequate for
achieving the desired effect. Furthermore,
the adminis-
trative arrangements for managing the national reserves
have created an excess workload and have excessively
complicated the management of the quotas, resulting in
serious delays in their distribution. The system should
therefore be simplified by removing this mechanism.

(5) The Commission Communication (cid:145)A Sustainable Europe for
a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable
Development(cid:146) (2) proposes the following measures: (cid:145)reorient
support from the Common Agricultural Policy to reward
healthy, high-quality products and practices rather than
its
the tobacco regime at
quantity; adapt
review in 2002 so as to allow for the phasing out of
tobacco subsidies while putting in place measures
to
develop alternative sources of
income and economic
activity for tobacco workers and growers and decide on
an early date accordingly(cid:146).

the end of

(6) In accordance with this new priority,

it

is

therefore
proposed that the activities of the Community Tobacco
Fund should be amended and agronomic research should
be replaced by a measure to support specific initiatives that
encourage tobacco growers to switch from tobacco into
other crops or economic activities that create employment.
Provision should also be made to increase the deduction
used to finance the Fund to 3 % in 2003 and to 5 % with
effect
to fund both
information measures on the harmful effects of tobacco
consumption and initiatives
to convert production is
increased. This second measure, which is a new priority,
can be
specific
conversion measures and will accompany and develop
synergies with the quota buy-back programme.

implemented nationally

from 2004 so that

as part of

the budget

(7) Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 should therefore be

amended,

(1) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992, p. 70. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1336/2000 (OJ L 154, 27.6.2000, p. 2).

(2) COM(2001) 264 final.

26.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 51 E/383

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(cid:151) 2 % of the premium for the 2002 harvest,

Article 1

For the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests, the premium amounts
for each of the groups of raw tobacco and the supplementary
amounts
referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC)
No 2075/92 shall be as shown in Annex I to this Regulation.

Article 2

the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests,

For
the guarantee
thresholds referred to in Articles 8 and 9 of Regulation (EEC)
No 2075/92 by variety group and by Member State shall be as
shown in Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 3

Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 is amended as follows:

1. Article 6(5) is replaced by the following:

The Member State may,

its structures makes it
(cid:145)5.
appropriate, apply a cultivation contract auction scheme
covering all the contracts as referred to in paragraph 1
for a particular variety group that were concluded before
the date on which delivery of the tobacco commences.(cid:146)

if

2. Article 9(5) is deleted.

3. Article 13 is replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Article 13

(cid:151) 3 % of the premium for the 2003 harvest,

(cid:151) 5 % of the premium with effect from the 2004 harvest.

2.

The Fund shall finance action in the following areas:

(a)

improving public awareness of the harmful effects of all
forms of tobacco consumption,
in particular through
information and education, support for the collection
of data to establish tobacco consumption patterns and
to conduct epidemiological studies on nicotinism in the
Community, and a study on preventing nicotinism;

(b) as part of the programme referred to in Article 14(1),
specific measures to help tobacco growers to switch to
other crops or other economic activities that create
employment
for
tobacco growers to do so.(cid:146)

the possibilities

studies of

and

Article 4

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

It shall apply from the 2002 harvest.

A Community Tobacco Fund shall be set up, financed

1.
by a deduction of:

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

ANNEX I

Premiums for leaf tobacco from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests

I
Flue-cured

II
Light
air-cured

III
Dark
air-cured

IV
Fire-cured

V
Sun-cured

VI
Basmas

VII
Katerini

VIII
Kaba
Koulak

EUR/kg

2,98062

2,38423

2,38423

2,62199

2,14581

4,12957

3,50395

2,50377

Supplementary amounts

Varieties

Badischer Geudertheimer, Pereg, Korso

Badischer Burley E and its hybrids

Virgin D and its hybrids, Virginia and its hybrids

Paraguay and its hybrids, Dragon vert and its hybrids, Philippin, Petit Grammont
(Flobecq), Semois, Appelterre

EUR/kg

0,5509

0,8822

0,5039

0,4112

C 51 E/384

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.2.2002

ANNEX II

Guarantee thresholds for the 2002 harvest (tonnes)

Member State

I
Flue-cured

II
Light
air-cured

III
Dark
air-cured

IV
Fire-cured

V
Sun-cured

Other

VI
Basmas

VII
Katerini

VIII
K. Koulak

Total

49 008

49 436

16 267

6 253

9 377

498

130 839

35 781

12 276

7 192

27 114

24 014

16 696

123 073

29 472

5 748

6 621

30

Italy

Greece

Spain

Italy

Greece

Spain

Portugal

4 705

1 114

France

10 650

9 602

5 359

Germany

4 800

2 683

3 868

Belgium

Austria

0

30

153

1 511

442

99

134 446

81 454

33 725

6 283

16 569

27 114

24 512

16 696

340 799

Guarantee thresholds for the 2003 and 2004 harvests (tonnes)

Member State

I
Flue-cured

II
Light
air-cured

III
Dark
air-cured

IV
Fire-cured

V
Sun-cured

Other

VI
Basmas

VII
Katerini

VIII
K. Koulak

Total

48 269

47 689

15 692

6 253

9 045

498

127 446

35 242

11 842

6 938

27 114

24 014

16 696

121 846

29 028

5 545

6 386

30

Portugal

4 634

1 074

France

10 490

9 262

5 170

Germany

4 728

2 588

3 731

Belgium

Austria

0

29

148

1 457

426

96

132 420

78 574

32 532

6 283

15 983

27 114

24 512

16 696

334 114

41 871

5 819

25 611

11 351

1 664

571

40 989

5 708

24 922

11 047

1 605

551