Council Regulation (EC) No 545/2002 of 18 March 2002 extending the financing of quality and marketing improvement plans for certain nuts and locust beans approved under Title IIa of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 and providing for a specific aid for hazelnuts
Date: 2002-03-18
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU aid, aid per hectare, aid system, nut, production improvement

28.3.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 84/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 545/2002

of 18 March 2002

extending the financing of quality and marketing improvement plans for certain nuts and locust
beans approved under Title IIa of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 and providing for a specific aid for
hazelnuts

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(4)

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Title IIa of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 of 18
May 1972 on the common organisation of the market
in fruit and vegetables (4), provides for various specific
measures to make good the inadequacy of production
and marketing facilities for certain nuts and locust
beans. Aid is provided to producer organisations which
have received specific recognition and which have
submitted a plan approved by the competent authority
for improving the quality and the marketing of their
produce.

The specific aid granted towards the drawing up and
implementation of the quality and marketing improve-
ment plan as specified in Article 14(d)(2) of Regulation
(EEC) No 1035/72 is restricted to a period of 10 years to
allow a shift of financial responsibility on to the produ-
cers.

Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 was repealed by Council
Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the
common organisation of the market in fruit and veget-
ables (5). However, as specified by Article 53 of Regula-
tion (EC) No 2200/96, any rights acquired by producer
organisations in application of Title IIa of Regulation
(EEC) No 1035/72 are to be maintained until exhausted.

(5)

(6)

(7)

A number of plans expired in 2000, having completed
their tenth year. These plans became eligible for an
eleventh year of aid under Council Regulation (EC) No
558/2001 of 19 March 2001 extending for a period of
up to one year the financing of certain quality and
marketing improvement plans approved under Title IIa
of Regulation (EC) No 1035/72 (6).

A number of additional plans expired in 2001, having
completed the tenth year.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, the
Commission forwarded to the Council a report on the
state of implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.
This report includes a description of the results of the
specific measures for nuts and locust beans carried out
under Title IIa of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 but does
not put forward final proposals for a permanent support
framework for the sector.

In recognition of
the important environmental role
played by the nut sector in protection against erosion,
fire prevention and preservation of indigenous genetic
material, and of its important social role in keeping
people on the land and thus furthering preservation of
the countryside, it is appropriate, for the year 2001, to
grant to those producer organisations whose improve-
ment plans expire in 2001, and who continue to fulfil
their
the recognition criteria, continued financing of
plans within the 2002 budget. This should include those
producer organisations whose original
improvement
plans expired in 2000 and which were extended under
Regulation (EC) No 558/2001.

(1) OJ C 51 E, 26.2.2002, p. 380.
(2) Opinion delivered on 19 February 2002 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(3) Opinion delivered on 20 February 2002 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 118, 20.5.1972, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 1363/95 (OJ L 132, 16.6.1995, p. 1).

(5) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as

last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 911/2001 (OJ L 129, 11.5.2001,
p. 3).

(8)

Eligible areas should be able to include those areas
within a plan, which have been approved in 1990 or
1991, and subsequently included in, or transferred to,
another plan through merger or acquisition of producer
organisations.

(6) OJ L 84, 23.3.2001, p. 1.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

28.3.2002

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

Only aid applications in respect of work carried out
until 15 June 2002 should qualify for financing. Plans
for which the end of the tenth year was after 15 June
2000 were only entitled to an eleventh year of
Community support until 15 June 2001 under Regula-
tion (EC) No 558/2001. For the purpose of continuity,
these plans should be entitled to Community support
for the period between 15 June 2001 and 31 December
2001.

In order
to simplify administrative procedures, aid
should be limited to a maximum of those areas for
which an aid application was made in the final year of
the plan.

The period of up to one year is not sufficient
to
complete work of grubbing operations followed by
replanting and/or varietal reconversion as referred to in
Article 2(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 790/89 of
20 March 1989 fixing the level of additional flat-rate aid
for the formation of producers' organisations and the
maximum amount applied to aid for quality and
in the nut and locust bean
marketing improvement
growing sector (1). The maximum aid per hectare there-
fore should be paid in respect of other operations as
specified in Article 2(2) of
that Regulation with a
maximum Community contribution of 75 %.

The implementing rules of Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 2159/89 of 18 July 1989 laying down detailed
rules for applying the specific measures for nuts and
locust beans as provided for in Title IIa of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 (2) should apply for the
period of the continued payment of aid.

In order to deal with the economic situation in the
hazelnut sector, flat-rate aid should be granted for hazel-
nuts harvested in the 2001/2002 marketing year, for
those producer organisations not eligible for an exten-
sion to improvement plans under this Regulation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Recognised producer organisations engaged in the production
and marketing of nuts and/or locust beans and receiving aid
pursuant to Title IIa of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72, whose
quality and marketing improvement plans were approved in
1990 or 1991, or which contain areas approved in 1990 or
1991, may request the continuation of that aid for these areas
for a further period of up to one year subject to the rules laid
down in Articles 2 and 3 of this Regulation.

(1) OJ L 85, 30.3.1989, p. 6. Regulation as last amended by Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 1825/97 (OJ L 260, 23.9.1997, p. 9).

(2) OJ L 207, 19.7.1989, p. 19. Regulation as

last amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 94/2002 (OJ L 17, 19.1.2002, p.
20).

For that period producer organisations shall continue to imple-
ment the plan as approved for the final year.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the final year of the plan
shall mean the tenth year for areas approved in 1991, and the
eleventh year for areas approved in 1990 and extended under
the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 558/2001.

Article 2

The aid shall:

(a) be paid in regard to, and limited to, those areas for which
an aid application has been submitted in respect of the final
year of the plan;

(b) be limited to a maximum of EUR 241,50 per hectare, of
which the maximum Community participation shall be
75 %;

(c) apply for a period of up to one year immediately following
the expiry of the final year of the plan, up to a latest date
of 15 June 2002.

Plans extended pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 558/2001, for
which the starting date of the final year is after 15 June 2000,
shall be entitled to Community support for the period between
15 June 2001 and the end of the final year.

Article 3

Regulation (EEC) No 2159/89 shall apply mutatis mutandis to
plans for which aid is paid pursuant to Article 1.

Where necessary, additional implementing measures shall be
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
46 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.

Article 4

Article 55 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 shall be replaced by
the following:

‘Article 55

For hazelnuts harvested during the 2001/2002 marketing
year, aid of EUR 15/100 kg shall be granted to producer
organisations, recognised pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No
1035/72 or to this Regulation, which implement a quality
improvement plan within the meaning of Article 14d of
Regulation
operational
programme within the meaning of Article 15, and do not
benefit from the aid provided for in Articles 1 and 2 of
Regulation (EC) No 545/2002.’

(EEC) No

1035/72

an

or

Article 5

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

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

Done at Brussels, 18 March 2002.

For the Council

The President

M. ARIAS CAÑETE