Council Regulation (EC) No 546/2002 of 25 March 2002 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: 2002-03-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: agricultural guidance, fund (EU), guarantee threshold, smoking, tobacco

L 84/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.3.2002

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 546/2002

of 25 March 2002

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

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

can restrict this mechanism to certain variety groups
only and to producer groups which wish to participate.

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 (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)

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

conditions

tobacco,

normal

under

of

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 areas concerned. The threshold levels should
be set in good time so that the producers can plan their
production for the harvests in question.

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 and only for contracts of producer
groups which manifest an interest. With a view to
encouraging auctions as a way of
increasing the
commercial price of raw tobacco, more flexible provi-
sions should be introduced so that the Member States

(1) OJ C 51 E, 26.2.2002, p. 382.
(2) Opinion delivered on 14 March 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 215, 30.7.1992, p. 70. Regulation as last amended by Regula-

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

(4)

(5)

(6)

level,

The national quota reserves created under Article 9(5) of
Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 have failed to achieve the
conversion or farm-restructuring objectives for which
they were created. Application at national
in
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
administrative 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. However
the possibility should remain open for Member States
which wish to do so to have recourse to this system
where they consider it to be useful.

The Treaty requires that a high level of human health
protection be ensured in the definition and implementa-
In the
tion of all Community policies and activities.
framework of the strategy for sustainable development
in the European Union, the economic, social and envir-
onmental consequences of every policy must be taken
into account. In the raw tobacco producing regions, it is
consequently advisable to implement actions aimed at
developing new sources of
income and economic
activity for the growers. In order to achieve this goal, it
is proposed that
the Community
the activities of
Tobacco Fund should be amended and agronomic
research should be replaced by a measure to support
specific initiatives allowing tobacco growers to switch
from tobacco into other crops and economic activities
creating employment.

It is also advisable to increase the deduction used to
finance the Fund to 3 % in 2003 in order to strengthen
the budgetary means available for financing information
measures on the harmful effects of tobacco consump-
tion and initiatives to convert production. This latter
measure, which is a new priority, could be implemented
nationally as part of specific conversion measures and
would accompany and develop synergies with the quota
buy-back programme. For the 2004 harvest, if necessary,
the deduction could be increased up to 5 % according to
the use of the Fund's appropriations, on the basis of a
report drawn up by the Commission.

(7)

Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 should therefore be
amended,

28.3.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 84/5

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

3. Article 13 shall be replaced by the following:

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

For the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests, the guarantee thresh-
olds 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) shall be replaced by the following:

if

The Member State may,

‘5.
its structures makes it
appropriate, apply to the producer groups which wish to
participate in it a cultivation contract auction scheme as
referred to in paragraph 1 for a particular variety group
where it is concluded before the date on which delivery of
the tobacco commences.’

‘Article 13

A Community Tobacco Fund (hereinafter “Fund”) shall

1.
be set up, financed by a deduction of:
— 2 % of the premium for the 2002 harvest,
— 3 % of the premium for the 2003 harvest,

The Commission shall submit before 31 December 2003 a
report on the use of the appropriations from the Fund,
which could be accompanied, if necessary, by a proposal for
the percentage of the deduction for the Fund to be increased
by up to 5 % for 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 and studies of the possibilities for tobacco
growers to do so.’

2. Article 9(5) shall be replaced by the following:

Producer Member States shall be entitled to create a
‘5.
national quota reserve, the rules of operation of which shall
be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 23.’

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.

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

Done at Brussels, 25 March 2002.

For the Council

The President

A. M. BIRULÉS Y BERTRÁN

L 84/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.3.2002

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

28.3.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 84/7

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

49 002

49 436

16 256

6 255

9 157

VI
Basmas

Other

VII
Katerini

498

VIII
K. Koulak

(tonnes)

Total

130 604

35 781

12 276

7 192

27 114

24 014

16 696

123 073

29 472

5 748

6 622

30

Portugal

4 981

1 066

France

10 650

9 602

5 359

Germany

4 800

2 683

3 868

Belgium

Austria

154

442

1 455

99

30

134 716

81 407

33 659

6 285

16 349

27 114

24 512

16 696

340 738

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

48 263

47 689

15 682

6 255

8 833

VI
Basmas

Other

VII
Katerini

498

VIII
K. Koulak

(tonnes)

Total

127 220

35 242

11 842

6 938

27 114

24 014

16 696

121 846

29 028

5 545

6 388

30

Portugal

4 906

1 028

France

10 490

9 262

5 170

Germany

4 728

2 588

3 731

Belgium

Austria

149

426

1 404

96

29

132 686

78 529

32 471

6 285

15 771

27 114

24 512

16 696

334 064

41 872

6 047

25 611

11 351

1 609

571

40 991

5 934

24 922

11 047

1 553

551

Italy

Greece

Spain

Italy

Greece

Spain