Commission Regulation (EC) No 777/2002 of 7 May 2002 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards the granting of private storage aid for certain cheeses in the 2002/03 marketing year
Date: 2002-05-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, aid system, cheese, hard cheese, private stock, storage premium

L 123/26

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

9.5.2002

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 777/2002

of 7 May 2002

laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards
the granting of private storage aid for certain cheeses in the 2002/03 marketing year

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 of 17
May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk
and milk products (1), as last amended by Commission Regula-
tion (EC) No 509/2002 (2), and in particular Article 10 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Under Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999
private storage aid may be granted for long-keeping
cheeses and for cheeses which are manufactured from
sheep's and/or goat's milk and require at
least six
months to mature, if for those cheeses price develop-
ments and the stock situation indicate a serious imbal-
ance of the market which may be eliminated or reduced
by seasonal storage. The seasonal nature of the produc-
tion of certain long-keeping cheeses and Pecorino
Romano, Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheese is aggravated by
the fact
the seasonality of consumption is the
inverse of the seasonality of production. The fragmented
production of
the
consequences of that seasonality. Therefore, provision
should be made for recourse to seasonal storage in
respect of a quantity corresponding to the difference
between summer and winter production.

further aggravates

such cheeses

that

The types of cheeses eligible for aid and the maximum
quantities which may benefit from it should be laid
down, as well as the duration of the contracts in relation
to the real requirements of the market and the keeping
qualities of the cheeses in question.

is necessary to specify the terms of

It
the storage
contract and the measures to enable the cheese covered
by a contract to be identified and subjected to checks.
The amount of aid shall be fixed with reference to
storage costs and the balance to be maintained between
cheeses for which aid is granted and other cheeses
coming on the market.

Detailed rules should also be laid down regarding docu-
mentation, accounting and the frequency and nature of
checks. In this connection, it should be laid down that
the Member States may provide that
the costs of
controls be fully or in part charged to the contractor.

The Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products
has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by
its chairman,

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 48.
(2) OJ L 79, 22.3.2002, p. 15.

Article 1

Purpose

This Regulation lays down the detailed rules for the application
of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards the granting,
under Article 9 of that Regulation, of private storage aid for
certain cheeses (hereinafter referred to as ‘aid’) in the 2002/03
marketing year.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions
shall apply:

(a) ‘storage lot’ means a quantity of cheese weighing at least
two tonnes, of the same type and taken into storage in a
single storage depot on a single day;

(b) ‘day of commencement of contractual storage’ means the

day following that of entry into storage;

(c) ‘last day of contractual storage’ means the day before that

of removal from storage.

Article 3

Cheeses eligible for aid

1.
Aid shall be granted in respect of certain long-keeping
cheeses and Pecorino Romano, Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheese
under the terms laid down in the Annex.

The cheeses must have been manufactured in the

2.
Community and satisfy the following conditions:

(a) be indelibly marked with an indication of the undertaking
in which they were manufactured and of the day and
month of manufacture; this may take the form of a code;

(b) have undergone quality tests which establish their classi-
fication after maturing in the categories laid down in the
Annex.

Article 4

Storage contract

1.
Contracts relating to the private storage of cheese shall be
concluded between the intervention agency of the Member
State on whose territory the cheese is stored and natural or
legal persons, hereinafter called ‘contractors’.

Storage contracts shall be drawn up in writing on the

2.
basis of an application to draw up a contract.

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Applications must reach intervention agencies within no more
than 30 days of the date of entry into store and may relate
only to lots of cheese which have been fully taken into storage.
Intervention agencies shall register their date of receipt.

If an application reaches the intervention agency within 10
working days following the deadline, a storage contract may
still be concluded but the aid shall be reduced by 30 %.

Storage contracts shall be concluded for one or more
in particular, provisions

lots and shall

include,

3.
storage
concerning:

(a) the quantity of cheese to which the contract applies;

(b) the dates relating to the execution of the contract;

(c) the amount of aid;

(d) the identity of the storage depots.

Storage contracts shall be concluded within no more than
4.
30 days of the date of registration of the application to draw
up a contract.

The control measures, particularly those referred to in
5.
Article 7, shall be the subject of specifications drawn up by the
intervention agency. The storage contract shall refer to these
specifications.

Article 5

Entry into and removal from storage

The periods of entry into and removal from storage shall

1.
be as laid down in the Annex.

2.

Removal from storage shall be in whole storage lots.

3. Where, at the end of the first 60 days of contractual
storage, the deterioration in the quality of the cheese is greater
than is normal in store, contractors may be authorised, once
per storage lot, to replace the defective quantity, at their own
expense.

If checks during storage or on removal reveal defective quant-
ities, no aid may be paid for those quantities. In addition, the
part of the lot which is still eligible for aid may not be less than
two tonnes. The same rule shall apply where part of a lot is
removed before the start of the period of removal from storage
referred to in paragraph 1 or before expiry of the minimum
storage period referred to in Article 8(2).

For the purpose of calculating the aid in the case referred
4.
to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 3, the first day of
contractual storage shall be the day of commencement of
contractual storage.

Article 6

Storage conditions

The Member State shall ensure that all the conditions

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

2.
The contractor or, at the request of the Member State or
with its authorisation, the person responsible for the storage
depot, shall make available to the competent authority respon-

sible for inspection, any documentation permitting verification
of
the following particulars of products placed in private
storage:

(a) ownership at the time of placing in storage;

(b) the origin and the date of manufacture of the cheeses;

(c) the date of placing in storage;

(d) presence in the storage depot and the address of the depot;

(e) the date of removal from storage.

3.
The contractor or, where applicable, the person respon-
sible for the storage depot shall keep stock records available at
the depot for each contract, covering:

(a) the identification, by storage lot 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 storage lot;

(d) the location of the products in the storeroom.

4.
Products stored must be easily identifiable, easily acces-
sible and identified individually by contract. A special mark
shall be affixed to stored cheeses.

Article 7

Checks

1.
On entry into storage the competent agency 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.

2.
The competent agency shall make an unannounced
check, by sampling, to ensure that the products are present in
the storage depot. The sample concerned must be repres-
entative and must correspond to at least 10 % of 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 Article 6(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
subjected to the unannounced check.

At

the end of

3.
the
the contractual
competent agency shall check to see that products are present.
However, where the products are still in storage after expiry of
the maximum contractual storage period, this check may be
made when the products are removed from storage.

storage period,

For the purposes of the check referred to in the first subpara-
graph, the contractor shall
inform the competent authority,
indicating the storage lots concerned, at least five working days
before:
(i) the expiry of the contractual storage period, or
(ii) the start of the removal operations, where these take place

during or after the contractual storage period.

The Member State may accept a shorter time limit than five
working days.

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A report shall be drawn up on the checks carried out

4.
pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, specifying:

not exceed an amount corresponding to 180 days' storage
under contract.

(a) the date of the check,

(b) its duration,

(c) the operations carried out.

The report must be signed by the inspector responsible and
countersigned by the contractor or, as the case may be, the
person responsible for the store, and must be included in the
payment dossier.

5.
In the case of irregularities affecting at least 5 % of the
quantities of products subjected 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.

The Member States may provide that the costs of controls

6.
are to be fully or in part charged to the contractor.

Where the contractor fails to comply with the time limit
referred to in the second and third subparagraphs of Article
7(3), the aid shall be reduced by 15 % and shall be paid only in
respect of the period for which the contractor supplies satisfac-
tory proof to the competent agency that the cheeses have
remained in contractual storage.

3.
The aid shall be paid on application by the contractor, at
the end of the contractual storage period, within 120 days of
receipt of the application, provided that the checks referred to
in Article 7(3) have been carried out and that the conditions
for entitlement to the aid have been met.

However, if it has been necessary to commence an adminis-
trative inquiry into entitlement to the aid, payment shall not be
made until entitlement has been recognised.

Article 8

Storage aid

Article 9

Communication of information

1.

The aid shall be as follows:

(a) EUR 35 per tonne for the fixed costs;

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

the warehousing costs;

(c) an amount per tonne per day of storage under contract for

the financial costs, namely:
(i) EUR 0,36 for long-keeping cheeses;
(ii) EUR 0,46 for Pecorino Romano cheese;
(iii) EUR 0,51 for Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheese.

2.
No aid shall be granted in respect of storage under
contract for less than 60 days. The maximum aid payable shall

The Member States shall notify the Commission by 15 January
2003 of the quantities of cheese for which storage contracts
have been concluded.

Article 10

Entry into force

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

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

Done at Brussels, 7 May 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX

Categories of cheeses

Quantities
eligible for aid
(tonnes)

Minimum age
for cheeses

Period of entry
into storage

Period of removal
from storage

French long-keeping cheeses:

16 000

10 days

— protected designation of origin for Beaufort

and Comté cheeses

— ‘Label Rouge’ for Emmental grand cru

— class A or B for Emmental and Gruyère

cheeses

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

German long-keeping cheeses:

1 000

10 days

‘Markenkäse’ or ‘Klasse fein’ Emmentaler/Berg-
käse

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

Irish long-keeping cheeses:

‘Special Grade’

900

10 days

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

Austrian long-keeping cheeses:

1 700

10 days

‘1. Güteklasse Emmentaler/Bergkäse/Alpkäse’

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

Finnish long-keeping cheeses:

1 700

10 days

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

‘I luokka’

Swedish long-keeping cheeses:

‘Västerbotten/Prästost/Svecia/Grevé’

‘Pecorino Romano’

‘Kefalotyri’ and ‘Kasseri’ cheese made from ewes'
or goats' milk or a mixture of the two

1 700

10 days

15 May
to 30 September 2002

1 October 2002
to 31 March 2003

15 000

3 200

90 days and produced
after 1 October 2001

15 May
to 31 December 2002

before 31 March 2003

90 days and produced
after 30 November
2001

15 May
to 30 November 2002

before 31 March 2003