Commission Regulation (EC) No 1398/2002 of 31 July 2002 fixing, for the 2001/02 marketing year, the actual production of unginned cotton in Greece and the resulting reduction of the guide price and derogating, for the 2001/02 marketing year, from certain management rules and aid award procedures in Greece
Date: 2002-07-31
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU production, Greece, aid system, cotton, marketing, norm price, production aid

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1398/2002

of 31 July 2002

fixing, for the 2001/02 marketing year, the actual production of unginned cotton in Greece and the
resulting reduction of the guide price and derogating, for the 2001/02 marketing year, from certain
management rules and aid award procedures in Greece

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to the Act of Accession of Greece, and in parti-
cular Protocol 4 on cotton, as last amended by Council Regula-
tion (EC) No 1050/2001 (1),

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001 of 22
May 2001 on production aid for cotton (2), and in particular
Article 19(1) and (2) and Article 21 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Under the third indent of Article 19(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 1051/2001 actual production of unginned
cotton is fixed taking account in particular of the quanti-
ties on which aid has been applied for. Of the total
Greek production of unginned cotton delivered to
ginning undertakings during the 2001/02 marketing
year, namely 1 354 719 tonnes, the Greek authorities
recognised 1 148 357 tonnes as eligible for aid, adjusted
to 1 183 155 tonnes to take account of
the quality
criterion provided for in Article 15(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 1051/2001 represented by cotton fibre yield.

there

All production of unginned cotton of sound and fair
merchantable quality delivered to ginning undertakings
could be treated as actual production. However, it should
be noted that, generally speaking, where common agri-
cultural policy mechanisms are applied, the production
taken into account is that which fulfils the conditions
laid down by the rules regarding eligibility for aid. There-
is no specific provision
fore,
and because
concerning cotton,
is justified to regard as actual
production the total production of unginned cotton of
sound and fair merchantable quality which, without
prejudice to Article 13(2) of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 1591/2001 laying down detailed rules for
applying the cotton aid scheme (3), comes from areas
declared in accordance with Article 9 of the said Regula-
tion and not excluded from the aid scheme pursuant to
Article 17(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001, and
which is delivered by producers to ginning undertakings.

it

(1) OJ L 148, 1.6.2001, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 148, 1.6.2001, p. 3.
(3) OJ L 210, 3.8.2001, p. 12.

The quantity of 206 362 tonnes of cotton which, on 15
May 2002, had not been recognised as eligible by the
Greek authorities comprised, according to the informa-
tion provided by those authorities, 138 175 tonnes
which failed to comply with the national rules on the
reduction of areas adopted under Article 17(3) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1051/2001 and/or involved failings or
irregularities
in the area declarations, 6 376 tonnes
which were not of sound and fair merchantable quality
as provided for in Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1051/2001, 52 361 tonnes excluded due to abnormally
high yields revealing a failure to observe sound agricul-
tural practice, and finally 9 450 tonnes which did not
observe the delivery conditions.

(4)

(5)

According to the information communicated by the
Greek authorities, for the 2001/02 marketing year the
total area sown to cotton is 423 038 hectares while
Greek ministerial decree No 40420 of 28 February 2001
restricts, for that year, the areas eligible for production
aid to 393 770 hectares. The difference, 29 268 hectares,
reflects a minimum area not eligible for the aid pursuant
to Article 17(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001. On
the basis of an average yield of 3,032 tonnes per hectare
for cotton considered eligible by the Greek authorities,
the Commission estimates production from these
29 268 hectares at 88 741 tonnes.

The remainder of the 138 175 tonnes, i.e. at the most
49 434 tonnes, consists of cotton delivered for ginning
covered by a declaration under the Integrated Adminis-
tration and Control System (IACS) which does not
mention, at least in total, the area actually sown to
cotton by the producer in question. In other words, it
comes either from an area not declared and as such not
eligible for aid or from an area declared as being sown
to another crop but actually sown to cotton. For cotton
from an area not properly declared, under Article 13(2)
of Regulation (EC) No 1591/2001, without prejudice to
the national penalties to be applied to the producers
concerned, aid is granted to the ginning undertaking
provided that all the other requirements have been met.
In view of the impossibility of establishing within the
link between irregularities
49 434 tonnes a direct
committed within the meaning of the said Article and
the batches of cotton concerned, the conditions are not
met for application of the said Article. Consequently the
49 434 tonnes should be excluded in their entirety from
actual production.

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(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

As a result, a quantity of 1 210 168 tonnes may be
regarded as the total production of unginned cotton of
sound and fair merchantable quality coming from areas
eligible for aid and delivered by producers to ginning
undertakings. Taking into account the adjustment for
fibre yield, actual production of unginned cotton in
Greece for the 2001/02 marketing year may therefore be
put at 1 246 839 tonnes.

Under Article 7(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1051/2001, if
actual production in Spain and Greece
exceeds
1 031 000 tonnes, the guide price referred to in Article
3(1) of that Regulation is to be reduced in each Member
State where production exceeds its guaranteed national
quantity (GNQ). This reduction is calculated differently
depending on whether the GNQ is exceeded in both
Greece and Spain or in only one of those Member States.

In the 2001/02 marketing year
there has been an
overrun in both Spain and Greece. Moreover, if the sum
of actual production in Spain and Greece reduced by
1 031 000 tonnes is higher than 469 000 tonnes, the
50 % reduction in the guide price increases gradually in
accordance with the rules laid down in the second
subparagraph of Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No
1051/2001. For the 2001/02 marketing year, actual
production of unginned cotton in Greece is in the eighth
step of 15 170 tonnes above its guaranteed national
quantity increased by 356 000 tonnes. The reduction in
the guide price in Greece is therefore 66 %.

Community law does not provide for the exclusion from
the aid scheme of the 52 361 tonnes of cotton that was
delivered and produced while failing to observe good
agricultural practice. By contrast, the failure to observe
the delivery conditions in the case of 9 450 tonnes may
be a criterion for not recognising those quantities as
eligible for aid.

these quantities,

(10) Of the quantities of cotton delivered to ginning under-
takings in the 2001/02 marketing year but not recog-
nised as eligible by the Greek authorities there is there-
fore a maximum 1 237 103 which may be eligible under
it
Community rules. For
should be possible to lodge aid applications as referred
to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1591/2001 and to
lodge applications for supervised storage as referred to in
Article 6 of that Regulation. As regards these aid applica-
tions and applications for supervised storage, to take
account of their retrospective submission, it is necessary
to derogate from certain management rules or aid calcu-
lation procedures laid down by Regulation (EC) No
1591/2001.

therefore,

(11) Under Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001
the amount of the aid to be paid is the amount applic-
able on the day the application for aid is submitted.
Under the transitional measures provided for in Article
21 of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001, as regards aid
applications in Greece submitted from the entry into
force of this Regulation for the 2001/02 marketing year,
it is necessary to derogate from this provision in order to

avoid having to choose, a posteriori, the amount of aid.
Under these circumstances, it should be laid down that
the amount of aid is that which is valid on the day on
which the quantities concerned by the applications in
question enter the cotton ginning undertaking.

(12) Under Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001
the balance of the aid is paid before the end of the
marketing year at the latest, once any adjustments to the
aid resulting from application of Article 7 of that Regula-
tion have been determined. The time limits required in
the case of new aid applications for Greek unginned
cotton eligible for aid for the 2001/02 marketing year
do not allow the Greek authorities to pay the balance of
the aid before 31 August 2002. Pursuant to the transi-
tional measures provided for in Article 21 of Regulation
(EC) No 1051/2001, it is therefore necessary to extend,
in Greece, the deadline for the payment of the balance of
the aid for that year.

(13)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Natural Fibres,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

For the 2001/02 marketing year, actual production of

1.
unginned cotton is fixed at 1 246 839 tonnes for Greece.

2.
The amount by which the guide price is to be reduced for
the 2001/02 marketing year is fixed at EUR 41,670/100 kg
for Greece.

Article 2

1.
Notwithstanding the deadlines referred to in the second
subparagraph of Article 5(1) and in Article 6(1), (3) and (6) of
Regulation (EC) No 1591/2001, the aid applications and appli-
cations for supervised storage for the 2001/02 marketing year
in Greece may, for the cotton referred to in paragraph 2, be
submitted until 15 September 2002.

Article 14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1591/2001 does not apply
to the aid applications referred to in the first subparagraph.

The applications for supervised storage referred to in the first
subparagraph shall mention the date of entry of the batch or
batches concerned into the ginning undertaking.

The applications referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to

2.
cotton of sound and fair merchantable quality:

— not coming from areas which have been disqualified under

Article 17(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001,

— delivered to ginning undertakings

the 2001/02
marketing year in Greece and not having been recognised
as eligible by 15 May 2002, including cotton for which no
aid was applied for,

for

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— identified by batch and sampled in accordance with Article
6(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1591/2001 and then
ginned before 1 September 2002,

applications referred to in Article 2(1) shall be that which is
valid on the day on which the quantities of unginned cotton
concerned enter the cotton ginning undertaking.

— recorded in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC)

No 1591/2001,

— where applicable, by way of derogation from Article 11 of
Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001, at a price such that, for
each producer concerned and for the total quantities of
unginned cotton eligible for aid that producer has delivered
for the 2001/02 marketing year, the average price paid is
more than or equal to the minimum price referred to in
Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001.

Notwithstanding the second subparagraph of Article
2.
14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001, the balance of the aid
for the quantities of unginned cotton recognised as eligible for
the 2001/02 marketing year in Greece may be granted until 15
October 2002.

Article 4

Article 3

1.
Notwithstanding Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1051/2001, the amount of the aid corresponding to the aid

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh 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, 31 July 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission