Commission Regulation (EC) No 824/2003 of 13 May 2003 laying down detailed rules of application for Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 (as regards private storage aid for certain cheeses in the 2003/2004 marketing year)
Date: 2003-05-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, aid system, cheese, hard cheese, private stock, storage

14.5.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 118/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 824/2003

of 13 May 2003

laying down detailed rules of application for Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 (as regards
private storage aid for certain cheeses in the 2003/2004 marketing year)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

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 made from sheep's or goat's milk
that require at least six months' maturing, if the price
trend and stock situation for them indicate a serious
imbalance of
that can be eliminated or
reduced by seasonal storage.

the market

The difficulties arising from the seasonal nature of the
production of certain long-keeping cheeses and of
Pecorino Romano, Kefalo-Tyri and Kasseri are aggra-
vated by a seasonality of consumption that is the inverse
of that of production. The unconsolidated production
system for such cheeses further aggravates these difficul-
ties. Provision should therefore be made for recourse to
seasonal storage of a quantity corresponding to the
difference between summer and winter production.

The types of cheese eligible for aid and the maximum
quantities on which it may be granted should be laid
down, and also the duration of the contracts, which
should reflect the real requirements of the market and
the keeping qualities of the cheeses.

is necessary to specify the terms of

the storage
It
contract and the essential steps to enable the cheese
covered by a contract to be identified and subjected to
checks. The aid must be fixed with reference to storage
costs and the balance to be maintained between cheese
for which aid is granted and other cheese sold on the
market.

Detailed rules should also be set on documentation,
accounting and the frequency and nature of checks.
Member States should be allowed to charge all or part of
the check costs to the contractor.

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

(6)

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Purpose

This Regulation sets detailed rules on the granting of private
storage aid for certain cheeses (aid below) in the 2003/2004
marketing year under Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1255/
1999.

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 a single type and taken into storage in one
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 on certain long-keeping cheeses and
on Pecorino Romano, Kefalo-Tyri and Kasseri. The terms set in
the Annex apply.

The cheese must have been made in the Community. It

2.
must:

(a) be indelibly marked with indications of

the producing
enterprise and the day and month of production; these may
be in code form;

(b) have undergone quality testing showing that it offers an
adequate guarantee of classification in the categories
defined in the Annex following maturing.

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Article 4

Storage contract

The second subparagraph shall also apply where part of a lot is
removed before the start of the period of removal from storage
indicated in paragraph 1 or before expiry of the minimum
storage period indicated in Article 8(2).

Storage contracts shall be concluded between the inter-
1.
vention agency of the Member State on whose territory the
cheese is stored and natural or legal persons (contractors
below).

For calculation of the aid on replaced quantities (first
4.
subparagraph of paragraph 3)
the first day of contractual
storage shall be the day of commencement of contractual
storage.

Storage contracts shall be drawn up in writing on the

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

Applications must reach intervention agencies within 30 days
from the date of entry into storage and may relate only to lots
of cheese for which entry into storage is complete. Intervention
agencies shall register the date of receipt.

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

Article 6

Storage requirements

1. Member States shall ensure that all
conferring entitlement to the aid are met.

the requirements

2.
The contractor or, at the request or by authorisation of
the Member State, the person in charge of the storage depot
shall keep available to the agency responsible for checks all
documentation needed for verification of:

Storage contracts shall be concluded for one or more

3.
storage lots and shall specify:

(a) ownership at time of entry into storage;

(a) the quantity of cheese covered;

(b) the contract execution dates;

(c) the aid amount;

(d) the storage depot.

(b) origin and date of production;

(c) date of entry into storage;

(d) actual presence in the storage depot and its address;

(e) date of removal from storage.

Storage contracts shall be concluded within 30 days of
the application to draw up a

4.
the date of registration of
contract.

3.
The contractor or, where applicable, the person in charge
of the storage depot shall keep stock records available at the
depot for each contract, showing:

5.
The check provisions, particularly those indicated in
Article 7, shall be the subject of a schedule drawn up by the
intervention agency. The storage contract shall refer to it.

Article 5

Entry into and removal from storage

The periods for entry into and removal from storage are

1.
given in the Annex.

2.

Removal from storage shall be by whole storage lot.

(a) each storage lot's identification number;

(b) dates of entry into and removal from storage;

(c) the number of cheeses and their weight in each storage lot;

(d) the location of the cheeses in the depot.

4.
The stored cheese must be easily identifiable, easily acces-
sible and identified individually by contract. A specific mark
shall be affixed to the stored cheeses.

Article 7

Checks

3.
If 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, the contractor may be authorised, once per
to replace the defective quantity at his own
storage lot,
expense.

1.
On entry into storage the abovementioned agency shall
conduct checks in particular to ensure that the cheese is eligible
for the aid and to forestall any possibility of substitution during
the contractual storage.

If checks during storage or on removal from storage reveal
defective quantities, no aid may be paid on these. In addition
the part of the lot still eligible must weigh at least two tonnes.

2.
The agency shall make unannounced sample checks to
verify that the cheese is present in storage depots. The sample
must be representative and account for at least 10 % of the
total quantity put into contractual storage under this scheme.

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Checks must include, in addition to examination of the stock
records indicated in Article 6(3), physical checking of weight,
nature and identification. This must cover at least 5 % of the
check sample.

At the end of the contractual storage period the agency
3.
shall check to see that the cheese is present.
If it stays in
storage after expiry of the maximum contractual storage period
this check may be made when it is removed from storage.

For the purposes of the above check the contractor shall inform
the agency, indicating the storage lots concerned, at least five
working days before the contractual storage period expires or,
if removal
is during or after the contractual storage period,
before it begins.

Member States may accept a shorter time limit
working days.

than five

Reports shall be drawn up on the checks made under

4.
paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 specifying:

(a) the date of the check;

(b) its duration;

(c) the operations carried out.

(b) EUR 0,25 per tonne per day of contractual storage for

warehousing costs;

(c) an amount per tonne per day of contractual storage for

financial costs of:

(i) EUR 0,28 for long-keeping cheeses;
(ii) EUR 0,38 for Pecorino Romano;
(iii) EUR 0,47 for Kefalo-Tyri and Kasseri.

2.
No aid shall be granted if the contractual storage is less
than 60 days. The maximum aid payable shall be for 180 days
of contractual storage.

If the contractor fails to comply with the specified time limit
under the second or third subparagraph of Article 7(3), the aid
shall be reduced by 15 % and be paid only in respect of the
period for which the contractor proves to the above agency's
satisfaction that the cheese 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 indicated in
Article 7(3) have been made and that the requirements confer-
ring entitlement to the aid have been met.

These must be signed by the inspector and countersigned by
the contractor or, as appropriate, the person in charge of the
store, and must be included in the payment dossier.

However, if an administrative investigation into entitlement to
the aid is in progress, payment shall not be made until entitle-
ment has been recognised.

5.
In the case of irregularities affecting 5 % or more of a
quantity of cheese checked, the check shall be extended to a
larger sample to be determined by the agency.

Member States shall notify such cases to the Commission
within four weeks.

6. Member States may provide that check costs are to be
fully or partly met by the contractor.

Article 8

Storage aid

1.

The aid shall be as follows:

(a) EUR 20 per tonne for fixed costs;

Article 9

Notifications

Member States shall notify the Commission by 15 January
2004 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
Union.

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

Done at Brussels, 13 May 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX

Category of cheese

Quantity eligible for
aid

Minimum age of cheese

Period of entry into
storage

Period of removal from
storage

French long-keeping cheeses:
— Beaufort and Comté protected designation of

origin,

— Emmental grand cru label rouge,
— Emmental and Gruyère class A and B.

16 000 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

German long-keeping cheeses:
Emmentaler/Bergkäse Markenkäse and Klasse fein.

1 000 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

Irish long-keeping cheeses:
Special Grade.

900 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

Austrian long-keeping cheeses:
1. Güteklasse Emmentaler/Bergkäse/Alpkäse.

1 700 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

Finnish long-keeping cheeses:
I luokka.

Swedish long-keeping cheeses:
Västerbotten/Prästost/Svecia/Grevé.

1 700 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

1 700 t

10 days

15 May to 30
September 2003

1 October 2003 to
31 March 2004

Pecorino Romano

15 000 t

Kefalo-Tyri and Kasseri cheese made from sheep's or
goat's milk or a mixture of the two.

3 200 t

90 days and
produced after 1
October 2002

90 days and
produced after 30
November 2002

15 May to 31
December 2003

before 31 March
2004

15 May to 30
November 2003

before 31 March
2004