Commission Regulation (EC) No 2125/2003 of 3 December 2003 derogating from Regulation (EC) No 1433/2003 with regard to decisions by the competent national authorities on operational programmes and funds
Date: 2003-12-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid system, derogation from EU law, financial aid, fruit, fund (EU), operational programme, producer organisation, vegetable

4.12.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 319/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2125/2003

of 3 December 2003

derogating from Regulation (EC) No 1433/2003 with regard to decisions by the competent national
authorities on operational programmes and funds

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28
October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in
fruit and vegetables (1), as last amended by Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 47/2003 (2), and in particular Article 48 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

regards operational

Articles 13 and 14 of Commission Regulation (EC) No
1433/2003 of 11 August 2003 laying down detailed
rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No
2200/96 as
funds, operational
programmes and financial assistance (3), as amended by
Regulation (EC) No 1582/2003 (4),
lay down the final
deadline by which the competent national authority
must
take decisions on programmes and operational
funds submitted by producer organisations or on amend-
ments to operational programmes during the year for
subsequent years. That date is 15 December of the year
in which operational programmes or
for
amendments to operational programmes are submitted.

requests

Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 1433/2003,
laying
down transitional provisions, as corrected by Regulation
(EC) No 1582/2003, lays down that producer organisa-
tions must submit requests for amendments needed to
bring operational programmes into line with that Regu-
lation on 15 October 2003 at the latest, rather than 15
September as initially laid down. As a result, the compe-
tent national authorities have only two months in which
to undertake the checks laid down in Article 12 of that
Regulation before taking the decisions provided for in
Articles 13 and 14 thereof.

So as not to seriously undermine the effectiveness of the
abovementioned checks and to give the competent
national authorities a reasonable amount of time to draw
up the programmes, for 2003 only the final deadline of
15 December should be waived and the Member States
given until 31 January 2004 to take the decisions
provided for in Articles 13 and 14 of the above Regu-
lation. The Member States may take measures to permit
the eligibility of expenditure from 1 January 2004.

Given the urgency of the situation, it is essential that this
Regulation take effect immediately.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,

(4)

(5)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
For 2003 only, notwithstanding Article 13(2) and Article
14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1433/2003, the Member States
may take decisions on operational programmes and funds or
on requests for amendments to operational programmes on 31
January 2004 at the latest.

Such decisions may provide that expenditure is eligible

2.
from 1 January 2004.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that
of 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, 3 December 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 7, 11.1.2003, p. 64.
(3) OJ L 203, 12.8.2003, p. 25.
(4) OJ L 227, 11.9.2003, p. 3.