Commission Regulation (EC) No 2171/2003 of 12 December 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 2879/2000 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 2702/1999 on measures to provide information on, and to promote, agricultural products in third countries
Date: 2003-12-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agricultural product, consumer information, foodstuff, sales promotion, third country

L 326/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

13.12.2003

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2171/2003

of 12 December 2003

amending Regulation (EC) No 2879/2000 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regu-
lation (EC) No 2702/1999 on measures to provide information on, and to promote, agricultural
products in third countries

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(6)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of the Joint Meeting of
Management Committees — Promotion of Agricultural
Products,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2702/1999 of 14
December 1999 on measures to provide information on, and
to promote, agricultural products in third countries (1), and in
particular Article 11 thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Article 7(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2879/
2000 (2) does not lay down any annual time limits for
the submission of programmes to the Member States by
trade or intertrade organisations in the Community.

To meet the requests made by some Member States and
take advantage of the opportunity to bring Regulation
(EC) No 2879/2000 into line with Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 94/2002 of 18 January 2002 laying down
detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No
2826/2000 on information and promotion actions for
agricultural products on the internal market (3),
final
dates
submission of new programmes of
measures to the Member States should be laid down for
those organisations and the conditions for the lodging of
the performance security should be standardised.

the

for

To comply with the principle of equal
treatment of
operators, the amendment relating to the security should
apply from 1 October 2003.

In the interests of legal certainty, it should be specified
that the proposed programmes must comply, in particu-
lar, with all
the Community legislation covering the
products concerned and their marketing.

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 2879/2000 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 7(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1. With a view to the implementation of measures
contained in programmes as referred to in Article 7 of
Regulation (EC) No 2702/1999, the trade or intertrade orga-
nisations in the Community that are representative of the
sector(s) concerned shall submit each year, by 30 April and
31 October, programmes in response to calls for proposals
issued by the Member States concerned. Such programmes
shall comply with the Community legislation covering the
products concerned and their marketing and the specifica-
tions stipulating exclusion, selection and award criteria
distributed to that end by the Member States concerned.’

2. The first subparagraph of Article 11(3) is replaced by the

following:

‘Contracts may not be concluded by the two parties until a
performance security equal to 15 % of the maximum annual
financial contribution from the Community and the Member
State(s) concerned has been lodged in order to ensure satis-
factory performance of the contract. Performance securities
shall be lodged in accordance with Title III of Regulation
(EEC) No 2220/85.’

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 2879/2000 should be amended
accordingly.

(1) OJ L 327, 21.12.1999, p. 7.
(2) OJ L 333, 29.12.2000, p. 63. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 409/2003 (OJ L 62, 6.3.2003, p. 14).

(3) OJ L 17, 19.1.2002, p. 20. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 497/2003 (OJ L 74, 20.3.2003, p. 4).

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 1(2) shall apply from 1 October 2003.

Article 2

13.12.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 326/7

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

Done at Brussels, 12 December 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission