Commission Regulation (EC) No 2198/2003 of 16 December 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 464/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 as regards aid arrangements for prunes
Date: 2003-12-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: aid system, dried product, product quality, production aid, stone fruit

L 328/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.12.2003

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2198/2003

of 16 December 2003

amending Regulation (EC) No 464/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 as regards aid arrangements for prunes

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 2201/96 of 28
October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in
products processed from fruit and vegetables (1), as
last
amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 453/2002 (2), and
in particular Article 6c(7) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 464/1999 (3) lays down
detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No
2201/96 as regards aid arrangements for prunes.

To make the minimum price system more rigorous, it
should be specified that the waste content should not be
taken into account when calculating the price to be paid
by processors.

The control mechanisms for the prune production aid
scheme should be improved by clarifying the rules for
the raw material checks to be carried out by the Member
States.

Regulation (EC) No 464/1999 should therefore be
amended.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Products Processed from Fruit and Vege-
tables,

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 464/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 2 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 2

To qualify for payment of the aid referred to in Article 6a of
Regulation (EC) No 2201/96, prunes must comply with the
characteristics set out in Annex I(B) and have been obtained
from dried plums complying with the characteristics set out
in Annex I(A) for which the minimum price has been paid
in full, on the basis of the quantities delivered free from
waste.’

2. Article 6 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

Member States shall take the necessary steps to satisfy them-
selves,
the
in particular by checking stock records,
overall quantities marketed or held in stock by each
processor match the quantities for which aid is paid.’

that

3. Point 3 of Section I of Annex I(B)

is replaced by the

following:
‘3. The lots of prunes must be checked by the processor
in the
when they arrive on the processor's premises,
presence of a representative of the producer organisa-
tion, and must be size-graded unless intended for indus-
trial use.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter
into force on the third 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, 16 December 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 29.
(2) OJ L 72, 14.3.2002, p. 9.
(3) OJ L 56, 4.3.1999, p. 8.