Commission Regulation (EC) No 224/2004 of 9 February 2004 determining the aid referred to in Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 for the private storage of butter and cream and derogating from Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999
Date: 2004-02-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: butter, intervention agency, private stock, storage premium

10.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 37/5

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 224/2004

of 9 February 2004

determining the aid referred to in Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 for the private storage of
butter and cream and derogating from Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999

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), and in particular Article 10 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Article 34(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2771/
1999 of 16 December 1999 laying down detailed rules
for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/
1999 as regards intervention on the market in butter
and cream (2) stipulates that
the amount of aid for
private storage referred to in Article 6(3) of Regulation
(EC) No 1255/1999 is to be fixed each year.

The third subparagraph of Article 6(3) of Regulation
(EC) No 1255/1999 specifies that the aid shall be fixed
in the light of storage costs and the likely trend in prices
for fresh butter and butter from stocks.

Regarding storage costs, notably the costs for entry and
exit of the products concerned, the daily costs for cold
storage and the financial costs of storage should be
taken into account.

Regarding the likely trend in prices, consideration
should be given to the reductions of the butter interven-
tion prices foreseen in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1255/1999 and the resulting decreases expected for
market prices for fresh butter and butter from stocks
and higher aid should be awarded for applications for
contracts received before 1 July 2004.

To avoid excessive applications
for private storage
before that date, an indicative quantity and a communi-
cation mechanism enabling the Commission to establish
when this quantity is reached need to be introduced for
the period ending 1 July 2004. This indicative quantity
should be fixed taking into consideration the quantities
covered by storage contracts in past years.

Article 29(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999 stipu-
lates that the entry into storage must take place between
15 March and 15 August. The current difficult situation
on the butter market justifies bringing the entry date for

butter and cream storage operations in 2004 forward to
1 March. Consequently a derogation from that Article
should be introduced.

(7)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Milk and Milk Products,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
The aid referred to in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No
1255/1999 shall be calculated per tonne of butter or butter
equivalent for contracts concluded in 2004 on the basis of the
following elements:

(a) for all contracts:

— EUR 24 for fixed storage costs,

— EUR 0,35 for the costs of cold storage for each day of

contractual storage,

— an amount per day of contractual storage, calculated on
the basis of 90 % of the intervention price for butter in
force on the day the contractual storage begins and on
the basis of an annual interest rate of 2,25 %; and

(b) EUR 147,60 for contracts which have been concluded on
the basis of applications received by the intervention
agency before 1 July 2004.

2.
The intervention agency shall register the date of receipt
of the applications to conclude a contract as referred to in
Article 30(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999 as well as the
corresponding quantities and dates of manufacture and the
place at which the butter is stored.

The Member States shall inform the Commission no later than
12 noon (Brussels time) on each Tuesday of the quantities
covered during the preceding week by such applications. Once
it is communicated by the Commission to the Member States
that
the applications have reached 90 000 tonnes Member
States shall inform the Commission each day before 12 noon
the
(Brussels) of
preceding day.

the quantities covered by applications of

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 48. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1787/2003 (OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 121).

(2) OJ L 333, 24.12.1999, p. 11. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 359/2003 (OJ L 53, 28.2.2003, p. 17).

3.
The Commission will suspend the application of para-
graph 1(b) and 2 once it has observed that the applications
referred to in paragraph 1(b) have reached 120 000 tonnes.

L 37/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.2.2004

Article 2

By way of derogation from Article 29(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999, entry into storage in 2004
may take place from 1 March.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Union.

Article 3

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

Done at Brussels, 9 February 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission