Commission Regulation (EC) No 579/2004 of 26 March 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 708/98 as regards the maximum quantities and the minimum quality of rice eligible for intervention in the 2003/2004 marketing year
Date: 2004-03-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: market intervention, product quality, rice

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Official Journal of the European Union

27.3.2004

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 579/2004

of 26 March 2004

amending Regulation (EC) No 708/98 as regards the maximum quantities and the minimum quality
of rice eligible for intervention 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 3072/95 of 22
December 1995 on the common organisation of the market in
rice (1), and in particular Article 8(b) thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 of 29
September 2003 on the common organisation of the market in
rice (2), and in particular Article 32(3) thereof,

Whereas:

The conditions governing the taking over of paddy rice
by the intervention agencies are laid down in Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 708/98 (3).

Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 limited the quantities
bought in by the intervention agencies in the period
from 1 April to 31 July 2004 to 100 000 tonnes. To
distribute this quantity fairly over space and time, quan-
tities must be laid down by producer Member State and
by tranche.

To ensure that the total available quantity is used in full,
provision should be made for the carry-over of unused
quantities from one tranche to the next, and the final
tranche should be available to the Community as a
whole.

To avoid speculative applications, operators must be
required to provide a security. This security should
however be modulated on the basis of the category of
taking account of any other guarantees
operators,
provided, and distinguishing in particular those produ-
cers and producer groups who have met the require-
ments of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1709/2003 of
26 September 2003 on crop and stock declarations for
rice (4).

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

The Management Committee for Cereals has not deliv-
ered an opinion within the time limit
set by its
chairman,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 708/98 is amended as follows:

(a) in Article 2(2),

the second indent

is replaced by the

following:

‘— the yield after processing is not less than six points

below the basic yields listed in Annex II.B,’;

(b) the following Article 3a is inserted:

‘Article 3a

The quantities of paddy rice eligible for intervention in the
2003/04 marketing year shall be broken down into two
tranches for the producer Member States, and a shared
tranche for the Community as a whole, integrating all the
available quantities not used by this period, in accordance
with the table shown in Annex IV.’;

(c) Article 4 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

1.
All offers for sale into intervention shall be made in
writing to an intervention agency on the basis of the form
drawn up by it. To be eligible, the offer must be presented
from 1 to 9 April 2004, 10 to 14 May 2004 and 14 to 18
June 2004 respectively for tranches 1, 2 and 3, as shown in
Annex IV, and must contain the following:

To strengthen the role of intervention as a safety net and
encourage the production of good quality rice, the level
of the minimum yield for milling required for interven-
tion buying-in should be increased.

(a) name of the applicant;

(b) place of storage of the rice offered;

(1) OJ L 329, 30.12.1995, p. 18. Regulation last amended by Commis-
sion Regulation (EC) No 411/2002 (OJ L 62, 5.3.2002, p. 27).
Regulation repealed by Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 (OJ L 270,
21.10.2003, p. 96.) with effect from the date of entry into force of
that Regulation.

(2) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 96. Regulation amended by the Treaty of

Accession 2003.

(3) OJ L 98, 31.3.1998, p. 21. Regulation last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 610/2001 (OJ L 90, 30.3.2001, p. 17).

(4) OJ L 243, 27.9.2003, p. 92.

(c) quantity offered in accordance with Article 1;

(d) variety;

(e) main characteristics, including overall yield and whole

grain yield after processing;

(f) year of harvest;

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(g) minimum quantity of the offer (*), below which the

offer is deemed by the applicant not to stand;

(h) the intervention centre for which the offer is made;

(i) proof

that

the applicant has lodged a security of
EUR 50 per tonne of paddy rice, or EUR 20 per tonne
of paddy rice for producers or producer groups who
have met the requirements of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 1709/2003 on crop and stock declarations for
rice (**),

(j) the declaration that

the product

is of Community

origin, indicating the production region;

(k) the pesticide treatments carried out, specifying the

doses used.

Once submitted, a tender may not be altered or withdrawn.

2. Where an offer is ineligible, the intervention agency
shall
fact within 10
working days of the offer's submission.

inform the relevant

trader of that

By 29 April 2004 and 3 June 2004 respectively for
3.
the competent
tranches 1 and 2 shown in Annex IV,
authority in the Member State shall examine,
for each
tranche, whether or not the total quantity offered exceeds
the quantity available. Where there is an overrun, it shall
calculate an award coefficient
for the quantities to six
decimal places. This award coefficient shall be equivalent to
the largest value that ensures
the total quantity
awarded, taking into account the minimum quantity for
is below or equal to the quantity available.
each offer,
Where there is no overrun, the award coefficient shall be 1.

that

Where appropriate, the unused quantity, or the difference
between the available quantity and the total quantity
awarded, shall be added to the quantity fixed for the
following tranche.

The competent authority in the Member State shall inform
the Commission of the value of the award coefficient, the
total quantity awarded and the quantity unused and carried
over
the day
following the date indicated in the first subparagraph. The
Commission shall make this information available to the
public on its website as quickly as possible.

to the following tranche, at

the latest

On the second day following the date given in the first sub-
paragraph at the latest, the competent authority in the
Member State shall notify the applicant that the offer has
been accepted for a quantity awarded equal to the quantity
offered multiplied by the award coefficient. However, if this
quantity is below the minimum quantity indicated in the
offer, it shall be reduced to 0.

4.
For tranche 3 in Annex IV, the Member States shall
inform the Commission, no later than 8 July, of the quanti-
specified
ties offered with, where

appropriate,

the

include the
minimum quantities. This notification shall
information shown in Annex V and shall be sent by e-mail
using the form provided to this end by the Commission to
the Member States. The notification must be made even if
no quantity is offered.

The Commission shall collect all the offers presented in the
Member States and shall examine whether or not the total
quantity offered exceeds the quantity available. Where there
is an overrun, it shall calculate an award coefficient for the
quantities to six decimal places. This award coefficient shall
be equivalent to the largest value that ensures that the total
quantity awarded, taking into account the minimum quan-
tity for each offer, is below or equal to the quantity avail-
able. Where there is no overrun, the award coefficient shall
be 1.

On the third working day after publication of this coeffi-
cient in the Official Journal of the European Union at the
latest, the competent authority in the Member State shall
notify the applicant that the offer has been accepted for a
quantity awarded equal to the quantity offered multiplied
by the award coefficient. However, if this quantity is below
the minimum quantity indicated in the offer,
it shall be
reduced to 0.

The security referred to in paragraph 1(i) shall be
5.
released proportionately to the quantity offered but not
awarded. For the quantity awarded, it shall be released in its
entirety once 95 % of the quantity has been delivered in
accordance with the provisions of Article 6.

(*) If this minimum quantity cannot be awarded, taking
into account the award coefficient referred to in para-
graphs 3 and 4, the quantity awarded is reduced to 0.

(**) OJ L 243, 27.9.2003, p. 92.’;

(d) the first subparagraph of Article 5(1) is replaced by the

following:

‘All offers shall be made to the intervention agency of the
producer Member State in respect of
the intervention
centre in that Member State which is nearest to where the
paddy rice is held when the offer is made.’;

(e) the following sentence is added to Article 7(1):

‘In this case the goods taken over must be stored separately
from other goods.’;

(f) Annex I to this Regulation is added as Annex IV;

(g) Annex II to this Regulation is added as Annex V.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 April 2004.

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

Done at Brussels, 26 March 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX I

‘ANNEX IV

Tranches referred to in Article 3a

Member State

Tranche 1

Tranche 2

Tranche 3

(tonnes)

Greece

Spain

France

Italy

Hungary

Portugal

3 116

13 658

2 788

27 176

408

3 058

0’

3 116

13 658

2 788

27 176

3 058

ANNEX II

‘ANNEX V