Commission Regulation (EC) No 1903/2004 of 29 October 2004, amending Regulation (EEC) No 3149/92 laying down detailed rules for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community
Date: 2004-10-29
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: administrative check, aid to disadvantaged groups, food aid, foodstuff, intervention stock, poverty

30.10.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1903/2004

of 29 October 2004,

amending Regulation (EEC) No 3149/92 laying down detailed rules for the supply of food from
intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3730/87 of 10
December 1987 laying down the general rules for the supply of
food from intervention stocks to designated organisations for
distribution to the most deprived persons in the Community (1),
and in particular Article 6 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3149/92 (2) lays down
the application rules of Regulation (CEE) No 3730/87 for
food from intervention stocks for the
the supply of
benefit
the
Community by charitable organisations designated by
the Member States.

the most

deprived

persons

of

in

In order to ensure more standardised implementation in
the
the Member States participating in this scheme,
‘beneficiaries’ and ‘final recipients’ of
concepts of
the
measure need to be clarified. In order to facilitate the
management and control of the implementation of the
annual plan as laid down in Article 2 of Regulation (EC)
No 3149/92, the charitable organisations designated by
the competent national authorities can be deemed final
recipients if they are actually engaged in the local distri-
bution of the foodstuffs (in various forms) where the
most deprived persons live.

Implementation of the plan in each participating Member
State must be programmed, phased and regular both as
regards withdrawals of the products from intervention
the later phases until
stocks and the performance of
distribution to the beneficiaries or final recipients,
in
the Community
order
measure and the requirement
to manage intervention
stocks well. To this end, most withdrawals from inter-
vention stocks should occur before 1 July of the year in
In the case of milk
which the plan is implemented.
sensitive market
this
the characteristics of
products,

to satisfy both the aim of

(1) OJ L 352, 15.12.1987, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2535/95 (OJ L 260, 31.10.1995, p. 3).

these products

and in particular the impact of re-introducing products
require provision to be made for
onto the market
from public
limiting withdrawals of
the measure concerned, during
storage as part of
periods when buying-in by intervention agencies
is
possible and, with effect from the implementation of
the 2006 plan, even during the weeks preceding these
buying-in periods. Appropriate measures must be imple-
mented by the Member States, to include sanctions in
line with the length of the delay in taking over the
products.

the rate of checks

The most appropriate types of check of the implemen-
tation of the annual plan should be specified and in
particular
to be made by the
competent authorities. The annual reports of plan imple-
mentation should include information allowing both the
outcome of the checks and the plan’s implementation to
be assessed. The checks must be carried out with due
regard to the application of Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 3002/92 laying down common detailed rules
for verifying the use and/or destination of products from
intervention (3).

Regulation (EEC) No 3149/1992 should be amended
accordingly. These amendments should apply from the
start of the 2005 annual plan period.

The relevant Management Committees have not delivered
opinions within the time limits
set down by their
chairmen,

(4)

(5)

(6)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 3149/92 is hereby amended as follows:

1. The following paragraph is added to Article 1:

For

this Regulation,

the purposes of

families or groups composed of

‘3.
“the most
deprived persons” means physical persons, whether indi-
such persons,
viduals,
whose social and financial dependence is
recorded or
recognised on the basis of eligibility criteria adopted by
the competent authorities, or is judged to be so on the
basis of the criteria used by charitable organisations and
which are approved by the competent authorities.’

(2) OJ L 313, 30.10.1992, p. 50. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

(3) OJ L 301, 17.10.1992, p. 17. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 2339/2003 (OJ L 346, 31.12.2003, p. 29).

lation (EC) No 770/96 (OJ L 104, 27.4.1996, p. 13).

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Official Journal of the European Union

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2. Article 3 is replaced by the following:

3. The following Article 5a is inserted:

‘Article 3

1.
The plan implementation period shall begin on 1
October and finish on 31 December of the following year.

2. Withdrawal of the products from intervention stocks
shall
the
take place from 1 October to 31 August of
following year on a regular basis and in accordance with
the requirements for implementing the plan.

70 % of the quantities referred to in Article 2(3)(1)(b) must
be withdrawn from stock before 1 July in the year of imple-
mentation; this requirement shall not apply to allocations of
500 tonnes or less, however. Any quantities that have not
been withdrawn from intervention stocks by 30 September
in the year of plan implementation shall no longer be
allocated to the Member State to which they were assigned
under the plan in question.

However, in the case of butter and skimmed-milk powder,
70 % of the products must be withdrawn from intervention
storage before 1 March in the year of implementation in the
case of the 2005 plan, and before 1 February with effect
from the 2006 plan. This requirement shall not, however,
apply to withdrawals of 500 tonnes or less.

The products to be withdrawn must be removed from inter-
vention stocks within 60 days of the award of the tender to
the successful tenderer.

3.
During the implementation period the Member States
shall notify to the Commission any changes that they make
to the implementation of the plan on their territory within
the strict limits of the financing available to them. The noti-
fication shall be accompanied by all appropriate information.
Where substantiated changes concern 5 % or more of the
quantities or values entered per product in the Community
plan, the plan shall be revised.

shall

The Member States

inform the Commission
4.
foreseeable reductions in expenditure on
immediately of
applying the plan. The Commission may allocate the
available resources to other Member States on the basis of
their applications and their actual use of products made
available and allocations made during previous financial
years.’

‘Article 5a

the beneficiaries

With a view to distributing foodstuffs to the most deprived
persons and to performing checks, the charitable organi-
sations directly looking after
shall be
deemed to be the final recipients of
this distribution is
they are the ones actually distributing the foodstuffs. Food-
stuffs which, without any other intervention, are locally
delivered direct
to the beneficiaries as food packages or
appropriate meals, depending on the circumstances, either
daily or weekly, shall be deemed to have been distributed.’

4. Article 9 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 9

The Member States shall take all necessary measures to

1.
ensure that:

(a)

the intervention products and, where appropriate, grants
for mobilising foodstuffs on the market, are put to the
use and serve the purposes laid down in Article 1 of
Regulation (EEC) No 3730/87;

(b) the goods which are not delivered in bulk to the bene-
inscription on their
following

ficiaries have
the
packaging “EC aid”;

(c)

the designated charitable organisations for implementing
the measures maintain appropriate
and
supporting documents and allow the competent autho-
rities access to them to carry out whatever checks they
deem necessary;

accounts

(d) the invitations to tender are in accordance with Articles
3 and 4 and the supplies are implemented in accordance
in particular, the Member States
with this Regulation;
shall establish the applicable penalties if the products
have not been withdrawn in the period laid down in
Article 3(2).

2.
Checks by the competent authorities shall be carried
out when the foodstuffs are taken over open their release
from intervention storage, at all stages of plan implemen-
tation and in particular at all levels of the distribution chain.
The checks shall be performed throughout the plan imple-
mentation period, at all stages and including local level.

The checks shall cover at least 5 % of the quantity of each
type of product
referred to in Article 2(3)(1)(b). This
checking rate shall apply to each implementation stage,
except
for the stage of actual distribution to the most
deprived, with account being taken of the risk criteria.

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The purpose of the check is to verify the entry and exit of
the products and their transfer to successive actors. Checks
shall
include a comparison of the stocks as shown in the
accounts and the actual stocks of products chosen for
inspection.

of checks carried out, the results obtained and any cases
were the penalties referred to in Article 9(3) are imposed.
The report shall be taken into account as a decisive factor
when drawing up subsequent annual plans.’

3.
The Member States shall take all the measures needed
to ensure that the plan is properly implemented and to
anticipate and penalise irregularities. To this end they may
suspend the participation of operators in the competitive
tendering
and
depending
seriousness of the shortcomings or irregularities noted in
the performance of a supply.’

on the nature

procedure,

5. The second paragraph of Article 10 is replaced by the

following:

‘The report shall specify the verification measures that have
been applied to ensure that the goods have achieved their
intended objective and have reached the final recipients. This
report shall mention in particular the type and the number

6. The following Article 10a is inserted:

‘Article 10a

This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Commission
Regulation (EEC) No 3002/92.’

Article 2

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

It shall apply from the 2005 annual plan.

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

Done at Brussels, 29 October 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER
Member of the Commission