Proposal for a Council Regulation applying certain rules of competition to production of and trade in agricultural products (Codified version)
Date: 2005-12-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agricultural product, agriculture-trade relationship, competition law, competition policy, marketing, production

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 1.12.2005 
COM(2005) 613 final 

2005/0231 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

applying certain rules of competition to production of and trade in agricultural products 

(presented by the Commission) 

(Codified version) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

In  the  context  of  a  people’s  Europe,  the  Commission  attaches  great  importance  to 
simplifying  and  clarifying  Community  law  so  as  to  make  it  clearer  and  more 
accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance 
to make use of the specific rights it gives him. 

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended 
several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought 
partly  in  the  original  instrument  and  partly  in  later  amending  ones.  Considerable 
research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the 
current rules. 

For  this  reason  a  codification  of  rules  that  have  frequently  been  amended  is  also 
essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent. 

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  to  instruct  its  staff  that  all 
legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that 
this  is  a  minimum  requirement  and  that  departments  should  endeavour  to  codify  at 
even  shorter  intervals  the  texts  for  which  they  are  responsible,  to  ensure  that  the 
Community rules are clear and readily understandable. 

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council 
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers 
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time. 

the  Presidency  of 

Codification  must  be  undertaken  in  full  compliance  with  the  normal  Community 
legislative procedure. 

Given  that  no  changes  of  substance  may  be  made  to  the  instruments  affected  by 
codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed, 
by  an  interinstitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated 
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments. 

is 

this  proposal 

to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council 
The  purpose  of 
Regulation No 26 of 4 April 1962 applying certain rules of competition to production 
of and trade in agricultural products3. The new Regulation will supersede the various 
acts  incorporated  in  it4;  this  proposal  fully  preserves  the  content  of  the  acts  being 
codified and hence does no more than bringing them together with only such formal 
amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself. 

COM(87) 868 PV. 
See Annex 3 to Part A of the Conclusions. 
Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the 
Council – Codification of the Acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final. 
See Annex I to this proposal. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

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6. 

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, 
in all official languages, of Regulation No 26 and the instrument amending it, carried 
out by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, by means 
of a data-processing system. Where the Articles have been given new numbers, the 
correlation  between  the  old  and  the  new  numbers  is  shown  in  a  table  contained  in 
Annex II to the codified Regulation. 

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(cid:208) 26/62 
2005/0231 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

applying certain rules of competition to production of and trade in agricultural products 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Articles 36 and 37 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament5, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

Council  Regulation  No  26  of  4  April  1962  applying  certain  rules  of  competition  to 
production of and trade in agricultural products6 has been substantially amended7. In 
the interests of clarity and rationality the said Regulation should be codified. 

(cid:208)  

(cid:208) 26/62 Recital 1 (adapted) 

(2) 

By  virtue  of  Article  36  of  the  Treaty  one  of  the  matters  to  be  decided  under  the 
Common  Agricultural  Policy  is  whether  the  rules  on  competition  laid  down  in  the 
Treaty  are  to  apply  to  production  of  and  trade  in  agricultural  products  ⌦ . ⌫ 
Accordingly the provisions ⌦ of this Regulation ⌫ will have to be supplemented in 
the light of developments in that policy. 

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7 

OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ  30,  20.4.1962,  p.  993/1962.  Regulation  as  amended  by  Regulation  No  49  (OJ  53,  1.7.1962, 
p. 1571/62). 
See Annex I. 

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(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(cid:208) 26/62 

The rules on competition relating to the agreements, decisions and practices referred to 
in Article 81 of the Treaty and to the abuse of dominant positions must be applied to 
production of and trade in agricultural products, in so far as their application does not 
impede the functioning of national organisations of agricultural markets or jeopardise 
attainment of the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy. 

Special  attention  is  warranted  in  the  case  of  farmers'  organisations  which  are 
particularly concerned with the joint production or marketing of agricultural products 
or  the  use  of  joint  facilities,  unless  such  joint  action  excludes  competition  or 
jeopardises attainment of the objectives of Article 33 of the Treaty. 

(cid:208) 26/62 Recital 5 

In  order  both  to  avoid  compromising  the  development  of  a  Common  Agricultural 
Policy  and  to  ensure  certainty  in  the  law  and  non-discriminatory  treatment  of  the 
undertakings concerned, the Commission must have sole power, subject to review by 
the  Court  of  Justice,  to  determine  whether  the  conditions  provided  for  in  the  two 
preceding  Recitals  are  fulfilled  as  regards  the  agreements,  decisions  and  practices 
referred to in Article 81 of the Treaty. 

(cid:208) 26/62 Recital 7 

(6) 

In order to implement, as part of the development of the Common Agricultural Policy, 
the rules on aids for production of or trade in agricultural products, the Commission 
should  be  in  a  position  to  draw  up  a  list  of  existing,  new  or  proposed  aids,  to  make 
appropriate  observations  to  the  Member  States  and  to  propose  suitable  measures  to 
them, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

(cid:208) 26/62 (adapted) 

Article 1 

Articles 81 to 86 of the Treaty and provisions made in implementation thereof shall, subject to 
Article 2 ⌦ of this Regulation ⌫ , apply to all agreements, decisions and practices referred 
to in Articles 81(1) and 82 of the Treaty which relate to production of or trade in the products 
listed in Annex I to the Treaty. 

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(cid:208) 26/62 

Article 2 

1.  Article  81(1)  of  the  Treaty  shall  not  apply  to  such  of  the  agreements,  decisions  and 
practices  referred  to  in  Article1  of  this  Regulation  as  form  an  integral  part  of  a  national 
market organisation or are necessary for attainment of the objectives set out in Article 33 of 
the Treaty. 

In  particular,  it  shall  not  apply  to  agreements,  decisions  and  practices  of  farmers,  farmers' 
associations, or associations of such associations belonging to a single Member State which 
concern  the  production  or  sale  of  agricultural  products  or  the  use  of  joint  facilities  for  the 
storage,  treatment  or  processing  of  agricultural  products,  and  under  which  there  is  no 
obligation to charge identical prices, unless the Commission finds that competition is thereby 
excluded or that the objectives of Article 33 of the Treaty are jeopardised. 

2.  After  consulting  the  Member  States  and  hearing  the  undertakings  or  associations  of 
undertakings concerned and any other natural or legal person that it considers appropriate, the 
Commission shall have sole power, subject to review by the Court of Justice, to determine, by 
decision  which  shall  be  published,  which  agreements,  decisions  and  practices  fulfil  the 
conditions specified in paragraph 1. 

The  Commission  shall  undertake  such  determination  either  on  its  own  initiative  or  at  the 
request  of  a  competent  authority  of  a  Member  State  or  of  an  interested  undertaking  or 
association of undertakings. 

3. The publication shall state the names of the parties and the main content of the decision; it 
shall have regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business 
secrets. 

(cid:208) 26/62 (adapted) 

Article 3 

The provisions of Article 88(1) and of the first sentence of Article 88(3) of the Treaty shall 
apply to aids granted for production of or trade in the products listed in Annex I to the Treaty. 

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(cid:208)  

Article 4 

Regulation No 26 is repealed. 

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and 
shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II. 

(cid:208) 26/62 (adapted) 

Article 5 

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

(cid:208) 26/62 

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

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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(cid:207) 

ANNEX I 

Repealed Regulation with its amendment 

Council Regulation No 26 
(OJ 30, 20.4.1962, p. 993/62) 

Council Regulation No 49 
(OJ 53, 1.7.1962, p. 1571/62) 

Only Article 1(1) pt. g 

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ANNEX II 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Regulation No 26 

This Regulation 

Article 1 

Article 2(1) 

Article 2(2), first subparagraph 

Article 2(2), second subparagraph 

Article 2(3) 

- 

Article 3 

Article 4 

Article 5 

Annex I 

Annex II 

_____________ 

Article 1 

Article 2(1) 

Article 2(2) 

Article 2(3) 

Article 2(4) 

Article 3 

Article 4 

- 

Article 5 

- 

- 

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