Commission Regulation (EC) No 922/2007 of 1 August 2007 derogating from Regulation (EC) No 1227/2000 as regards transitional arrangement concerning the financial allocations for Bulgaria and Romania for the restructuring and conversion
Date: 2007-08-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Bulgaria, Romania, aid for restructuring, derogation from EU law, financial aid, redevelopment aid, viticulture

2.8.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 201/7

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 922/2007

of 1 August 2007

derogating from Regulation (EC) No 1227/2000 as regards transitional arrangement concerning the
financial allocations for Bulgaria and Romania for the restructuring and conversion

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

in excessive reductions

16 and 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1227/2000 would
result
in the appropriations
available to those Member States for restructuring and
conversion in the current and the next financial year.

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of 17
May 1999 on the common organisation of
in
wine (1), and in particular Article 15 thereof,

the market

(5)

Whereas:

Therefore, on a transitional basis,
for the 2006/2007
wine year, these excessive reductions are to be avoided,
by way of derogation from Regulation (EC) No
1227/2000, by allowing Bulgaria and Romania to pay
out, by the end of the current financial year, 90 % of
their initial allocation for the 2006/2007 wine year and
by exempting them from the reduction of their initial
allocation in the subsequent wine year.

(1)

(2)

(3)

Articles 16 and 17 of Commission Regulation (EC) No
1227/2000 of 31 May 2000 laying down detailed rules
for
the application of Council Regulation (EC) No
1493/1999 on the common organisation of the market
in wine, as regards production potential (2) lay down the
rules on financing the restructuring and conversion
scheme.

for

allocated

and Romania

funding allocations have
For the 2007 financial year,
been
under
to Bulgaria
Commission Decision 2007/381/EC of 1 June 2007
fixing,
the 2006/2007 marketing year and in
respect of a certain number of hectares, an indicative
financial allocation for Bulgaria and Romania for the
restructuring
under
Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 (3).

conversion

vineyards

and

of

Article 16 and 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1227/2000
provide in particular that
the appropriations allocated
to a Member State whose corresponding expenditure
was not incurred or validated by 30 June is to be real-
located to the Member States whose incurred and
validated expenditure equals the allocation awarded to
them. Those Articles also provide for
the amounts
awarded to the Member States to be reduced for the
following financial year if the expenditure incurred by
them on 30 June is less than 75 % of their initial allo-
cations.

(6)

A similar provision was introduced in 2001 and in 2005
when the vineyard restructuring and conversion scheme
was first applied by the Member States concerned. As the
inability of the Member States concerned to spend their
initial allocation could also be due to the late publication
of the decision providing for the initial allocations, the
option of using up these allocations must be fixed at the
same high level as in 2005.

(7)

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

(4)

Bulgaria and Romania, for which the 2006/2007 wine
year is the first year of application of the restructuring
and conversion scheme, are not able to use up most of
their initial allocation by 30 June. Application of Articles

(1) OJ L 179, 14.7.1999, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1791/2006 (OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 143, 16.6.2000, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1216/2005 (OJ L 199, 29.7.2005, p. 32).

(3) OJ L 141, 2.6.2007, p. 80.

By way of derogation from Article 16(1)(c) of Regulation
1.
(EC) No 1227/2000 and as concerns the 2007 financial year,
Bulgaria and Romania may apply to the Commission, not later
than 10 July 2007, for a further contribution to expenditure in
the 2007 financial year above that notified to the Commission
under Article 16(1)(a) and (b) of that Regulation, and up to
90 % of the financial allocation awarded to them by Decision
2007/381/EC. They may pay out, not later than 15 October
2007, 90 % of their initial allocation for the 2006/2007 wine
year.

L 201/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.8.2007

By way of derogation from Article 17(3) of Regulation
2.
(EC) No 1227/2000, applications for further funding sent to
the Commission under Article 16(1)(c) of that Regulation by
other Member States than Bulgaria and Romania shall be
accepted on a pro-rata basis by using the available appro-
priations once the amounts for all Member States notified
under Article 16(1)(a) and (b) of
that Regulation and the
amounts notified by Bulgaria and Romania under Article
16(1)(a), (b) of that Regulation and under paragraph 1 of this
Article, have together been deducted.

By way of derogation from Article 17(5) of Regulation
3.
(EC) No 1227/2000 and as concerns the 2007 financial year,
no reduction is applicable to Bulgaria and Romania as regards
their initial allocation for the subsequent wine year.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publi-
cation 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, 1 August 2007.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission