Commission Regulation (EC) No 292/2008 of 1 April 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations (EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector
Date: 2008-04-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: CCT duties, financial aid, marketing standard, operational programme, producer organisation, withdrawal from the market

2.4.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 90/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 292/2008

of 1 April 2008

amending Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 laying down implementing rules of Council Regulations
(EC) No 2200/96, (EC) No 2201/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007 in the fruit and vegetable sector

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Market withdrawals under Council Regulation (EC) No
2200/96 (3) may not be carried out after 31 December
2007, following the modifications made to that Regu-
lation by Regulation (EC) No 1182/2007.

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1182/2007 of
26 September 2007 laying down specific rules as regards the
fruit and vegetable sector, amending Directives 2001/112/EC
and 2001/113/EC and Regulations (EEC) No 827/68, (EC) No
2200/96,
(EC) No
1782/2003 and (EC) No 318/2006 and repealing Regulation
(EC) No 2202/96 (1), and in particular Article 42(a), (b) and (j)
thereof,

(EC) No 2826/2000,

(EC) No 2201/96,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The first subparagraph of Article 80(2) of Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 (2) provides for a limit on
market withdrawals as a proportion of the volume of
marketed production of any given product in any given
producer organisation. In the interests of promoting free
distribution as a destination for such withdrawals, that
limit should not include products sent for free distri-
bution.

The third subparagraph of Article 80(2) provides for a
3 % margin of error
in calculating the volume of
marketed production. This terminology might be seen
as misleading and in the
clarity the
provision should instead refer
to a 3 % margin of
overrun.

interests of

operational

Article 55(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1182/2007 provides
before
that
programmes
31 December 2007 may be modified to meet
the
requirements of that Regulation. However, such modifi-
cations require the Member State concerned to adopt a
national strategy under that Regulation, which may take
some time in 2008.

approved

(5)

(6)

It is also desirable to allow for the rapid introduction in
2008 of
the new crisis prevention and management
measures where this is administratively practicable and
for which appropriate checks may be carried out,
namely those on promotion and communication and
training.

Therefore,
in order to allow for a smooth transition
between the regimes governed by Regulations (EC) No
2200/96 and (EC) No 1182/2007, for rapid implemen-
tation of those new crisis prevention and management
measures, and to avoid any unnecessary interruption of
market withdrawal measures,
it is necessary to permit
Member States to make expenditure on such measures
carried out from 1 January 2008 eligible, even where an
operation under a measure is carried out before the
operational programme concerned has been amended
to cover it. For similar reasons Member States should
be permitted to allow amendments
in
existing programmes under Article 55(3) of Regulation
(EC) No 1182/2007 to cover expenditure carried out
from 1 January 2008.

to measures

(7)

In the interests of good management
the operation
should otherwise respect the requirements of Regulation
(EC) No 1580/2007 and the national strategy and ope-
rational programme should be subsequently amended to
cover that measure before an application is made for
payment of the related aid.

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 should therefore be
amended accordingly.

(9)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
the Management
accordance with the opinion of
Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural
Markets,

(1) OJ L 273, 17.10.2007, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 350, 31.12.2007, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1234/2007 (OJ L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1).

L 90/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.4.2008

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 is amended as follows:

market withdrawal, promotion and communication and
training which are carried out in 2008 by a producer organ-
isation shall be eligible even if the operational programme
has not yet been amended to cover the measures concerned.
In order for such expenditure to be eligible:

1.

in Article 80(2), the first subparagraph is replaced by the
following:

(a)

the Member State shall ensure that its national strategy
adopted in 2008 in accordance with this Regulation
covers the measures concerned,

shall not

exceed 5 % as

‘2. Market withdrawals
a
proportion of the volume of the marketed production of
any given product
in any given producer organisation.
However, amounts which are disposed in one of the ways
referred to in Article 10(4)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No
1182/2007 or any other way approved by Member States
under Article 81(2) shall not be taken into account in that
proportion.’;

2.

in Article 80(2), the third subparagraph is replaced by the
following:

‘The percentages referred to in the first subparagraph shall be
annual averages over a three year period, with a 3 % annual
margin of overrun.’;

3.

in Article 152(2), the following subparagraphs are added:

(b) in 2008 the operational programme shall be amended in
accordance with this Regulation to cover the measures
concerned before an application is made for payment of
the related aid; and

(c)

the measures and any checks on those measures shall
comply with this Regulation.

Member States may provide that an amendment
to a
measure in an existing operational programme made under
Article 55(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1182/2007 covers the
expenditure on operations which are carried out in 2008
even before that amendment
the
requirements of points (a), (b) and (c) of the fourth subpara-
graph are respected.’

is made, provided that

Article 2

‘Member States may provide that the expenditure on one or
more of the crisis prevention and management measures on

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following
its publication 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 April 2008.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission