Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 on information provision and promotion measures for agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries
Date: 2008-07-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, action programme, agricultural product, consumer information, domestic market, sales promotion, third country

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 7.7.2008 
COM(2008) 431 final 

2008/0131 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 on information provision and promotion measures 
for agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  3/2008  of  17  December  2007  on  information  provision  and 
promotion  measures  for  agricultural  products  on  the  internal  market  and  in  third  countries 
recasts Regulations (EC) No 2702/1999 and (EC) No 2826/2000 into a single regulation. 

This change has appreciably reduced and simplified the administrative procedures involved in 
implementing  this  policy  by  providing  for  a  single  legal  framework  which  has  facilitated 
access to and participation in the scheme. 

However, there is still room for legislative improvement so as to allow the interested Member 
States  to  draw  up  a  relevant  programme  in  the  case  where  proposing  organisations  do  not 
wish to submit programmes to be carried out in third countries. Programmes drawn up by the 
Member  States  may  cover  one  or  more  of  the  information  measures  referred  to  in 
Article (1)(a), (b) and (c) of Regulation (EC) No 3/2008. 

By way of this amendment, the Member States will have the possibility to broaden the scope 
of the actions to be covered by these programmes and also to allow them to seek the help of 
international  organisations  when  implementing  them,  notably  in  the  case  of  promotion 
programmes for the olive oil and table olive sector in third countries. 

This proposal has no financial implications for the Community budget. 

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2008/0131 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 on information provision and promotion measures 
for agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries 

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 Parliament, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

For  the  stakeholders  of  promotion  policy  for  agricultural  products,  the  single  legal 
framework established by Council Regulation (EC) No 3/20081 has facilitated access 
to  and  participation  in  the  scheme.  The  administrative  procedures  involved  in 
implementing  this  policy  have  been  significantly  reduced  and  simplified  through  the 
application of this single legal framework. 

Article  9  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  3/2008  provides  that  in  the  case  of  absence  of 
programmes  to  be  carried  out  on  the  internal  market,  the  interested  Member  States 
have  the  possibility  to  draw  up  a  programme.  In  the  case  where  proposing 
organisations do not wish to submit programmes to be carried out in third countries for 
one or more of the information measures referred to in Article 2(1) (a), (b) and (c) of 
that Regulation, the interested Member States should be allowed to draw up a relevant 
programme. 

In particular, possibility should be offered to the interested Member States to broaden 
the scope of the actions to be covered by those programmes even by seeking the help 
of  international  organisations  when  implementing  them,  notably  in  the  case  of 
promotion programmes for the olive oil and table olive sector in third countries. 

(4) 

Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly, 

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OJ L 3, 5.1.2008, p. 1. 

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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 is replaced by the following text: 

"Article 9 
Procedure to be followed in case of an absence of information programmes  
for the internal market or in third countries 

1. 

2. 

In  the  absence  of  programmes  to  be  carried  out  on  the  internal  market  for  one  or 
more  of  the  information  measures  referred  to  in  Article 2(1)(b)  submitted  in 
accordance  with  Article 6(1),  each  interested  Member  State  shall  draw  up,  on  the 
basis of the guidelines referred to in Article 5(1), a programme and its specification 
and  shall  select  through  a  public  call  for  tenders  the  implementing  body  for  the 
programme it undertakes to co-finance. 

In the absence of programmes to be carried out in third countries for one or more of 
the  information  measures  referred  to  in  Article 2(1)(a),  (b)  and  (c),  submitted  in 
accordance  with  Article 6(1),  each  interested  Member  State  shall  draw  up,  on  the 
basis of the guidelines referred to in Article 5(2), a programme and its specification 
and  shall  select  through  a  public  call  for  tenders  the  implementing  body  for  the 
programme it undertakes to co-finance. 

The  implementing  body  for  the  programme  eventually  selected  by  the  Member 
State(s)  concerned  may  be  an  international  organisation,  in  particular  when  the 
programme  regards  the  promotion  for  the  olive  oil  and  table  olive  sector  in  third 
countries.  

3. 

The  Member  State(s)  shall  submit  to  the  Commission  the  programme  selected  in 
accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2, accompanied by a reasoned opinion including: 

(a) 

the desirability of the programme; 

(b) 

the conformity of the programme and the proposed body with this Regulation 
and, where necessary, with the applicable guidelines;  

(c) 

an assessment of the programme's value for money; 

(d) 

the choice of the implementing body for the programme. 

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5. 

For the purposes of the Commission's  examination of the programmes, Article 7(2) 
and Article 8(1) shall apply. 

In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 16(2), the Commission may 
set lower or higher limits to the actual costs of the programmes submitted in line with 
paragraph 3  of  this  Article.  These  limits  may  be  adjusted  according  to  the  type  of 
programmes concerned. The criteria applied may be defined in accordance with the 
procedure referred to in Article 16(2)." 

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

Article 2 

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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