CELEX: 51992PC0185
Language: en
Date: 1992-11-24
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) on the common organization of the market in potatoes

17 . 12. 92                           Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 333 / 19
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the common organization of the market in
                                                           potatoes
                                                       (92/C 333/ 17)
                                                     COM(92) m final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 25 November 1992)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Community; whereas the application of the Common
                                                                  Customs Tariff duties should suffice, as a rule, to
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             stabilize the Community market by preventing the price
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and             level in non-member countries and fluctuations thereof
43 thereof,                                                       from having repercussions on prices ruling within the
                                                                  Community ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European                      Whereas the competent authorities must be in a position
Parliament,                                                       constantly to follow trade movements in order to assess
                                                                  market trends and to take any measures rendered
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                  necessary thereby; whereas to this end provision should
Social Committee,                                                 be made for a requirement to issue import licences, if the
Whereas the operation and development of the common               increase or risk of increase of imports from third
market in agricultural products must be accompanied by
                                                                  countries justify such a requirement;
the establishment of a common agricultural policy, to
include in particular a common organization of agri­              Whereas, in most cases, the system thus introduced will
cultural markets which may take various forms                     enable all quantitative restrictions at the external
depending on the product ;                                        frontiers of the Community to be dispensed with ;
                                                                  whereas this machinery might in exceptional circum­
Whereas the production of potatoes constitutes a                  stances prove inadequate ; whereas, in order not to leave
substantial factor in agricultural income ; whereas appro­        the Community market without defence against disturb­
priate measures should therefore be taken to ensure               ances which might arise in such cases after the import
stability of the market and a fair income for the                 barriers which existed previously have been removed, the
producers concerned ;                                             Community should be enabled to take all necessary
                                                                  measures without delay;
Whereas, given the special features of the market in fresh
potatoes, the formation of producer organizations whose
members are obliged to comply with certain rules, in              Whereas the establishment of a single market would be
particular as regards the marketing of their entire crop          jeopardized by the granting of certain aids ; whereas the
through the producer group to which they belong, is               provisions of the Treaty which allow the review of aids
likely to contribute to the attainment of the objectives of       granted by Member States and the prohibition of those
the common organization of the market;                            which are incompatible with the common market should
                                                                  therefore be applicable to potatoes;
Whereas provision should therefore be made for
measures to facilitate the formation and operation of
such organizations ; whereas, to that end, Member States          Whereas the Community should bear the financial
should be permitted to grant aid to such organizations,           responsibility for the expenditure incurred by the
this aid being in part financed by the Community;                 Member States as a result of the obligations arising out
whereas this aid should, however, be limited in amount            of the application of this Regulation, in accordance with
and be of a transitional and degressive nature so that the        the legislative provisions relating to the financing of the
financial responsibility of producers will progressively          common agricultural policy;
increase ;
Whereas the establishment of a single Community                   Whereas, in order to facilitate implementation of the
market in potatoes requires the introduction of a single          proposed measures, a procedure should be provided for
trading system at the external frontiers of the                   which establishes close cooperation between Member
 ---pagebreak--- No C 333 / 20                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                17 . 12 . 92
States and the Commission within a management                      2. For the other products listed in Article 1 ( 1 ) the
committee ;                                                        marketing year shall begin on 1 July of each year and
                                                                   end on 30 June of the following year.
Whereas the transition from present Community
arrangements and those currently in force in the Member                                        TITLE I
States to those introduced by this regulation should be
effected as smoothly as possible ; whereas transitional                                   Producer groups
measures may thus prove necessary,                                                             Article 3
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                       1 . For the purposes of this regulation, 'recognized
                                                                   producer group' means a group of producers of potatoes
                                                                   in the fresh state formed on the initiative of the
                           Article 1
                                                                   producers for the purpose, in particular, of:
1 . A common organization of the market in potatoes                a) concentration of supply and stabilization of the
shall be established and shall cover the following                      market by marketing all the produce of their
products :                                                              members ;
                                                                   b) joint adaptation of their production to the
       CN Code                        Description                       requirements of the market and improvement of
                                                                        product quality;     \
a) 0701               Potatoes , fresh or chilled :
    0701 10 00        Seed
                                                                   c) promotion of rationalization and mechanization of
    0701 90           Other :
                                                                        cultivation and harvesting operations in order to
    0701 90 10        For the manufacture of starch
                                                                        render production more profitable ;
                                                                   d) adoption of common rules for production,
b) 0701 90 51         from 1 January to 15 May
                                                                    and recognized by a Member State in accordance with
    0701 90 59        from 16 May to 30 June
    0701 90 90        Other
                                                                   paragraph 3 .
                                                                    2. For the purposes of this regulation, 'recognized
c) 0710               Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by             association' means an association of recognized producer
                      steaming or boiling in water), frozen :
    0710 10 00        Potatoes
                                                                    groups pursuing the same objectives as these groups and
                                                                    recognized by a Member State in accordance with
d) 0712               Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced,         paragraph 3 .
                      broken or in powder, but not further
                      prepared :                                    3. Member States shall recognize, for the purposes of
    0712 10 00        Potatoes, whether nor not cut or sliced       the production and marketing of potatoes in the fresh
                      but not further prepared                      state, the producer groups and associations thereof
                                                                    which request recognition and fulfil the following
e) 1105               Flour, meal, flakes, granules and pellets     general conditions, in that they :
                      of potatoes :
     1105 10 00       Flour and meal                                a) apply common rules for the production of potatoes
     1105 20 00       Flakes, granules and pellets                      and for placing them on the market (at the first stage
                                                                        of marketing) in the fresh state ;
f) 2004               Other vegetables prepared or preserved        b) include in their statutes the obligation, for producers
                      otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid,
                      frozen :                                          who are members of a group and for recognized
    2004 10            Potatoes :                                       producer groups which are members of an as­
    2004 10 10         Cooked, not otherwise prepared                   sociation, to :
    2004 10 99         Other                                            — comply with their common rules for production,
g) 2005                Other vegetables prepared or preserved           — market the whole of their production through the
                       otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid,             group or association.
                       not frozen :
     2005 20           Potatoes :
                                                                        This obligation shall not apply, however, to produce
                       Other
                                                                        for which producers have concluded sales contracts
     2005 20 90
                                                                        before joining the group, provided that the group has
                                                                         been informed of the existence of such contracts and
 2.     For the purposes of this Regulation, 'new potatoes               has approved them ;
 means potatoes harvested usually before full maturity               c) provide proof of adequate economic activity;
 and whose skin may easily be removed by friction.                   d) exclude, throughout the whole range of their ac­
                                                                         tivities, any discrimination between Community
                           Article 2                                     producers or groups on grounds of, in particular,
                                                                         nationality or place of establishment ;
 1.     For the products listed in Article 1 (1) (b) falling
 within    CN codes 0701 90 51          and 0701 90 59 the           e) include in their statutes provisions ensuring that
 marketing year shall begin on 1 January of each year                    members of a group or association who wish to give
 and end on 30 June of the same year.                                    up their membership may do so only after one year of
 ---pagebreak--- 17 . 12 . 92                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 333 / 21
    membership following recognition and provided they           However, in such cases aid shall only be granted in the
    inform the group or association of their intention at        amount of the costs of formation of the new organ­
    least three months before they leave. These provisions       ization (preparatory work and drawing-up of the
    shall apply without prejudice to any national laws or        documents of constitution and the statutes).
    regulations designed to protect the group or as­
    sociation or creditors thereof, in specified cases,          3 . Aid shall be granted solely in accordance either
    against any financial consequences which might arise         with this regulation or with Regulation (EEC) No
    from a member leaving, and to preclude a member               1360/78 on producer groups and associations thereof (x).
    from leaving during the financial year;
                                                                 4.      The aids referred to in this Article shall be notified
f) have the necessary legal status or capacity to exercise       to the Commission in a report transmitted by the
    rights and be subject to obligations in accordance           Member States at the end of each budget year.
    with national law ;
                                                                 The detailed rules for the application of this Article shall
g) include in their statutes the obligation to keep              be drawn up in accordance with the procedure laid down
    separate accounts for the activities in respect of which     in Article 11 .
    they have been recognized ;
h) refrain from holding a dominant position on the                                           TITLE II
    common market or on a substantial part thereof.                            Trade with non-member countries
The authority competent to recognize producer groups                                         Article 5
and associations thereof shall be the Member State
within whose territory the producer group or association          1 . The general rules for the interpretation of the
has its registered head office.                                  Common Customs Tariff and the special rules for its
                                                                  application shall apply to the classification of the
4. Rules for the application of this Article, and in             products covered by this regulation ; the tariff nomen­
particular the definition of 'placing on the market' for         clature resulting from the application of this regulation
the purposes of paragraph 3 (a) and (b), and rules                shall be incorporated into the Common Customs Tariff.
concerning the condition laid down in paragraph 3 (e)
shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure laid           2. Subject to Community provisions to the contrary
down in Article 11 .                                              and to exceptions decided upon by the Council acting by
                                                                  qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission :
                          Article 4
                                                                 — the levying of any charge having an effect equivalent
 1.    The Member States may grant aid to recognized                   to a customs duty,
producer organizations, in respect of the first five years
following their recognition, to encourage their formation        — the application of any quantitative restriction or
and facilitate their administrative operation. The amount              measure having equivalent effect,
of such aid :
                                                                  on imports from non-member countries of the products
— shall not be more than 5 , 4, 3 , 2 and 1 % respectively        referred to in Article 1 shall be prohibited.
     of the value of production marketed within the
     framework of the producer organization in the first,                                    Article 6
     second, third, fourth and fifth years respectively,
                                                                  1 . If the quantities of products referred to in Article 1
— may not exceed the real cost of forming and                     imported from non-member countries increase or risk to
     operating the organization concerned,                        increase significantly, importation into the Community
                                                                  of these products may be made subject to production of
— shall be paid in annual instalments up to the end of            an import licence issued by a Member State to any
     the seventh year following recognition.                      interested party making an application for such a licence,
 In respect of each year, the value of production shall be        regardless of where in the Community the party is estab­
 calculated on the basis of :                                     lished .
 — the volume of produce actually marketed each year              Each licence shall be valid for a given import into the
     in accordance with the second indent of Article 3 (3)        Community.
     (b),
                                                                   2. The list of products for which import licences shall
 — average producer prices achieved on the market.                be required shall be drawn up in accordance with the
                                                                  procedure laid down in Article 11 .
 2. Producer organizations which have been formed
 from organizations already largely in conformity with            The duration of the validity of import licences and the
 the terms and conditions set out in this regulation shall         detailed rules for the application of this Article shall be
 be entitled to the aid referred to in this Article only in so     laid down by means of the same procedure .
 far as they are the result of a merger of organizations
 designed to improve the achievement of the aims set out
 in Article 3 .                                                    (') OJ No L 166, 23 . 6. 1978 , p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak--- No C 333 /22                           Official Journal of the European Communities                               17 . 12 . 92
                          Article 7                              2. Member States shall notify the Commission of
                                                                 provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative
1 . Where, by reason of imports or exports, the                  action pursuant to this regulation not later than one
Community market in one or more of the products listed           month after adoption thereof.
in Article 1 experiences or is threatened with serious
disturbances which may endanger the objectives set out                                     Article 11
in Article 39 of the Treaty, appropriate measures may be
applied in trade with non-member countries until such             1 . The Commission shall be assisted by a committee
disturbance or threat of disturbance has ceased.                 composed of the representatives of the Member States
                                                                 and chaired by the representative of the Commission .
The detailed rules for the application of this Article shall
be drawn up in accordance with the procedure laid down           2.     The representative of the Commission shall submit
in Article 11 .                                                  to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken .
                                                                 The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft
2 . If a situation as referred to in paragraph 1 arises,         within a time limit which the chairman may lay down
the Commission shall, at the request of a Member State           according to the urgency of the matter at issue. The
or on its own initiative, decide upon the necessary              opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in
measures, which shall be immediately applicable. If the          Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions
Commission receives a request from a Member State, it            which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal
shall take a decision thereon within 24 hours following          from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of
                                                                 the   Member States within the        committee   shall    be
receipt of the request.
                                                                 weighted in the manner set out in that Article . The
                                                                 chairman shall not vote .
3.    The measures decided upon by the Commission
may be referred to the Council by any Member State               3 . The Commission shall adopt measures , which shall
within three working days following the day on which             apply immediately. However, if these measures are not in
they were communicated. The Council shall meet                   accordance with the opinion of       the Committee, they
without delay. It may, acting by a qualified majority,           shall be communicated by the          Commission to the
amend or repeal the measures in question.                        Council forthwith. In that event,    the Commission may
                                                                 defer application of the measures    which it has adopted
                         TITLE III                               for not more than one month from the date of such
                                                                 communication .
                    General provisions                           The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
                          Article 8                              different decision within the time limit referred to in the
                                                                 previous paragraph.
Save as otherwise provided in this regulation, Articles 92,
93 and 94 of the Treaty shall apply to the production of                                   Article 12
and trade in the products listed in Article 1 .
                                                                 The Committee may consider any other question
                                                                 referred to it by its chairman either on his own initiative
                          Article 9                              or at the request of the representative of a Member
                                                                 State .
 1 . The provisions of Community legislation on the
financing of the common agricultural policy shall apply                                    Article 13
to the market in the products listed in Article 1 .
                                                                 Should transitional measures be necessary to facilitate
2. Expenditure by the Member States under Article 4              the transition from the system in force, in particular if
shall be eligible for reimbursement from the EAGGF               the introduction of the new system on the date provided
(Guidance Section). The Commission shall determine the            for would give rise to substantial difficulties, such
rate of Community part-financing in line with the                 measures shall be adopted in accordance with the
criteria and limitations set out in Article 13 of Regu­          procedure laid down in Article 11 .
lation (EEC) No 2052/ 88 in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 29 of Regulation (EEC)                                      Article 14
No 4253 / 88 .
                                                                 This Regulation shall be so applied that appropriate
                                                                  account is taken, at the same time, of the objectives set
                         Article 10                               out in Articles 39 and 110 of the Treaty.
 1.   Member      States   and    the   Commission      shall
                                                                                           Article 15
 communicate to each other the information necessary for
 applying this regulation. Detailed rules for the communi­        This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1993.
cation and distribution of such information shall be
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
Article 11 .                                                      directly applicable in all Member States.