CELEX: 32000R2777
Language: en
Date: 2000-12-18 00:00:00
Title: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2777/2000 of 18 December 2000 adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market

19.12.2000              EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                       L 321/47
                                          COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2777/2000
                                                            of 18 December 2000
                                    adopting exceptional support measures for the beef market
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                       ments which would apply in the case of slaughter for
                                                                                  human consumption.
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,                                                                  (5)   Where the market situation so requires, it is appropriate
                                                                                  to allow the purchase scheme to be extended to Member
                                                                                  States which operate testing of all animals above 30
Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999                         months or of a substantial percentage of such animals.
of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in
beef and veal (1), and in particular Article 38(2),
                                                                            (6)   Where the market situation so permits, it is appropriate
                                                                                  to allow for the possibility to stop the application of the
Whereas:                                                                          purchase scheme in a Member State which can provide
                                                                                  evidence that sufficient testing capacity for BSE is avail-
(1)     The Community beef market is currently going through                      able for the normal production of the animals concerned
        a deep crisis due to a lack of consumer confidence in                     in that Member State.
        beef created by the appearance of new cases of bovine
        spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Consumption as well                (7)   In order to ensure the proper functioning of the scheme
        as production have recently fallen to unprecedented                       appropriate provisions should be laid down with regard
        levels followed by substantial reduction of producer                      to the organisation of purchases and deliveries of
        prices. It is estimated that the crisis is likely to continue             animals.
        still for some time. In such circumstances, Article 38(1)
        of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 provides for excep-
                                                                            (8)   The purchase price per animal should be fixed by
        tional market support measures to be taken with a view
                                                                                  Member States at such level which will ensure that the
        to re-balancing the market. One of those measures
                                                                                  objective of the measure is met. In fixing that price,
        should be a scheme whereby animals which otherwise
                                                                                  account should in particular be taken of the current
        would produce heavy surpluses on the market are with-
                                                                                  representative market price and the weight of the
        drawn from meat production through a purchasing
                                                                                  animal.
        scheme with subsequent destruction of the animals.
                                                                            (9)   In view of the large number of animals expected to be
(2)     Commission Decision 2000/764/EC (2) lays down                             purchased under the scheme it would be appropriate to
        specific rules for testing for BSE of animals above 30                    share the expenditures between the Community and the
        months and in particular the approved methods for such                    Member States. The Community co-financing sould be
        testing. In accordance with that Decision, at the latest                  limited to 70 % of the purchase expenditures, while the
        from 1 July 2001 all animals above 30 months subject                      rest of the purchase expenditures as well as all other
        to normal slaughter for human consumption must be                         costs related to the scheme should be financed by the
        tested for BSE. Until then, it is appropriate to concen-                  national authorities.
        trate the withdrawal of animals from the market as
        referred to above to animals of that age which at
        slaughter are not tested for BSE and only allow for                 (10)  The provisions regarding the slaughter premium referred
        human consumption in the Community and in third                           to in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 apply
        countries meat from animals which have been tested                        to animals slaughtered under this scheme.
        negatively.
                                                                            (11)  In order to improve the control of the animals and their
(3)     In order to seek a quick improvement of the beef                          products before, during and after slaughter, special
        market, voluntary testing of animals above 30 months                      provisions should be laid down, in particular with regard
        should be encouraged in the meantime. Provisions                          to separation and handling of such products.
        should therefore be adopted providing for Community
        co-financing of the tests required while guaranteeing               (12)  The market situation in Member States with particularly
        that no double payment are made from the Community                        low risk of BSE has not deteriorated to the same extent
        budget.                                                                   as in the rest of the Community. The purchase for
                                                                                  destruction scheme need not therefore be obligatory in
                                                                                  those Member States provided that all products from
(4)     In order to take off the market such animals which in
                                                                                  animals not tested for BSE remain in the Member State
        real terms would reduce the output otherwise intended
                                                                                  concerned.
        for consumption, it is essential that animals for destruc-
        tion comply with all veterinary requirements before
        slaughter including such ante mortem inspection require-            (13)  With a view to providing for an effective monitoring of
                                                                                  the scheme, Member States should on a weekly basis
(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21.                                                   provide the Commission with the necessary relevant
(2) OJ L 305, 6.12.2000, p. 35.                                                   information.
 ---pagebreak--- L 321/48              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                     19.12.2000
(14)    Provision should be made for Commission experts to              2.     In addition and by way of derogation from the require-
        check compliance with the conditions as specified.              ment in paragraph 1 of not having been tested, bovine animals
                                                                        referred to in Article 1(1) of Decision 2000/764/EC shall be
(15)    The Management Committee for Beef and Veal has not              purchased for destruction only where the Member State
        given an opinion within the time limit set by its               ensures that such animals are examined in conformity with the
        President,                                                      provisions of the said Article 1(1) and where the test results are
                                                                        negative.
                                                                        3.     Following the procedure provided for in Article 43 of
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                        Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999, it may be decided that the
                                                                        purchase scheme provided for in paragraph 1 is also applicable
                                                                        to animals having been subject to a test referred to in Article
                             Article 1
                                                                        2(1) giving a negative result, if the market situation so requires,
This Regulation shall apply in all Member States with the               in the Member State where the testing is done in a generalised
exception of United Kingdom where Article 2(1) only shall               way or to a substantial extent.
apply.
                                                                        4.     Member States who can demonstrate to the satisfaction
                                                                        of the Commission that sufficient capacity is available for
                             Article 2                                  testing as referred to in Article 2(1) of the normal slaughter
                                                                        throughput of animals above 30 months of age may be author-
1.     Meat from bovine animals aged more than 30 months                ised by the Commission, following the procedure for in Article
and slaughtered in the Community after 1 January 2001 can               43 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999, to stop the application
only be released for human consumption in the Community or              of the purchase scheme provided for in paragraph 1 unless a
for export to third countries if tested negatively for bovine           decision as referred to in paragraph 3 is taken.
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by an approved rapid test as
referred to in Annex IV(A) of Commission Decision 98/                   5.     Member States shall indicate the slaughter houses at
272/EC (1).                                                             which the animals shall be taken for slaughter. In doing so, the
                                                                        Member State shall as far as possible seek to minimise the
2.     The Community shall co-finance the tests referred to in          geographical distance for the animals to be transported.
paragraph 1. The financial participation by the Community
shall be at the rate of 100 % of the costs (VAT excluded) of the
purchase of test-kits and reagents up to a maximum of
EUR 15 per test in respect of tests carried out on animals                                            Article 4
slaughtered before the entry into force of the obligatory testing
program as provided for in Article 1(3) of Decision 2000/               1.     The prices to be paid by the Member State to producers
764/EC, and in any case before 1 July 2001.                             or their agents for animals referred to in Article 3(1) shall be
                                                                        calculated on the basis of:
Excluded from this co-financing are tests performed on:
— animals which are referred to in Article 1(1) of Decision              (a) the weight of the carcase as defined in Article 2(1)(a) of
     2000/764/EC,                                                            Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 (3) and
— animals which benefit from the purchase scheme as
                                                                        (b) the price per kg deadweight fixed by the Member State.
     provided for in Article 3(3) of this Regulation.
                                                                             However, the basic price applicable under this scheme shall
Member States shall take the necessary measures to avoid any                 be the average of the market prices for the category
double payment from the Community budget.                                    concerned recorded in week Nos 45, 46, 47 and 48 of the
                                                                             year 2000.
                             Article 3                                  In determining weekly prices, the Member State shall take as
                                                                        far as possible into acocunt the current market price where
1.     A Member State shall purchase, in view of its slaughter          representative prices are available for the relevant categories
and full destruction without being subject to a test as referred        and carcase qualities. Account should equally be taken of the
to in Article 2(1), any animal aged more than 30 months                 traditional price hierarchy between categories and classes in the
offered to it by any producer or his agent.                             Member State concerned.
The animal must:                                                        In all circumstances, the prices shall be fixed at levels which
                                                                        guaranteees a proper functioning of the destruction scheme.
(a) during a period of at least 6 months prior to its sale, have
                                                                        However:
     been present on one or several holdings located in the
     Member State concerned;                                            — any fixing of average prices per category below the above-
                                                                             mentioned basic price, and
(b) comply with the relevant veterinary legislation, in particular
     the provisions laid down in Annex I, Chapter VI, to                — any fixing of average prices per category exceeding the
     Council Directive 64/433/EEC (2), allowing them to be                   abovementioned basic price by more than 5 %,
     passed as fit for slaughter for human consumption.
                                                                        can only be made upon prior approval from the Commission.
(1) OJ L 122, 24.4.1998, p. 59.
(2) OJ 121, 29.7.1964, p. 2012/64.                                      (3) OJ L 123, 7.5.1981, p. 3.
 ---pagebreak--- 19.12.2000             EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                     L 321/49
Member States shall no later than Wednesday of each week                 production. Fatty material attached to the internal side of the
inform the producers of the purchase prices to be applied in             hide must be removed and destroyed. Member States shall
the following week.                                                      ensure that such hides are stored and treated separate from
                                                                         other hides.
The payment for the animal shall be made as soon as possible
after slaughter.                                                         5.     Member States shall carry out the necessary adminis-
                                                                         trative checks and effective on-the-spot supervision of all
2.     For each fully destroyed animal the Community shall               operations to verify that all relevant products have been
co-finance the expenditure incurred under paragraph 1 at a flat          rendered and fully destroyed.
rate calculated on the basis of the basic prices, the average
weight per category and a co-finaning rate of 70 % to be
financed by the Community leaving 30 % to be financed by the                                          Article 6
national authorities. The flat rate amounts are fixed in Annex I.
                                                                         1.     Without prejudice to the provisions of Decision 98/
No later than 1 October 2001, the Member States shall                    272/EC and Decision 2000/764/EC, and by way of derogation
communicate to the Commission the total purchase expendi-                from the provisions of Article 2(1), the Member States listed in
tures. The community co-financing shall be limited to 70 % of            Annex II may allow the slaughtering for human consumption
this total amount.                                                       of bovine animals over 30 months of age, without the exam-
                                                                         ination for BSE referred to in Article 2(1).
An advance equal to 80 % of the Community contribution may
be provided after the animal concerned has been slaughtered              2.     Member States making use of the derogation referred to
and rendered in accordance with Article 5.                               in paragraph 1 shall ensure that the following products, origin-
                                                                         ating from such animals which have been slaughtered for
Except for the Community co-financing fixed above, all costs             human consumption after the entering into force of this Regu-
of the operations from the offer for slaughter of the animal             lation, are dispatched to other Member States or exported to
until its full destruction shall be financed by national authori-        third countries only if the animals concerned are tested nega-
ties.                                                                    tively, by a test referred to in Article 2(1):
                                                                         — ‘fresh meat’ as defined by Directive 64/433/EEC,
3.     The provisions regarding the slaughter premium referred
to in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 and Chapter             — ‘minced meat’ and ‘meat preparations’ as defined by Council
V of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2342/1999 (1) shall                       Directive 94/65/EC (2),
apply to animals slaughtered under the present Regulation.               — ‘meat products’ as defined by Council Directive 77/
These costs shall not be deemed to be incurred under the                     99/EEC (3).
present Regulation.
                                                                         3.     The meat and products referred to in paragraph 2 origin-
                                                                         ating from animals not having been tested by a test referred to
                              Article 5                                  in Article 2(1) shall be marked with a national mark, which
                                                                         cannot be confused with the Community health mark and in
1.     Slaughterhouses slaughtering animals which are intended           particular is not oval.
for destruction under this scheme shall be organised and oper-
ated in such a way as to ensure that:
— all animals and animal products which are intended for                                              Article 7
     human or animal consumption shall at all times be
     completely separated from animals and products slaugh-              Member States shall adopt all measures necessary to ensure
     tered and produced under this scheme, and                           proper application of this scheme and full compliance with the
                                                                         provisions of this Regulation.
— where it is necessary for bovine animals to be slaughtered
     under the scheme to be held in lairage, they shall be kept          Member States shall as soon as possible establish a detailed
     separate from bovine animals which it is intended to                report of the controls which they have taken under this Article
     slaughter for human or animal consumption,                          and communicate this to the Commission.
2.     The carcases, after having been appropriately slashed shall
together with all other parts of the animals be permanently                                           Article 8
stained. They shall subsequently be rendered and fully
destroyed by way of incineration or any other appropriate
                                                                         For animals aged more than 30 months. Member States shall
means.
                                                                         on Wednesday of each week in respect of the preceding week
                                                                         notify the Commission of:
3.     Where specified risk material are not removed, the entire
carcase shall be treated as specified risk material.                     — the number of animals under each category referred to in
                                                                             Article 3(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 having been
4.     No parts of the animals may be used for human food or                 offered for slaughter and destruction,
animal feed, or in cosmetic or medical products or medical               — the number of slaughtered animals for human consumption
devices. By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3 hides                  under each category having been tested and the total
do not have to be stained or destroyed provided that they are                weight per category as well as the outcome of the tests,
treated in such a way that they can only be used for leather
                                                                         (2) OJ L 368, 31.12.1994, p. 10.
(1) OJ L 281, 4.11.1999, p. 30.                                          (3) OJ L 26, 31.1.1977, p. 85.
 ---pagebreak--- L 321/50              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                   19.12.2000
— the number of slaughtered animals for destruction under               on-the-spot checks to verify compliance with all the provisions
    each category having been tested and the total weight per           of this Regulation.
    category as well as the outcome of the tests,
— the number of slaughtered animals under each category
                                                                                                   Article 10
    having not been tested and the total weight per category,
— the price offered to producers under each category and,               The measures taken under this Regulation shall be considered
    where available, under each class,                                  to be intervention measures within the meaning of Article 1(2)
— the number of animals rendered,                                       of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999.
— the number of animals fully destroyed,
— any other information permitting an efficient monitoring of
                                                                                                   Article 11
    the operations.
                             Article 9                                  This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its
                                                                        publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Without prejudice of Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No
1258/1999 (1), Commission experts accompanied where                     It shall be applicable from 1 January 2001 until 30 June 2001
appropriate by experts from Member States shall carry out               at the latest.
                     This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
                     Done at Brussels, 18 December 2000.
                                                                                     For the Commission
                                                                                       Franz FISCHLER
                                                                                 Member of the Commission
(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
 ---pagebreak--- 19.12.2000            EN                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                                 L 321/51
                                                                        ANNEX I
                                              Community financing per animal (1) (2) (EUR/head)
                                                         Cows                              Heifers                        Steers
           Belgium                                        544                               727                            —
           Denmark                                        363                               444                            —
           Germany                                        364                               442                            —
           Greece                                         292                               520                            —
           Spain                                          280                               536                            —
           France                                         472                               674                           713
           Ireland                                        285                               421                           543
           Italy                                          294                               561                            —
           Luxembourg                                     553                               593                           698
           Netherlands                                    418                               385                            —
           Austria                                        393                               501                           644
           Portugal                                       281                               543                            —
           Finland                                        272                               306                            —
           Sweden                                         384                               402                           510
                                                                        ANNEX II
                                                    List of countries referred to in Article 6
           Austria
           Sweden
           Finland
           (1) Bulls offered under the scheme shall be Community financed with the rate for cows.
           (2) Where no specific financing amounts are provided, steers offered under the scheme shall be Community financed with the rate of
               heifers.