CELEX: 51986PC0418
Language: en
Date: 1986-07-17
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON FOOD AID POLICY AND FOOD AID MANAGEMENT REPEALING REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 3331/82

21. 10.86                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 265/7
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
                       Proposal for a Council Regulation on food-aid policy and food-aid management
                                                       Com(86) 418 final/2
                                 (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 22 July 1986)
                                                         (86/C 265/09)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas the specific powers of action required for this
                                                                    purpose have not been provided for in the Treaty,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
                                                                    HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
thereof,
                                                                                               TITLE I
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                             Food aid objectives and general guidelines
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parl-
iament,                                                                                        Article 1
                                                                    Under its cooperation policy with the developing
Whereas food aid is provided on humanitarian grounds
                                                                    countries, the Community shall carry out food-aid
and constitutes one of the essential aspects of the
                                                                    operations.
Community's policy of cooperation with the developing
countries;
                                                                                               Article 2
Whereas food aid should be made into a real instrument              (1)    The food-aid operations referred to in Article 1
of the Community's policy of cooperation with the                   shall have the following objectives in particular:
developing countries, thereby enabling the Community
to participate fully in multiannual development projects;           — to raise the standard of nutrition of the recipient
                                                                        population,
Whereas it is necessary to that end that the Community              — to help in emergencies,
should be able to provide a steady overall flow of aid
and be in a position, in appropriate cases, to undertake            — to contribute towards balanced economic and social
to supply to the developing countries minimum quantities                development of the recipient countries.
of products under specific multiannual programmes as
well as to enter into undertakings in relation to inter-            (2)    Products supplied as food aid shall as far as
                                                                    possible fit the dietary habits of the recipient population.
national organizations, provided that such multiannual
commitments do not amount to more than a reasonable
                                                                    (3)    Food aid shall be allocated primarily on the basis
share of the volume of aid;
                                                                    of an objective evaluation of the real needs justifying the
                                                                    aid. To that end particular consideration shall be given
Whereas, in order to ensure that food aid is managed                to the following three criteria, without excluding other
more efficiently and in greater conformity with the                 pertinent considerations:
interests and requirements of the recipient countries, and
to improve the decision-making and implementing proc-               — basic food needs,
edures, Council Regulation (EEC) No 3331/82 (x),                    — per capita income,
should be replaced;
                                                                    — the balance-of-payments situation.
Whereas, in order to facilitate the application of certain
of the measures envisaged, provision should be made for             (4)    The grant of food aid shall, if necessary, be
close cooperation between the Member States and the                 conditional on the implementation of annual or mult-
Commission within a Food Aid Committee;                             iannual development projects, priority being given to
                                                                    projects which promote the production of food in the
                                                                    recipient countries. Where appropriate, the aid may
                                                                    contribute directly to the implementation of such
(') OJ No L 352, 14. 12. 1982, p. 1.                                projects. This complementarity may be ensured through
 ---pagebreak---  No C 265/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     21.10.86
 the use of counterpart funds where the products supplied            — apportion among the Member States the national
 by the Community as aid are intended for sale. Where                     cereals operations under the Food Aid Convention,
 food aid is provided as backing for a development
 programme spread over a number of years, it may be                 — determine the countries and organizations to which
 supplied on a multiannual basis linked to the programme                  food aid may be supplied on an annual or multi-
 in question.                                                             annual basis,
 (5)     The objective of food aid shall be to meet                 — lay down general criteria for covering the cost of
 immediate food needs. Nevertheless, in order to improve                 transporting food aid beyond the fob stage.
 food security in the developing countries and to ensure
that their needs are met, food aid may be granted, on a              (2)      To this end, on a proposal from the Commission
 case-by-case basis, to enable the building up of reserve            and after obtaining Parliament's opinion, the Council
stocks, provided that such aid does not represent more              shall act by a qualified majority when exercising the
than a residual percentage of the Community plan and                powers referred to in the first, third and fourth indents
that needs for immediate consumption are given priority.            of paragraph 1 and unanimously when exercising the
                                                                    powers referred to in the second indent of paragraph 1.
                            Article 3
                                                                                                Article 5
Products shall be mobilized on the Community market.
                                                                    (1)       In accordance with the procedure laid down in
However, products supplied as aid may be purchased in               Article 8 (1), the Commission shall:
another developing country, if possible one belonging to
the same geographical region as the recipient country:              — adopt a list of products which may be mobilized as
                                                                         aid;
— if those products are not available on the Community
     market, or                                                     — lay down rules for mobilization of those products;
— in an emergency within the meaning of the second                  — establish a limit for the purchases referred to in the
     paragraph of Article 6,                                             third indent of Article 3, having regard to the
                                                                         situation on Community markets.
provided such purchases enable the aid to reach its
destination more rapidly, or                                        (2)      In accordance with the procedure laid down in
                                                                    Article 8 (2), the Commission shall:
— where the following conditions are met:
     — such purchases give effect to Community                      — establish the apportionment among the various
         development policy, in particular as regards the                recipients of the quantities which may be mobilized
         promotion      of   developing    countries'    self-           subject to budgetary provision;
         sufficiency in food;
     — the products in question are in fact available in a          — where necessary, adjust allocations during the
         developing country belonging to the same geo-                   implementation of programmes, inter alia, in the light
         graphical region;                                               of the capacity of recipients to absorb the aid.
     — such purchases are not liable to disrupt the
         market of the supplying countries;                                                     Article 6
     — such purchases remain in aggregate at a level
         compatible with the principle                              In accordance with the Council Decisions provided for
                                                                    in Article 4 and of the Decisions taken under Article 5,
     that aid should be mobilized on the Community                  the Commission shall decide on:
     market.
                                                                    (a) emergency action to help countries, groups of
                                                                         refugees or other vulnerable sections of the popu-
                           TITLE II                                       lation facing serious unforeseen difficulties as a result
                                                                         of natural disasters; it shall inform the Member
      Procedures for implementing food aid operations
                                                                          States of such action;
                           Article 4                                (b) emergency action to help countries, groups of
                                                                         refugees or other vulnerable sections of the popu-
(1)     In the field of food aid, the Council shall:                     lation facing serious unforeseen difficulties as a result
                                                                         of exceptional circumstances comparable to natural
— apportion the cereals aid provided for under the                       disasters, after consulting the Member States by telex
     Food Aid Convention between Community and                           and giving them 48 hours to put forward any
     national operations,                                                objection;
 ---pagebreak--- 21.10.86                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 265/9
(c) the conditions governing the supply of aid and, in             (2)     In cases covered by the procedure laid down in
     particular,                                                   this paragraph, the Committee shall consider its opinion
                                                                   in response to requests from the Commission. In seeking
    — the general conditions applicable to recipients;
                                                                   the Committee's opinion the Commission may set a time
    — the engagement of the mobilization procedures                limit by which such opinion must be given. The
         and the supply of products, as well as the                Committee's deliberations shall not be followed by a
         conclusion of the corresponding contracts.                vote. However, each member of the Committee may
                                                                   require that his views be recorded in the minutes.
For the purposes of points (a) and (b), 'emergency' shall
mean an exceptional unforeseen situation in which                                             Article 9
famine or an imminent danger of famine poses a serious
threat to the lives or health of the population in a               Member States shall decide on their national food-aid
country which is unable to cope with the food shortfall            programmes and shall inform the Commission thereof.
using its own means and resources.                                 Following a request by the chairman of the Committee
                                                                   or a representative of a Member State, the Committee
The volume of aid which it shall be decided to supply in           shall examine the coordination of Community and
each particular case shall be limited to the quantities that       national operations, as regards both their adoption and
the people affected require in order to cope with the              their implementation, shall be examined regularly by the
situation for a period not exceeding three months.                 Committee. In this examination, which shall be carried
                                                                   out at the request of the chairman of the Committee or a
                                                                   representative of a Member State, account shall also be
                          Article 7                                taken of known operations by other donors.
(1)    A Food Aid Committee, hereinafter referred to as
the 'Committee', chaired by a representative of the                                          Article 10
Commission and composed of representatives of the
Member States, is hereby established. The secretariat of           The Committee may examine any other matter
the Committee shall be provided by the Commission.                 concerning food aid raised by its chairman, either on the
                                                                   latter's own initiative or at the request of a representative
(2)    The Committee shall draw up its own rules of                of a Member State.
procedure.
                                                                                             Article 11
                          Article 8                                The European Parliament shall be informed of the
                                                                   management of food aid by being notified of the
(1)    In cases covered by the procedure laid down in
                                                                   Decisions provided for in Articles 4, 5 and 6 immediately
this paragraph, the chairman shall place before the
                                                                   upon their adoption and by the annual presentation of
Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The
                                                                   progress reports on the implementation of the various
Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a
                                                                   operations for the relevant financial years.
time limit which may be fixed by the chairman according
to the urgency of the matters under consideration. It
shall act by the majority specified in Article 148 (2) of          The Decisions provided for in Articles 5 and 6 and the
the EEC Treaty for decisions which the Council must                reports referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be
adopt on a proposal from the Commission. When the                  communicated to the Council at the same time.
Committee takes a vote the votes of the Member States
shall be weighted as provided for in the said Article. The                                   Article 12
chairman shall not vote.
                                                                   Regulation (EEC) No 3331/82 is hereby repealed.
The Commission shall adopt measures which shall be
applicable immediately. If, however, such measures are                                       Article 13
not in accordance with the opinion delivered by the
Committee, the Commission shall notify them to the                 This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
Council forthwith. In that event the Commission may                following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
postpone application of the measures for not longer than           the European Communities.
two months from the date of the said notification. The
Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a                This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
different decision within two months.                              directly applicable in all Member States.