CELEX: 51989PC0660(54)
Language: en
Date: 1990-01-11
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) AMENDING REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 426/86 ON THE COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET IN PRODUCTS PROCESSED FROM FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

28. 2. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 49/85
                                                          Proposal for a
                                          COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No . . .
                                                              of . . .
                  amending Regulation (EEC) No 426/86 on the common organization of the market in
                                          products processed from fruit and vegetables
                                                          (90/C 49/54)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas, in order to encourage more rapid disposal of
                                                                      certain products and thus to avoid prolonged storage, which
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                is detrimental to quality, provision should be made for
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 43                     degressive financing of storage costs over the marketing year,
 thereof,                                                             the minimum price paid by the storage agencies for the
                                                                      products bought in by them under the intervention
                                                                      arrangements should be reduced and the costs of excessively
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   long periods in storage should no longer be financed,
 Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social              HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
 Committee,
                                                                                                 Article 1
 Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 426/86 ( J ), as last
 amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1125/89 (2), introduced
                                                                      Regulation (EEC) No 426/86 is hereby amended as
 a system of production aid for certain products processed
                                                                   . follows:
 from fruit and vegetables; whereas the chief objective is to
 enable products processed from raw materials produced in
                                                                       1. Article 2 (1) is replaced by the following:
 the Community to be sold at prices which compete with those
 charged by third countries; whereas, to this end, the                    '1.    A system of production aid shall apply to the
 production aid must aim to compensate for the difference                 products listed in Annex I, Part A and obtained from
 between the producer prices for raw materials harvested                  fruit and vegetables harvested in the Community,
 within the Community and those obtaining in the major                    without prejudice to the specific provisions for dried
 competing non-member countries;                                          grapes in Articles 6 and 6a.'
Whereas, in the case of certain products Community                    2. In Article 3 (2), 'sultanas and' is inserted         before
 production of which accounts for a substantial share of the              'currants'.
 Community consumer market, provision must be made for
 this compensation to be reduced, taking account of the               3. Article 4 (1) is replaced by the following:
 quantities traded and the prices recorded;
                                                                          '1.    The minimum price to be paid to producers shall,
                                                                          without prejudice to the measures taken pursuant to
Whereas, in certain Community production areas, products                  Article 2 (3), be calculated on the basis of:
processed from tomatoes are a particularly sensitive sector;              (a) the minimum price applying during the previous
whereas provision should be made for an additional                             marketing year;
adjustment of the minimum price and the aid according to the
dry weight content of the raw material;                                   (b) the movement of basic prices in the fruit and
                                                                               vegetables sector;
Whereas, in respect of dried grapes, in order to make                     (c) the need to ensure normal market disposal of fresh
producers aware of the requirements for disposing of and                       products for the various uses, including supply to
marketing their products and for improving the                                 the processing industry.
competitiveness of those products, the existing system of                 In the case of tomatoes, the minimum price to be paid to
production aid should be gradually replaced by a new system               the producer shall be adjusted according to the dry
of aid based on the specialized cultivated area; whereas the              weight content of the raw material. However, this
cultivation aid is to be introduced gradually over a                      provision shall not apply to tomatoes used in the
transitional period of three marketing years, to compensate               manufacture of peeled tomatoes.'
for the reduction in the production aid; whereas the
conditions for the transition should be laid down;                   4. Article 4 (2) is replaced by the following:
(') OJNoL49,27. 2. 1986, p. 1.                                            '2.    The minimum price for sultanas, currants, dried
(2) OJ No L 118, 29. 4. 1989, p. 29.                                      muscatel grapes and dried figs valid at the start of the
 ---pagebreak---  No C 49/86                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   28. 2. 90
      marketing year shall be increased each month, starting                — the need to ensure that the areas traditionally used to
      with the third month of the marketing year, by a                          grow the said crops are maintained,
      degressive amount corresponding to storage costs.
                                                                            — the outlets available for these dried grapes.
      However, there shall be no increase for the last month of
      the marketing year.'
                                                                            This aid shall be introduced gradually during the
                                                                            1990/91, 1991/92 and 1992/93 marketing years, in
 5. Article 5 is replaced by the following:                                 accordance with Article 6a.
      'Article 5
                                                                            2.    If the specialized areas used for the production
      1.     The amount of the aid shall be so fixed as to enable           of dried grapes exceeds a maximum guaranteed
     the Community product to be marketed. In calculating                   Community area, the amount of the aid shall be reduced
     the amount of the aid, without prejudice to measures                   for the following marketing year according to the extent
     taken pursuant to Article 2(3), account shall be taken in              by which that area is exceeded. The maximum
     particular of:                                                        guaranteed area shall be the average of the areas in the
                                                                           Community used for the crops referred to in
     — the amount of the aid fixed for the previous                        paragraph 1, over the three marketing years from
          marketing year, adjusted to take account of changes               1987/88, 1988/89 and 1989/90.
          in the minimum prices referred to in Article 4,
     — the difference between the price fixed for the raw                  3.     The aid shall be granted once the areas have been
          material in the Community and that obtaining in the              harvested and the products have been dried for
          major competing non-member countries, and,                       processing.
     — in the case of products, Community production of
                                                                           4.     The cultivation aid shall be deemed to be an
          which accounts for a substantial share of the market,
                                                                           intervention measure intended to stabilize the
          trends in the volume of external trade and in the
                                                                           agricultural markets, within the meaning of Article 3(1)
          prices obtaining in such trade, where the latter
                                                                           of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 (*).
          criterion results in a reduction in the amount of the
          aid.
                                                                           5.     The Commission shall fix the amount of the aid,
     2.      The aid shall be fixed in respect of the net weight of        the maximum guaranteed area and the detailed rules for
     the processed product. The coefficients expressing the                applying this Article in accordance with the procedure
     relationship between the weight of raw material used and              laid down in Article 22.
     the net weight of the processed product shall be defined
     on a standard basis.                                                  6.     Where applicable, the Commission shall establish
                                                                           the extent to which the maximum guaranteed area has
     3.      Aid shall be granted to processors only for                   been exceeded and shall determine the resultant
     processed products which:                                             reduction in the amount of aid.
     (a) have been produced from raw materials harvested in                (*) O J N o L 94, 28. 4. 1970; p. 13.'
           the Community, for which the applicant has paid at
           least the minimum price referred to in Article 4;
                                                                       7. The following Article 6a is inserted:
     (b) meet minimum quality requirements.
                                                                           'Article 6a
    4.       The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a
    proposal from the Commission, shall adopt general rules
                                                                           1.     The minimum price to be paid to the producer for
    for applying this Article.
                                                                           sultanas, dried muscatel grapes and currants shall be
    5.       The Commission shall fix the amount of the aid                gradually reduced during the 1990/91, 1991/92 and
    before the beginning of each marketing year, in                        1992/93 marketing years.
    accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 22.
    The coefficients referred to in paragraph 2, the minimum               This price shall be reduced during the 1990/91
    quality requirements and the other detailed rules for                 marketing year by about 30%-in relation to the price
    applying this Article shall be adopted in accordance with             fixed for the 1989/90 marketing year.
    the same procedure.'
                                                                          2.      The amount of the production aid shall, during the
                                                                          three marketing years referred to in paragraph 1, be
6. Article 6 is replaced by the following:                                fixed so as to enable Community produce to be
    'Article 6                                                            marketed. When fixing the amount of aid, account shall
                                                                          be taken, in particular, of the amount of movements in
    1.      Aid shall be granted for the cultivation of sultanas,         the minimum price referred to in paragraph 1 and, if
    muscatel grapes and currants which are dried for                      necessary, of trends in processing costs assessed on a
    processing.                                                           standard basis and in the minimum import price referred
                                                                          to in Article 9.
    The amount of the aid shall be fixed per hectare of
    specialized area harvested on the basis of the average                The aid shall be fixed in respect of the net weight of the
    yield per hectare of the said areas. In addition, the                 processed product. The coefficients expressing the
    amount of the aid shall be fixed to take account of:                  relationship between the weight of raw material used and
 ---pagebreak--- 28. 2. 90                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 49/87
    the net weight of the processed product shall be defined              quality standards to be determined. Sultanas and
    on a standard basis.                                                  currants shall be purchased up to any limits laid down
                                                                          pursuant to Article 2 (3).
    The aid shall be granted only to processors who do not
    process a quantity of dried grapes of these varieties                 2.     The storage agencies shall purchase the quantities
    corresponding to a percentage of the quantities                       offered at the minimum price applicable at the beginning
    purchased. The aid shall not be paid in respect of the                of the marketing year, reduced by 8 %.
    quantities in question.
                                                                          3.     The products purchased by the storage agencies
    The aid shall be granted to processors only for processed             shall be disposed of on terms which do not jeopardize the
    products which:                                                       balance of the market and which ensure equal access to
                                                                          the products for sale and equal treatment of purchasers.
    (a) have been produced from raw materials harvested in                Where products cannot be disposed of on normal terms,
          the Community for which the applicant has paid at               special measures may be taken.
          least the minimum price referred to in Article 4;
    (b) meet the minimum quality requirements.                            4.     Storage aid shall be granted to storage agencies for
                                                                          the quantities of products which they have purchased
    3.      The cultivation aid referred to in Article 6 shall,           and for the actual duration of storage. However, the aid
    during the three marketing years referred to in                       shall cease to be granted at the end of a period of eighteen
    paragraph 1, also be fixed so as to compensate for the                months following the end of the marketing year during
    reduction in the minimum price referred to in that                    which the product was purchased.
    paragraph.
                                                                          5.     Financial compensation equal to the difference
                                                                          between the purchase price paid by the storage agencies
    4.      The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a
                                                                          and the selling price shall be granted to the storage
    proposal from the Commission, shall fix the percentages
                                                                           agencies. This compensation shall be reduced by the
    provided for in paragraph 2.
                                                                           amount of any profits resulting from the difference
                                                                           between the purchase price and the selling price.
    5.      The minimum quality requirements referred to in
    point (b) of the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 2 and                6.    The Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall
    the other detailed rules for applying this Article shall be            adopt the general rules for the application of this
    adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in                 Article.
    Article 22.'
                                                                           7.    Detailed rules for the application of this Article
    Article 8 is replaced by the following:                                shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid
                                                                           down in Article 22.'
     'Article 8
     1.     The agencies or legal or natural persons approved
    by the Member States concerned, hereinafter referred to                                      Article 2
    as "storage agencies", shall purchase, during the last two
    months of the marketing year, sultanas, currants and              This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
    dried figs produced in the Community during the current           following its publication in the Official Journal of the
    marketing year, provided that the products comply with            European Communities.
                   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                   States.
                   Done at Brussels, . . .
                                                                                          For the Council