CELEX: 
Language: en
Date: 2020-06-17 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/... amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 as regards the evaluation of the implementation of the school scheme

EUROPEAN
                     COMMISSION
                                             Brussels, 17.6.2020
                                             C(2020) 3909 final
           COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...
                                 of 17.6.2020
   amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 as regards the evaluation of the
                     implementation of the school scheme
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 ---pagebreak---                                 EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
   1.        CONTEXT OF THE DELEGATED ACT
   The Member States participating in the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme set out
   by Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 are to evaluate the implementation of the scheme.
   This delegated act sets out the nature and type of information that Member States are to
   provide in their evaluation report(s) in order to assess the effectiveness of the school scheme
   against its objectives of increasing children’s consumption of selected agricultural products
   and educating them about healthy eating habits.
   It aims at improving the quality of the Member States’ evaluation report(s) due by 1 March
   2023 and facilitating the Commission’s assessment and consolidation of the results at EU
   level.
   2.        CONSULTATIONS PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT
   The Commission consulted experts from the Member States within the Expert Group for
   Agricultural Markets, sector Animal Products.
   Prior to the preparation of this delegated act, the Commission presented non-binding
   guidelines to assist Member States in their evaluation of the school scheme, in the Expert
   Group meeting of 20 September 2018. Those evaluation guidelines included 1) definitions
   and examples, for a shared understanding of the requirements, 2) common evaluation
   questions and corresponding indicators and 3) an outline of the evaluation report.
   The Commission discussed the draft delegated act, underpinned by those evaluation
   guidelines, in the Expert Group meeting of 12 December 2019 and of 20 February 2020.
   The Commission transmitted the draft delegated act to the European Parliament and to the
   Council, when convening the Expert Group meetings.
   The draft delegated regulation was posted in the European Commission portal “Have your
   say” from 26 March to 23 April 2020 to gather the views of citizens and stakeholders.
   One stakeholder, the European Plant-based Food Association (Belgium), provided feedback
   advocating for the inclusion in the school scheme of plant-based alternatives to dairy
   products. This goes beyond the scope of the act.
   3.        LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE DELEGATED ACT
   This delegated act amends Article 9 on monitoring and evaluation in Commission Delegated
   Regulation (EU) 2017/40.
   A new paragraph details the nature and type of information that Member States shall provide
   in their evaluation report(s), and allows Member States that implement the scheme at regional
   level to submit a corresponding number of evaluation reports.
   In parallel, an implementing act amends Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/39
   to set out the detailed specific rules for the uniform format and content of the Member States’
   evaluation report(s).
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 ---pagebreak---                      COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...
                                                of 17.6.2020
         amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 as regards the evaluation of the
                                  implementation of the school scheme
   THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
   Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
   Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the
   Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in
   agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79,
   (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/20071, and in particular Article 24(2)(b) and Article
   223(2)(a) thereof,
   Whereas:
   (1)     Pursuant to Article 9(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/402 Member
           States are required to evaluate the implementation of their school scheme in order to
           assess its effectiveness against the objectives of the school scheme of increasing the
           consumption of selected agricultural products by children and educating them about
           healthy eating habits. In order to foster transparency and accountability on the use of
           Union aid, the nature and type of information that the Member States are to notify to
           the Commission in their evaluation reports should be specified.
   (2)     Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 should therefore be amended accordingly,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                  Article 1
   Article 9 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 is amended as follows:
   (1)       paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
             ‘2. Member States shall evaluate the implementation of the school scheme in order to
             assess its effectiveness against its objectives of increasing the consumption of fruit,
             vegetables, milk and milk products by children and educating them about healthy
             eating habits. The results of that evaluation shall be submitted to the Commission by
             way of an evaluation report. A Member State that implements the school scheme at
             regional level may choose to submit a corresponding number of evaluation reports.’;
   (2)       in the first subparagraph of paragraph 5, the introductory phrase is replaced by the
             following:
   1
           OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671.
   2
           Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/40 of 3 November 2016 supplementing Regulation (EU)
           No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to Union aid for the supply of
           fruit and vegetables, bananas and milk in educational establishments and amending Commission
           Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014 (OJ L 5, 10.1.2017, p. 11).
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 ---pagebreak---              ‘ Where a Member State does not submit its evaluation report or evaluation reports
             containing the results of the evaluation provided for in paragraph 2 of this Article to
             the Commission by the time limits referred to in Article 8(2) of Implementing
             Regulation (EU) 2017/39, the amount of the next definitive allocation shall be
             reduced as follows:’.
                                                Article 2
   This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the
   Official Journal of the European Union.
   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
   Done at Brussels, 17.6.2020
                                                 For the Commission
                                                 The President
                                                 Ursula VON DER LEYEN
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