Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1020/2012 of 6 November 2012 adopting the plan allocating to the Member States resources to be charged to the 2013 budget year for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the European Union and derogating from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010

7.11.2012 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 307/62
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 1020/2012
of 6 November 2012
adopting the plan allocating to the Member States resources to be charged to the 2013 budget year for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the European Union and derogating from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) (1), and in particular points (f) and (g) of Article 43, in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 of 15 December 1998 establishing agrimonetary arrangements for the euro (2), and in particular Article 3(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as amended by Regulation (EU) No 121/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) has established a scheme whereby food products may be distributed to the most deprived persons in the Union. For that purpose, products in intervention stocks may be made available or, where intervention stocks suitable for the food distribution scheme are not available, food products may be purchased on the market.
(2) For 2013, that scheme is included in the list of measures eligible for financing by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (4), within an annual ceiling of EUR 500 million.
(3) In accordance with Article 27(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 the Commission has to adopt an annual plan.
(4) In accordance with Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 807/2010 of 14 September 2010 laying down detailed rules for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Union (5), that plan has to lay down, in particular, for each of the Member States applying the measure, the maximum financial resources available to carry out its part of the plan, and the quantity of each type of product to be withdrawn from the stocks held by the intervention agencies.
(5) The Member States wishing to participate in the distribution plan for the 2013 budget year have supplied the Commission with the information required in accordance with Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010.
(6) For the purposes of resource allocation, account must be taken of the best estimates of the number of most deprived person in the Member States concerned and of the degree to which the Member States used the resources allocated to them in previous years.
(7) Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010 provides for the transfer between Member States of products unavailable in the intervention stocks of the Member State in which such products are required to implement the annual distribution plan. Accordingly, the intra-Union transfers necessary to implement that plan for 2013 should be authorised, subject to the conditions laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010.
(8) In order to enforce the annual budgetary ceiling, the intra-Union transfer costs, where relevant, should be included into the total financial allocation made available for each Member State to implement the 2013 distribution plan. Moreover, the deadlines fixed by Articles 3(3) and 9 of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010 as regards the completion of the payment operations for products mobilised on the market, the requests for payment and the execution of payments by the competent authorities, should be adjusted, in order to ensure that the resources allocated within the 2013 distribution plan are only eligible for Union support if those payments are made in the 2013 budget year.
(9) Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010 provides that the plan implementation period finishes on 31 December. To enable the Member States to make full use of the period of implementation while respecting the deadlines relating to payments, it is necessary to allow the granting of advance payments for the transport of products to the storage depots of the charitable organisations and for the transport, administrative and storage costs incurred by the charitable organisations designated to distribute the products. In order to ensure the efficient and effective implementation of the annual plan, the same possibility should be allowed for the supply of products in duly justified cases. For the same reason, the use of advance payments should be limited. In addition it needs to be established how and when a security is required.
(10) Taking into consideration the non-profit nature of the designated organisations referred to in Article 27(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the competent authorities of the Member States should be empowered to allow alternative guarantee instruments when advances are paid to those organisations in respect of their administrative, transport and storage costs.
(11) For accounting purposes, Member States should be required to notify the Commission of certain information related to the advance payments.
(12) Due to the current market situation in the cereals sector, which is marked by high market price levels, it is appropriate, in order to secure the Union’s financial interests, to increase the security, which is to be lodged by the contractor undertaking the supply operation of cereals as provided for in Articles 4(3) and 8(4) of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010.
(13) To implement the annual distribution plan, the operative event within the meaning of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 should be the date on which the financial year for administration of stocks in public storage starts.
(14) In accordance with Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 807/2010, the Commission has consulted the major organisations familiar with the problems of the most deprived persons in the Union when drawing up the annual distribution plan.
(15) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,