Council Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002 of 14 October 2002 setting the limits to the Community financing of work programmes drawn up by approved operators' organisations in the olive sector provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 and derogating from Regulation No 136/66/EEC

Council Regulation (EC) No 1873/2002
of 14 October 2002
setting the limits to the Community financing of work programmes drawn up by approved operators' organisations in the olive sector provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 and derogating from Regulation No 136/66/EEC
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Whereas:
(1) Under Article 4a(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 of 20 July 1998 amending Regulation No 136/66/EEC on the establishment of a common organisation of the market in oils and fats(3), Member States producing olive oil may withhold, within certain limits, a portion of the aid payable to producers of olive oil and/or table olives, with a view to providing Community funding for work programmes drawn up by approved producers' organisations, approved interbranch organisations and other approved operators' organisations or by their associations in one or more of the areas provided for in that paragraph. Pursuant to the first indent of Article 4a(3) of that Regulation, the ceiling on that aid should be set.
(2) In order to be effective, such work programmes need a forecast budget which is not affected by the volume of olive oil or table olives, as the case may be, produced each year in each Member State. The ceiling on Community funding should therefore be based on fixed parameters such as the unit amount of production aid as referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC(4), and the national guaranteed quantities referred to in paragraph 3 of that Article.
(3) In order to prevent market distortions, there should be a system preventing the total of amounts withheld by Member States from the production aid for olive oil or table olives pursuant to Article 5(9) and Article 20d(1) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC and Article 4a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 from exceeding the limit fixed in this Regulation pursuant to Article 4a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1638/98.
(4) In order to encourage the work programmes of approved organisations during the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 marketing years, Member States should be allowed to concentrate the resources from the other amounts withheld from production aid as referred to in Article 5(9) and Article 20d(1) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC on those programmes. To that end, the Member States should be allowed to reduce, or even abolish, such withholding of amounts on condition of commensurately increasing the resources available for the work programmes of approved organisations. The Commission should be empowered to set the time limit within which this option may be exercised,