Council Regulation (EEC) No 2169/81 of 27 July 1981 laying down the general rules for the system of aid for cotton

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2169/81 of 27 July 1981 laying down the general rules for the system of aid for cotton
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to the 1979 Act of Accession, and in particular paragraph 9 of Protocol 4 on cotton, hereinafter referred to as "the Protocol",
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas, pursuant to paragraph 9 of the Protocol, it is necessary to lay down the rules of procedure and of sound management for its application, the general rules of the system of production aid, the criteria for determining the world market price and the rules concerning the financing of the measures envisaged;
Whereas, in order to facilitate implementation of the production aid system and its sound management, a procedure should be provided for establishing close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission within a Management Committee ; whereas it is appropriate that the Management Committee for Flax and Hemp, provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 1308/70 (1), as last amended by the 1979 Act of Accession, should perform this function;
Whereas in order to facilitate the management and control of the aid system, the aid should be granted to cotton ginning undertakings ; whereas, so that producers may benefit from the system, the grant of aid should be made subject to the condition that they have obtained a price not less than a minimum purchase price to be determined, which should be close to the guide price fixed in accordance with paragraph 8 of the Protocol, or that the aid will be passed on to them;
Whereas, in accordance with paragraph 3 of the Protocol, if Community production exceeds a quantity fixed in advance, the aid is to be multiplied by a coefficient to be determined ; whereas the amount of the aid to be granted cannot therefore be known until after the quantity produced has been ascertained ; whereas, to reduce the disadvantages for those concerned of any delay in payment of the aid, provision should be made for the advance payment of a proportion of it;
Whereas, pursuant to the third subparagraph of paragraph 3 of the Protocol, the amount of aid is to be based on the difference between a guide price fixed for unginned cotton and the world market price ; whereas, since there is no international trade in unginned cotton, and there are therefore no offers of quotations, provision should be made to enable a world market price for this product to be determined ; whereas this price may be determined by taking the value of the products obtained by ginning, and deducting the cost of ginning;
Whereas the value of the products obtained should be determined on the basis, first, of a yield in fibre and in seed to be determined and, secondly, of the world market price for those products ; whereas the world market price should be determined on the basis of the most favourable purchasing possibilities on that market;
Whereas the offers and quotations taken into consideration should be those made on the world market and the major international exchanges respectively, whereas, however, offers which cannot be considered representative of the real market trend should be ignored;
Whereas, if there are no representative offers or quotations for cotton seed, the world market price for cotton seed should be determined by taking the value of the products resulting from the processing of this seed ; whereas, where the offers or quotations for cotton seed on the world market might prejudice the sale of the Community production of cotton seed, the world market price should be determined by taking the value of the average quantities of oil and oil-cake derived from the processing of cotton seed, less the processing costs;
Whereas, for the aid system to operate correctly, the world market price must be recorded for a Community frontier crossing point ; whereas, in fixing this point, account should be taken of the extent to which it is representative for imports of cotton seed ; whereas, therefore, the port of Piraeus should be chosen ; whereas the offers and quotations adopted will have to be adjusted if they relate to a different frontier crossing point;
Whereas such adjustments should also be made to the offers and quotations adopted, in order to compensate for any variation from the presentation and quality taken as a basis for fixing the guide price;
Whereas the producer Member States should be required to set up the control arrangements necessary to ensure that the aid system operates correctly;  (1) OJ No L 146, 4.7.1970, p. 1.
Whereas, in order that the Community expenditure relating to the measure in question may be subjected to appropriate financial and monetary rules and procedures, Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21 April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3509/80 (2), as well as the Regulations relating to the value of the unit of account and the exchange rates to be applied in connection with the common agricultural policy, should be applied in this sector by analogy in view of the specifically agricultural nature of cotton;
Whereas the transition from the system in force in the Member States to the system set up by this Regulation must be as smooth as possible ; whereas it seems necessary to provide for transitional measures,