Commission Regulation (EC) No 259/96 of 12 February 1996 amending Regulations (EEC) No 3478/92 and (EC) No 1066/95 on raw tobacco with regard to the assignment of rights and amending cultivation contracts

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 259/96 of 12 February 1996 amending Regulations (EEC) No 3478/92 and (EC) No 1066/95 on raw tobacco with regard to the assignment of rights and amending cultivation contracts
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organization of the market in raw tobacco (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 711/95 (2), and in particular Articles 7 and 11 thereof,
Whereas Member States should be authorized to introduce transfer arrangements for production quotas in order to facilitate the management of the guarantee thresholds assigned to them for individual variety groups, under which producers may assign all or part of their production quotas for a particular variety to other producers already holding production quotas for the variety group in question; whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 1066/95 of 12 May 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 as regards the raw tobacco quota system from the 1995, 1996 and 1997 harvests (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 163/96 (4), should be amended accordingly;
Whereas it should be stipulated that, for the 1996 and subsequent harvests, assignments of quota may be made only before the final date for conclusion of cultivation contracts;
Whereas for the 1995 harvest, since deliveries have already begun, arrangements similar to those for the 1996 and subsequent harvests cannot be put in place; whereas, therefore, Member States should be authorized to re-allocate entitlements to supplementary quota which correspond to the difference between quantities actually delivered and the guarantee threshold for a given variety;
Whereas eligibility for premiums should be extended to deliveries of raw tobacco corresponding to production quotas acquired by re-assignment from another producer or by re-allocation of supplementary quota by a Member State; whereas therefore the parties to cultivation contracts should be able to augment the quantitities initially specified therein within the limit of the production quota acquired; whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3478/92 (5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 163/96, should be amended accordingly;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Tobacco,