Considerations on COM(2000)433 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables, Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 on the common organisation of the market in processed fruit and vegetables and Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 introducing a Community aid scheme for producers of certain citrus fruits

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(1) The third subparagraph of Article 15 i of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96  i caps the amount of Community financial assistance granted to any individual producer organisation, and also sets a limit on the total granted to all producer organisations. The application of that limit introduces a variable factor into the scheme, thus complicating the task of producer organisations in developing and implementing operational programmes, and creating some uncertainty as to their financing. Experience has shown that this limit may be dispensed with while continuing to ensure proper financial management. In view of the results of past programmes, the limit for individual organisations can be set at 3% of the value of the marketed production of each producer organisation.

(2) For citrus fruit, the divergence, due in particular to overrunning of the processing threshold, between Community withdrawal compensation and Community processing aid may in the future lead to unjustified diversion into withdrawal of products that should properly have been processed. To avoid this risk, the ceiling fixed in Articles 23 and 24 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as a percentage of marketed quantity on eligibility for the Community withdrawal compensation should be reduced to 10% for the 2001/02 marketing year and to 5% from the 2002/03 marketing year onwards. This amendment makes it possible to simplify the wording of Articles 23 and 26 of that Regulation.

(3) Experience has shown that the administration of export refunds on fresh fruit and vegetables could be improved and simplified, at least in some cases, by using a tender procedure. Provision should therefore be made for the possibility of holding such invitations to tender.

(4) Experience of applying the Community aid scheme for tomato processing governed by Regulation (EC) No 2201/96  i has shown that the quota mechanism introduces rigidity in the sector, preventing the processing industries concerned from adapting rapidly to market demand. To correct this rigidity, the quota system should be replaced by a system of processing thresholds, with aid for the following marketing year being reduced if the thresholds are overrun. To ensure that these arrangements are sufficiently flexible, a single Community threshold should be fixed, expressed in tonnes of fresh tomatoes intended for processing. To allow for expanding demand for these products, the threshold should be fixed above the level corresponding to the present quota scheme.

(5) The quantities of tomatoes, peaches and pears going for processing under the aid scheme governed by Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 have developed differently from one Member State to another. As a result, and to ensure that operators in each Member State assume greater responsibility, Community processing thresholds should be split between the Member States on an equitable basis, and any reduction in Community aid resulting from an overrun of the Community threshold should apply only in those Member States in which the threshold is exceeded. In this case, account must be taken of quantities that have not been processed in the Member States where the threshold was not overrun.

(6) At present, processing aid for tomatoes, peaches and pears is granted under Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 to processors who have paid producers for their raw materials a price not less than a certain minimum price. Aid is fixed by unit of weight of the processed product. The management of this scheme should be simplified, introducing more flexibility in trade relations between producer organisations and processors and contributing to the adjustment of supply to consumer demand at reasonable prices. To this end, aid should be granted to producer organisations that deliver fresh products to processors, this aid should be fixed in terms of the weight of raw materials irrespective of the weight of the processed product, and the minimum price should be discontinued.

(7) The amount of aid for processing tomatoes, peaches and pears should be fixed on the basis of the aid granted in the most recent marketing years preceding this amendment to the scheme.

(8) As a result of this amendment to Title I of Regulation (EC) No 2201/96, the provisions governing processing aid for prunes derived from dried "d'Ente" plums and for dried figs must be adapted, although without any change of substance.

(9) Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2202/96  i lays down Community processing thresholds for lemons, oranges and grapefruit separately, and for mandarins, clementines and satsumas, hereinafter referred to as 'small citrus fruit', taken together. Since the introduction of this regime, those thresholds have been largely exceeded each marketing year in the case of lemons and oranges, and to a lesser extent in the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 marketing years in the case of small citrus fruit. The thresholds for grapefruit have been complied with. Under the rules, those overruns have resulted in major reductions in processing aid. The continued existence of such a situation could lead in future to products usually intended for processing being diverted into withdrawals. As a result, the thresholds for lemons, oranges and small citrus fruit should be raised.

(10) The quantities going for processing have evolved differently from one Member State to another. As a result, and to ensure that operators in each Member State assume greater responsibility, the Community processing thresholds should be split between the Member States on an equitable basis, and any reduction in Community aid resulting from an overrun of the Community threshold should apply only in those Member States in which the threshold is exceeded. In this case, account must be taken of quantities that have not been processed in the Member States where the threshold was not overrun.

(11) Changes in the numbering of the Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 require an amendment to the wording of Article 3 of that Regulation.

(12) Since the measures necessary for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 and Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 are management measures within the meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission  i, they should be adopted by use of the management procedure provided for in Article 4 of that Decision.

(13) These amendments to Regulations (EC) Nos 2200/96, 2201/96 and 2202/96 should be applied from the 2001/02 marketing year. However, as the operational funds are managed on a calendar-year basis, the amendment to the third subparagraph of Article 15 i of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 should apply from 2001.