Legal provisions of COM(2007)701 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, as regards the support scheme for cotton

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dossier COM(2007)701 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural ...
document COM(2007)701 EN
date June 23, 2008

Contents

CHAPTER 1 - CROP SPECIFIC PAYMENT FOR COTTON

Article 1 - Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003

Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 is hereby amended as follows:

1.In Title IV, Chapter 10a shall be replaced by the following

‘CHAPTER 10a

CROP SPECIFIC PAYMENT FOR COTTON

Article 110 - a Scope

Aid shall be granted to farmers producing cotton falling within CN code 5201 00 under the conditions laid down in this Chapter.

Article 110 - b Eligibility

1. The aid shall be granted per hectare of eligible area of cotton. In order to be eligible, the area shall be located on agricultural land authorised by the Member State for cotton production, sown under authorised varieties and actually harvested under normal growing conditions.

The aid referred to in Article 110a shall be paid for cotton of sound and fair merchantable quality.

2. Member States shall authorise the land and the varieties as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in accordance with detailed rules and conditions adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 144(2).

Article 110 - c Base areas, fixed yields and reference amounts

1. The national base areas are hereby established as follows:

—Bulgaria: 3 342 ha,

—Greece: 250 000 ha,

—Spain: 48 000 ha,

—Portugal: 360 ha.

2. Fixed yields in the reference period are hereby established as follows:

—Bulgaria: 1,2 tonne/ha,

—Greece: 3,2 tonne/ha,

—Spain: 3,5 tonne/ha,

—Portugal: 2,2 tonne/ha.

3. The amount of the aid per eligible hectare is established by multiplying the yields laid down in paragraph 2 with the following reference amounts:

—Bulgaria: EUR 671,33,

—Greece: EUR 251,75,

—Spain: EUR 400,00,

—Portugal: EUR 252,73.

4. If the eligible area of cotton in a given Member State and in a given year exceeds the base area laid down in paragraph 1, the aid referred to in paragraph 3 for that Member State shall be reduced proportionately to the overrun of the base area.

5. Detailed rules for the implementation of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 144(2).

Article 110 - d Approved inter-branch organisations

1. For the purpose of this Chapter, an “approved inter-branch organisation” shall mean a legal entity made up of farmers producing cotton and at least one ginner, carrying out activities such as:

—helping to coordinate better the way cotton is placed on the market, particularly through research studies and market surveys,

—drawing up standard forms of contract compatible with Community rules,

—orientating production towards products that are better adapted to market needs and consumer demand, particularly in aspects of quality and consumer protection,

—updating methods and means to improve product quality,

—developing marketing strategies to promote cotton via quality certification schemes.

2. The Member State in whose territory the ginners are established shall approve inter-branch organisations that respect criteria to be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 144(2).

Article 110 - e Payment of aid

1. Farmers shall be granted the aid per eligible hectare pursuant to Article 110c.

2. Farmers who are members of an approved inter-branch organisation shall be granted an aid per eligible hectare, within the base area laid down in Article 110c(1), increased by an amount of EUR 2.’;

2.in Article 156(2)(g) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(g)Title IV, Chapter 10a, shall apply as from 1 January 2009 for the cotton sown as from that date.’.

CHAPTER 2 - NATIONAL RESTRUCTURING PROGRAMMES FOR THE COTTON SECTOR

Article 2 - Scope

1. This Chapter lays down the rules governing the attribution of Community funds to Member States and the use of those funds by Member States through national restructuring programmes (hereinafter restructuring programmes) to finance specific restructuring measures to assist the cotton sector.

2. No support shall be granted:

(a)for research projects and measures to support research projects;

(b)for measures which are eligible for Community support under Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005.

Article 3 - General requirements

1. The restructuring programmes must be compatible with Community law and consistent with the activities, policies and priorities of the Community.

2. Member States shall be responsible for the restructuring programmes and ensure that they are internally consistent and drawn up and implemented in an objective manner, taking into account the economic situation of the producers and processors concerned and the need to avoid unjustified unequal treatment between producers and/or processors.

Member States shall be responsible for providing for and carrying out the necessary controls and penalties in case of non-compliance with the restructuring programmes.

Article 4 - Submission and application of restructuring programmes

1. Each producer Member State shall, every four years and for the first time by 1 January 2009, submit to the Commission a draft four-year restructuring programme containing measures in accordance with this Chapter.

Before being submitted to the Commission the restructuring programme shall be subject to consultation with the competent authorities and organisations in the cotton sector.

Each Member State shall submit one single draft programme which may accommodate regional particularities.

2. Restructuring programmes shall become applicable three months after their submission to the Commission.

However, if the submitted programme does not comply with the conditions laid down in this Chapter and its implementing rules, the Commission shall inform the Member State thereof. In such a case, the Member State shall submit a revised programme to the Commission. The revised programme shall become applicable two months after its submission unless an incompatibility persists in which case this paragraph shall apply.

3. Paragraph 2 shall apply mutatis mutandis to changes in respect of restructuring programmes submitted by Member States.

Article 5 - Budgetary allocation

1. The annual budget for the restructuring programme per Member State from the financial year 2010 onwards shall be as follows:

—Greece: EUR 4,0 million,

—Spain: EUR 6,134 million.

2. Each Member State may decide to terminate its use of the restructuring programme to permanently transfer its annual budget referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, to its national ceiling as determined in Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. This decision shall be communicated to the Commission at the latest by 1 August of a given year and shall apply to the direct payments granted under the following calendar year. The communication shall also report on the implementation of the restructuring programme and the achievement of its objectives.

3. The transfer in paragraph 2 of this Article, as well as the corresponding modification of paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 144(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 after the Commission’s assessment of the implementation of the restructuring programme in light of its objectives.

Article 6 - General rules concerning the financing of the restructuring programmes

1. Community support shall only relate to eligible expenditure incurred after the submission of the relevant restructuring programme as referred to in Article 4(1).

2. Member States shall not contribute to the costs of the measures financed by the Community under the restructuring programmes.

Article 7 - Eligible measures and beneficiaries

1. Restructuring programmes shall only contain one or more of the following measures:

(a)full and permanent dismantling of ginning facilities;

(b)investments in the ginning industry;

(c)participation of farmers in cotton quality schemes;

(d)information and promotion activities;

(e)aid to machinery contractors, not exceeding losses incurred.

2. Beneficiaries of the restructuring programmes shall be:

(a)the beneficiaries of aid under Chapter IV of Council Regulation (EC) No 1051/2001 of 22 May 2001 on production aid for cotton (8) in the marketing year 2005/06, for aid under the measures referred to in paragraph 1(a), (b) and (d) of this Article;

(b)the beneficiaries of aid under Chapter 10a of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, for aid under the measures referred to in paragraph 1(c) and (d) of this Article;

(c)the approved inter-branch organisations, as defined in Chapter 10a of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, for aid under the measure referred to in paragraph 1(d) of this Article;

(d)machinery contractors, for aid under the measure referred to in paragraph 1(e) of this Article, which:

—are private persons or enterprises having worked under contract of growers or ginners in the marketing year 2005/06 with their agricultural machinery for the harvest of cotton,

—have harvested cotton, which has been delivered to ginning facilities affected by dismantling as referred to in paragraph (1)(a) of this Article,

and

—have incurred demonstrable losses as a result of the shortage of cotton to be harvested.

Article 8 - Financial resources

The measures provided for in this Chapter shall constitute intervention to regulate agricultural markets as referred to in Article 3(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (9).

Article 9 - Implementing rules

Detailed rules for the implementation of this Chapter shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 195(2) of 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) (10).

Article 10 - Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply as from 1 January 2009.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.