Council Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organization of the market in rice

• Published date: 01 September 1998
• Subject Matter: Rice
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 329, 30 December 1995

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Council Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organization of the market in rice

Official Journal L 329 , 30/12/1995 P. 0018 - 0032

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 3072/95

of 22 December 1995

on the common organization of the market in rice

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

(1) Whereas the new orientation of the common agricultural policy should lead to better balance on the markets and improve the competitiveness of Community agriculture;

(2) Whereas the common organization of the market in rice must include a common price system for the Community; whereas that system may be established by fixing an intervention price for paddy rice valid for the whole Community at which the competent agencies are obliged to buy in the rice which is offered to them;

(3) Whereas, under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, the Community has undertaken gradually to reduce the customs duties resulting from the tarification of the former levy system; whereas the reduction in customs duties must be accompanied by a fall in Community prices to enable the competitiveness of the Community product to be maintained; whereas, to prevent income losses for producers resulting from the aforementioned reduction in institutional prices, it is appropriate to establish a system of compensatory payments for production granted per hectare and intended to maintain present profitability levels for the crop, the amount of which is fixed on the basis of the envisaged price reduction and the agronomic yields recorded in the various Member States over a period considered to be representative; whereas for this purpose it is appropriate to choose the highest result between:

- the average of the three years obtained by eliminating the one in which the yield is highest and the one in which the yield was lowest during the period 1990/91 to 1994/95,

- the average of the three years 1992/93, 1993/94 and 1994/95;

(4) Whereas it is necessary to determine certain conditions concerning claims for compensatory payments and to specify the date of payment to producers;

(5) Whereas the introduction of the aforementioned system of compensatory payments per hectare renders it appropriate to lay down a base area per producing Member State; whereas that determination should reflect the area cultivated during the last year of production available in statistical terms; whereas, however, in order to take account of drought, in the case of Spain and Portugal it is appropriate to take account of the last year available by region except for regions affected by drought, where the last year before the drought is taken into account; whereas as regards French Guiana it is appropriate to lay down the base area in accordance with the one which is the subject of the arrangements provided for in Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3763/91 introducing specific measures in respect of certain agricultural products for the benefit of the French overseas departments (3); whereas such a determination makes it possible to maintain production objectives compatible with the requirements of the market and to comply with the undertakings accepted under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations concerning trade exports; whereas compliance with the base area can be ensured, in the event of overshooting, by reducing the aid sufficiently to dissuade producers from exceeding the maximum;

(6) Whereas a system of intervention should be set up in order to balance the market; whereas the intervention period should be limited to four months in order to preserve the original purpose of intervention and to prevent it becoming an outlet in itself;

(7) Whereas the intervention price should continue to be subject to a certain number of monthly increases in order to take account, inter alia, of storage costs and financial charges for storing rice in the Community and of the need to ensure that the disposal of stocks conforms to market requirements;

(8) Whereas there should be a production refund for rice starch and derived products by analogy with the refund laid down for the products referred to in Article 7 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organization of the market in cereals (1) with which they compete;

(9) Wheres the creation of a single Community market for rice involves the introduction of a single trading system at the external frontiers of the Community; whereas a trading system including import duties and export refunds, in addition to the intervention measures, should, in principle, stabilize the Community market; whereas the trading system is based on the undertakings given under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations; whereas certain types of rice at the various stages of processing, in particular indica rice and japonica rice, are identified by means of CN codes; whereas the possibility of operators knowing, before the arrival of the consignments in question, the charge to be applied, could facilitate the implementation of international agreements;

(10) Whereas, in order to be able constantly to control trade movements, provision should be made for the issue of import and export licences accompanied by the provision of a security ensuring that the transactions for which such licences are requested are effected;

(11) Whereas, in order to avoid or curb the harmful effects on the market in the Community that could result from the importation of certain products, the importation of one or more of such products may be made subject to the payment of additional customs duties if certain conditions are met; whereas a provision to that effect should therefore be introduced;

(12) Whereas the Commission should be given responsibility for opening and administering the tariff quotas resulting from international agreements;

(13) Whereas the possibility of granting, on export to third countries, a refund equal to the difference between prices in the Community and on the world market, within the limits laid down within the commitments accepted in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations is likely to preserve Community participation in international rice trade; whereas that possibility is subject to limits expressed in terms of quantities and value;

(14) Whereas compliance with the limits in terms of value can be ensured at the time when refunds are fixed and through monitoring of payments under the rules relating to the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund; whereas monitoring may be facilitated by the compulsory advance fixing of refunds, while allowing the possibility, in the case of differentiated refunds, of changing the specified destination within a geographical area in which a single refund rate applies; whereas, in the case of a change of destination, the refund applicable to the actual destination should be paid, with a ceiling at the level of the amount applicable to the destination fixed in advance;

(15) Whereas ensuring compliance with constraints in terms of quantity calls for the introduction of a reliable and effective system of monitoring; whereas, to that end, the granting of refunds should be made subject to an export licence; whereas refunds should be granted up to the limits available, depending on the particular situation of each product concerned; whereas exceptions to that rule can only be permitted in the case of processed products not listed in Annex II to the Treaty, to which volume ceilings do not apply, and in the case of food-aid operations, which are exempt from any limitation; whereas provision should be made for derogations from strict compliance with management rules where exports benefiting from refunds are not likely to exceed the quantity ceilings laid down; whereas monitoring of the quantities exported with refunds during the marketing years referred to in the abovementioned international undertakings will be carried out on the basis of export licences issued for each marketing year;

(16) Whereas, in addition to the system described above, and to the extent necessary for its proper working, provision should be made for regulating recourse to inward and outward processing arrangements or, when the situation on the market so requires, prohibiting the use of such arrangements;

(17) Whereas the customs duty system makes it possible to dispense with all other protective measures at the external frontiers of the Community; whereas, however, the price and customs duty mechanism may in exceptional circumstances prove defective; whereas in such cases, so as not to leave the Community market without defence against disturbances which may arise therefrom, when the import obstacles previously existing have been abolished, the Community should be enabled to take all necessary measures; whereas such measures must comply with the commitments accepted in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations;

(18) Whereas provision should be made for the possibility of taking measures in cases where the Community market is disturbed or could be disturbed in such a way as to endanger the attainment of the objectives in Article 39 of the Treaty as a result of imports or exports;

(19) Whereas there is a risk that the reduction in common prices from the entry into force of this Regulation could entail disturbances on the internal market; whereas, as a result, provision should be made for the possibility for the Commission to take all necessary measures to prevent such disturbances;

(20) Whereas it is necessary that, as the common market in rice develops, the Member...