Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 (repealed)Dangos y teitl llawn

Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93

of 13 February 1993

on the common organization of the market in bananas (repealed)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

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

Having regard to the Protocol on the tariff quota for imports of bananas annexed to the Implementing Convention on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the Community provided for in Article 136 of the Treaty, and in particular paragraph 4 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),

Whereas the operation and development of the common market for agricultural products must be accompanied by the introduction of a common agricultural policy including in particular a common organization of the agricultural markets which may take different forms depending on the products;

Whereas there currently exist within the Member States of the Community producing bananas national market organizations which seek to ensure that producers can dispose of their products on the national market and receive an income in line with the costs of production; whereas these national market organizations impose quantitative restrictions which hamper achievement of a single market for bananas; whereas some of the Member States which do not produce bananas provide preferential outlets for bananas from the ACP States while others have liberal importation rules, which even in one case include a privileged tariff situation; whereas these different arrangements prevent the free movement of bananas within the Community and implementation of common arrangements for trade with third countries; whereas, for the purposes of achievement of the single market, a balanced and flexible common organization of the market for the banana sector must replace the various national arrangements;

Whereas, so that the Community can respect Community Preference and its various international obligations, that common organization of the market should permit bananas produced in the Community and those from the ACP States which are traditional suppliers to be disposed of on the Community market providing an adequate income for producers and at fair prices for consumers without undermining imports of bananas from other third countries suppliers;

Whereas, to permit the market to be supplied with products of uniform and satisfactory quality with due regard to local peculiarities and the varieties produced and to ensure the disposal of Community products at profitable prices guaranteeing an adequate income, quality standards for fresh bananas and, if necessary, marketing rules for processed products on bananas should be introduced;

Whereas, in order to maximize income from bananas produced within the Community, the formation of producers' organizations should be encouraged, principally through the granting of start-up aid; whereas, in order for such organizations to be given an effective role in concentrating supply, their members should undertake to market the whole of their production through the organization; whereas the formation of other types of associations, comparising producers' organizations and representatives of the other stages of production, should also be permitted; whereas the conditions under which such associations representing the various aspects of the banana sector may undertake measures of general interest and have their rules extended to non-members of either locally or regionally should be defined at a later date; whereas such organizations could also be consulted when framework programmes are drawn up and play an active role in implementing structural measures introduced as part of the market organization;

Whereas the structural shortcomings which restrict the ability of Community production to compete should be mitigated, chiefly to raise productivity; whereas programmes to achieve this in each region of production should be laid down under the Community support frameworks through cooperation between the Commission and the national and regional authorities and with the various types of organization in the sector referred to above being associated as closely as possible with preparation of the measures to be introduced;

Whereas national market organizations have hitherto enabled national banana producers to obtain from the market an adequate income to cover their production costs; whereas, since introduction of the market organization should not place producers in a worse situation than at present, and since it is likely to alter the levels of prices on those markets, provision should be made for compensation to cover the loss of income which may derive from implementation of the new system so as to permit the continuation of Community production at the costs entailed by the specific structural situation for as long as this remains unadjusted by the structural measures implemented; whereas provision should be made for aid to be adjusted to take account of increased productivity and trends in the various quality categories;

Whereas in certain very small regions of the Community where conditions are particularly unsuited to the production of bananas but better suited to alternative crops the definitive cessation of banana production should be encouraged through a premium for the cessation of banana production; whereas, in order to limit the cost of this operation, grubbing up should be carried out as soon as possible;

Whereas a forecast supply balance drawn up each year should assess the prospects for production and consumption in the Community; whereas it should be possible to revise that balance during the year in the light of circumstances, including specific climatic events;

Whereas in order to ensure satisfactory marketing of bananas produced within the Community and of products originating in the ACP States within the framework of the Lomé Convention Agreements, while maintaining traditional trade patterns as far as possible, provision should be made for the annual openin of a tariff quota; whereas, on the one hand, imports of bananas from third countries would be subject to a tariff of ECU 100 per tonne, which corresponds to the current rate under the Common Customs Tariff, and, on the other hand, imports of non-traditional bananas from the ACP would be subject to zero duty in accordance with the abovementioned agreements; whereas provision should be made in order to ensure the adaptation of the amount of the tariff quota based on changes in Community demand recorded in the forecast supply balance;

Whereas imports not falling within the tariff quota must be subject to sufficiently high rates of duty to ensure that Community production and traditional ACP quantities are disposed of in acceptable conditions;

Whereas traditional imports of bananas from the ACP fall outside the duty-free tariff quota as part of traditional quantities which takes account of specific investments already made under programmes for increasing production;

Whereas in order to comply with the aims stated above, while taking into account the special features of marketing bananas, a distinction must be made when administering the tariff quota between, on the one hand, operators who have previously marketed third country bananas and non-traditional ACP bananas and, on the other, operators who have previously marketed bananas produced in the Community while leaving a quantity available for new operators who have recently embarked on commercial activity or are about to embark on commercial activity in this sector;

Whereas, in order not to disrupt existing commercial links, while at the same time allowing some development of marketing structures, the issue to each operator of separate import licences for each of the categories defined above must be on the basis of the average quantity of bananas marketed by the operator over the three preceding years for which statistical data are available;

Whereas in adopting additional criteria which operators should respect, the Commission is guided by the principle whereby the licences must be granted to natural or legal persons who have undertaken the commercial risk of marketing bananas and by the necessity of avoiding disturbing normal trading relations between persons occupying different points in the marketing chain;

Whereas, taking into account marketing structures, Member States must, on the basis of procedures and criteria adopted by the Commission, conduct a census of operators and establish quantities marketed to be used as a reference for the issue of certificates;

Whereas monitoring imports within the framework of the tariff quota requires an import licence scheme backed by a security;

Whereas the Commission should be able to take appropriate measures to deal with serious disturbances, or the threat of such disturbances, likely to jeopardize achievement of the objectives of Article 39 of the Treaty;

Whereas operation of the market organization would be undermined by the granting of certain assistance; whereas therefore the Treaty provisions permitting consideration of national aids granted by the Member States and the prohibition of those incompatible with the common market should be applied to the banana sector;

Whereas, to facilitate implementation of these provisions, a procedure involving close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission within a Management Committee should be included;

Whereas the common organization of the markets in the banana sector must also take appropriate account of the objectives set out in Articles 39 and 110 of the Treaty;

Whereas the replacement of the various national arrangements in operation when this Regulation comes into force by this common organization of the market threatens to disturb the internal market; whereas the Commission, as of 1 July 1993, should be able to take any transitional measures required to overcome the difficulties of implementing the new arrangements;

Whereas the scope of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1319/85 of 23 May 1985 on the reinforcement of supervision of the application of Community rules on fruit and vegetables(4) should be extended to the banana sector to permit checks that the standards laid down for bananas under that Regulation are being complied with;

Having regard to the social, economic, cultural and environmental importance of banana-growing in the Community regions of the French Overseas Departments, Madeira, the Azores, the Algarve, Crete, Lakonia and the Canary Islands, which are regions characterized by insularity, remoteness and structural backwardness, aggravated in some cases by economic dependence on bananagrowing,

Whereas the operation of this Regulation should be examined after an interim period of application and before the end of the tenth year after its entry into force so that the new arrangements to apply after that date can be considered,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(1)

OJ No C 232, 10. 9. 1992, p. 3.

(2)

OJ No C 21, 25. 1. 1993.

(3)

OJ No C 19, 25. 1. 1993, p. 99.

(4)

OJ No L 137, 27. 5. 1985, p. 39.