TITLE IU.K.COMMON RULES AND CONDITIONS RELATED TO PUBLIC INTERVENTION
CHAPTER IU.K.Scope, definition and approval of intervention centres and storage places
Article 1U.K.Scope and definition
1.This Regulation lays down common detailed rules for buying-in for intervention and selling of products from intervention for the products listed in Article 10(1)(a), (b), (d), (e) and (f) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007.
It shall apply without prejudice to the specific provisions laid down in Commission Regulations on opening a tendering procedure for buying-in of products or in the Commission Regulations on sales of products from intervention.
2.For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘intervention agency’ shall mean the paying agency or the agency delegated by the paying agency in accordance with Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006.
Article 2U.K.Designation and approval of intervention centres and storage places
1.Intervention centres and storage places where products bought-in are stored shall be under the responsibility of the intervention agencies in accordance with this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No 884/2006, in particular with regard to matters of responsibility and controls, as provided for in Article 2 of that Regulation.
2.The intervention centres to be designated for cereals and rice by the Commission pursuant to Article 41 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall be subject to prior approval by the intervention agencies. An intervention centre can consist of one or several storage places located in a region of a Member State.
3.The storage places of an intervention centre shall be subject to approval by the intervention agencies. The intervention agencies shall ensure that the intervention centres or the storage places fulfil at least the conditions laid down in Article 3.
4.Information concerning the intervention centres and their storage places shall be updated and made available to the Member States and the public, in accordance with Article 55 of this Regulation.
Article 3U.K.Requirements for intervention centres and storage places
1.For cereals and rice:
(a)each intervention centre shall have a minimum storage capacity of:
20 000 tonnes for cereals, for the sum of all storage places;
10 000 tonnes for rice, for the sum of all storage places;
(b)each storage place shall:
have a minimum storage capacity of 5 000 tonnes in respect of purchases from the intervention period starting in 2012/2013;
be built or suitable for the storage and keeping in good condition of cereals and rice, as referred to in paragraph 3;
have available the necessary technical equipment to take over cereals and rice;
be able to remove the quantities in order to comply with the removal period determined in Article 51(2).
For the purpose of this paragraph, the ‘minimum storage capacity’ for an intervention centre means a minimum capacity which may not be available permanently, but a readily achievable capacity during the period when buying-in might take place. The minimum storage capacity shall apply for all the cereals and varieties of rice to be bought in.
Where storage places have ready access to a river, a sea or a railway connection, the minimum storage capacity fixed in point (b)(i) of the first subparagraph shall not apply.
2.For butter or for skimmed milk powder, each storage place shall have a minimum storage capacity of 400 tonnes. The minimum storage capacity requirement shall not apply where the storage place has ready access to a river, sea or railway connection.
3.In the case of skimmed milk powder, butter, cereals and rice, the storage places must:
(a)be dry, well maintained and free of vermin;
(b)be free of extraneous odours;
(c)permit good ventilation, except for cold stores.
4.In the case of butter, the intervention agencies shall lay down technical standards, providing in particular for a storage temperature equal or lower than - 15 oC, and shall take any other measures necessary to ensure that the butter is properly conserved.
5.In the case of products of the beef and veal sector, hereinafter referred to as ‘beef’, the storage places shall be selected by the Member States with a view to ensuring the effectiveness of intervention measures. The facilities at those storage places shall permit:
(a)bone-in meat to be taken over;
(b)freezing of all meat to be preserved without further processing;
(c)storage of such meat for at least three months under technically satisfactory conditions.
Only storage places whose cutting plants and refrigeration plants are unconnected with the slaughterhouse and/or the successful tenderer and which are operated, managed and staffed independently of the slaughterhouse and/or the successful tenderer may be selected for bone-in meat intended for boning. However, where practical difficulties occur in meeting these requirements within the processing chain, Member States may derogate from these requirements, provided that they tighten controls at the time of acceptance in accordance with Part III(5) of Annex III.
Save for specific derogations provided for in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 195(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the cold stores located in the Member State exercising jurisdiction over the intervention agency shall be capable of holding all boned beef allocated by the intervention agency for at least three months under technically satisfactory conditions.
CHAPTER IIU.K.Access to public intervention
Article 4U.K.Eligibility of operators
1.Any operator established and registered for VAT purposes in the Community can submit an offer or a tender under a public intervention scheme.
However, for the purposes of buying-in, for cereals and rice, registration in a farm register is sufficient if the operator has no VAT registration.
2.In the case of beef for buying-in only the following operators may submit tenders:
(a)slaughterhouses for bovine animals registered or approved in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1), whatever their legal status; and
(b)livestock or meat traders who have slaughtering undertaken therein on their own account.
3.For butter and skimmed milk powder, approved undertakings as referred to in Article 10(1)(e) and (f) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 are eligible only if they fulfil the conditions referred to in Part III of Annex IV and Part III of Annex V.
Article 5U.K.Procedure for submitting offers or tenders
1.Offers or tenders submitted in accordance with this Regulation shall use the method made available to the operators by the Member State concerned.
2.The intervention agencies may require that electronic offers or tenders be accompanied by an advance electronic signature within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(2) or by an electronic signature offering equivalent assurances with regard to the functionalities attributed to a signature, by applying the same rules and conditions as those applied by the Commission in accordance with its provisions on electronic and digitised documents, set out by Decision 2004/563/EC, Euratom(3), and in its implementing rules.