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 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);
Whereas the operation and development of the common market in agricultural products must be accompanied by the establishment of a common agricultural policy to include in particular a common organisation of agricultural markets, which may take various forms, depending on the product concerned;
Whereas the situation of the market in seeds is characterised by the need to keep prices competitive with world prices for these products; whereas appropriate measures should therefore be taken to stabilise the market and to ensure a fair income to the producers concerned;
Whereas provision should therefore be made for granting a production aid for certain seeds; whereas, in view of the way in which they are produced, provision should be made for a system fixing a standard rate of aid per quintal of seeds produced;
Whereas the common organisation of the market in seeds involves the introduction of a single trading system at the external frontiers of the Community; whereas the Common Customs Tariff automatically applies from 1 January 1970 in pursuance of the Treaty, and this system makes it possible to dispense with all other protective measures; whereas, however, the Community should be enabled to take all necessary measures without delay so as not to leave the Community market without defence against disturbances which may arise due to imports or exports;
Whereas the competent authorities must be in a position constantly to follow trade movements in order to assess market trends and to apply the measures laid down in this Regulation as necessary; whereas, to that end, provision should be made for the issue of import and export licences accompanied by the lodging of a deposit guaranteeing that the transactions for which such licences are requested are effected; whereas, however, imports following duly registered growing contracts should be exempt from this deposit;
Whereas, in respect of hybrid maize for sowing, it is necessary to avoid disturbances on the Community market caused by offers made on the world market at abnormally low prices; whereas to this end reference prices should be fixed for this product and a countervailing charge should be added to the customs duties when free-at-frontier offer prices plus customs duties are lower than the reference prices;
Whereas in the internal trade of the Community the levying of any customs duty or any charge having equivalent effect and the application of any quantitative restriction or any measure having equivalent effect are automatically prohibited from January 1 970 under the provisions of the Treaty;
Whereas the provisions of the Treaty which allow the assessment of aids granted by Member States and the prohibition of those which are incompatible with the common market should be made to apply to seeds;
Whereas, in order to facilitate implementation of the proposed measures, a procedure should be provided for establishing close co-operation between Member States and the Commission within a Management Committee;
Whereas the transition from the system in force in the Member States to that established by this Regulation should be effected as smoothly as possible; whereas, therefore, transitional measures may prove to be necessary;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: