TITLE VU.K.TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL RULES

Article 53U.K.

1.Should specific measures be necessary to facilitate the transition from the system in force to the one established by this Regulation, such measures shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 50(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.

2.Such measures shall in particular be adopted for the integration of existing Community support actions, approved by the Commission for a period ending after 1 January 2000 or without any time limit, into the rural development support provided for by this Regulation.

Article 54U.K.

1.Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1696/71 of 26 July 1971 on the common organisation of the market in hops(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 17

1.The Regulations on the financing of the common agricultural policy shall apply to the market in the products referred to in Article 1(1) from the date of implementation of the arrangements laid down herein.

2.The aid referred to in Article 8 shall be subject to part financing by the Community.

3.Member States shall pay the aid referred to in Article 12 to the producers between 16 October and 31 December of the marketing year in respect of which the aid is applied for.

4.The Commission shall, following the procedure laid down in Article 20, adopt rules for the application of this Article’.

2.Article 6 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on the common organisation of the market in bananas(2) shall be replaced by the following text:

‘Article 6

1.For the five years following the date of recognition, the Member States shall grant recognised producer organisations assistance to encourage their establishment and assist with their administrative operation.

2.Such aid:

The value of each year's production shall be calculated on the basis of:

3.Producer organisations deriving from organisations which already comply to a large extent with the conditions of this Regulation shall qualify for aid under this Article only if they are formed as the result of a merger enabling the objectives referred to in Article 5 to be achieved more effectively. However, in such a case, the aid shall be granted only in respect of the cost of formation of the organisation (expenditure incurred in connection with the preparatory work and the drawing up of the memorandum and articles of association).

4.The aid referred to in this Article shall be notified to the Commission in a report from the Member States at the close of each financial year’.

3.Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables(3) is hereby amended as follows:

(a)Article 15(6) shall be replaced by the following:

‘6.In regionsof the Community where the degree of organisation of producers is particularly low, Member States may be authorised, on a duly substantiated request, to pay producer organisations national financial assistance equal to a maximum of half the financial contributions of producers. This assistance shall be additional to the operational fund.

For Member States where producer organisations market less than 15 % of the fruit and vegetable production and whose fruit and vegetable production represents at least 15 % of their total agricultural output, the assistance referred to in the first subparagraph may be partly reimbursed by the Community at the request of the Member State concerned’.

(b)Article 52 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 52

1.Expenditure relating to the payment of the Community withdrawal compensation and to Community financing of the operational fund, the specific measures referred to in Article 17 and Articles 53, 54 and 55 and checks by experts of the Member States made available to the Commission in application of Article 40(1) shall be deemed to be intervention to stabilise agricultural markets within the meaning of Article 1(2)(b) of [X1Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999] (4).

2.Expenditure relating to the aid granted by the Member States in accordance with Article 14 and the second subparagraph of Article 15(6) shall be deemed to be intervention to stabilise agricultural markets within the meaning of Article 1(2)(b) of [X1Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999]. It shall be eligible for part financing by the Community.

3.The Commission shall, following the procedure laid down in Article 46, adopt rules for the application of paragraph 2 of this Article.

4.The provisions of Title VI shall apply without prejudice to the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4045/89 of 21 December 1989 on scrutiny by Member States of transactions forming part of the system of financing by the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and repealing Directive 77/435/EEC(5).’

Editorial Information

Article 55U.K.

1.The following Regulations are hereby repealed:

2.The following provisions are hereby deleted:

3.The Regulations repealed and provisions deleted under paragraphs 1 and 2 respectively shall continue to apply to actions approved by the Commission under the Regulations before 1 January 2000.

4.Council and Commission Directives adopting lists of less-favoured areas or amending such lists in accordance with Article 21(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 950/97 shall remain in force unless further amended in the framework of programmes.

Article 56U.K.

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

It shall apply in relation to Community support as from 1 January 2000.

(1)

OJ L 175, 4.8.1971, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1554/97 (OJ L 208, 2.8.1997, p. 1).

(2)

OJ L 47, 25.2.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1637/98 (OJ L 210, 28.7.1998, p. 28).

(3)

OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 857/1999 (OJ L 108, 27.4.1999, p. 7).

(5)

OJ L 388, 30.12.1989, p. 17. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3235/94 (OJ L 338, 28.12.1994, p. 16)’

Editorial Information