Article 13U.K.
1.Member States shall ensure that the conditions giving rise to entitlement to aid are fulfilled. For this purpose they shall designate the national authority to be responsible for checking storage operations.
2.The contracting party shall make available to the authority responsible for checking storage operations all documentation, for each contract, permitting in particular the following information on the products placed in private storage to be verified:
(a)the ownership at the time of placing in storage;
(b)the date of placing in storage;
(c)the weight and the number of boxes or items otherwise packaged;
(d)the presence of products in the warehouse;
(e)the calculated date of the end of the minimum contractual storage period and, where Article 9(5) is applied, the actual date of removal.
3.The contracting party or, where applicable, the operator of the warehouse, shall keep stock accounts available at the warehouse covering, by contract number:
(a)the identification of the products placed in private storage;
(b)the date of placing in storage and the calculated date of the end of the minimum contractual storage period and the actual date of removal from storage;
(c)the number of carcases or half-carcases, boxes or other items stored individually, a description of the products and the weight of each pallet or the other items stored individually, recorded, where applicable, by individual lots;
(d)the location of the products in the warehouse.
4.Products stored must be easily identifiable and must be identified individually by contract. Each pallet and, where applicable, each item individually stored must be marked so that the contract number, the description of the product and the weight are shown. The date of placing in storage must be shown on each individual lot placed in storage on a given day.
When the products are placed in storage, the authority responsible for checking operations shall verify the identification referred to in the first subparagraph and may seal the products placed in storage.
5.The authority responsible for checking operations shall undertake:
(a)for each contract, a check on the compliance with all the obligations laid down in Article 3(4);
(b)a compulsory check to ensure that the products are present in the warehouse during the final week of the contractual storage period.
Furthermore, that authority shall check:
either the sealing of all the products stored under a contract in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 4, or
an unannounced sample check to ensure that the products are present in the warehouse. The sample taken must be representative and must correspond to at least 10 % of the overall quantity placed in storage in each Member State under a private storage aid measure. Such checks shall include, in addition to an examination of the accounts referred to in paragraph 3, a physical check of the weight and type of the products and their identification. Such physical checks must relate to at least 5 % of the quantity subject to the unannounced check.
The sealing or handling costs of the check are borne by the contracting party.
6.Checks pursuant to paragraph 5 must be the subject of a report stating:
(a)the date of the check;
(b)its duration; and
(c)the operations conducted.
The report on the check must be signed by the official responsible and countersigned by the contracting party or, where applicable, by the operator of the warehouse and must be included in the payment file.
7.In the case of significant irregularities affecting at least 5 % of the quantities of products covered by a single contract subject to the checks, the verification shall be extended to a larger sample to be determined by the authority responsible for the checks.
Member States shall notify such cases to the Commission within four weeks.