THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(1),
Whereas:
(1) Article 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006(2) lays down the scope of application of the Regulation and gives the definition of the smaller islands. Experience from the application of that Regulation shows that the scope of the Regulation should be adapted.
(2) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 introduces specific supply arrangements aiming at easing the problems deriving from the particular geographical situation of some of the Aegean islands imposing additional transport costs in supplying products which are essential for human consumption, for processing or as agricultural inputs. These essential products are included in Annex I to the Treaty. Therefore, Article 3 should be amended in order to include reference to the Annex I in question, thus limiting the scope of the Article to these products only.
(3) Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 provides for the procedure for adoption of detailed rules for the application of Chapter II of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006. As a similar provision is laid down in Article 14 of the said Regulation concerning the implementation of the Regulation in its entirety, Article 6 should therefore be deleted.
(4) Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 introduces measures to assist local agricultural products in general, thus having a wider scope than Article 3. Therefore, Article 7 should be amended to include a reference to Title II of Part Three of the Treaty, thus covering products of the soil, of stock farming and of fisheries and products of first-stage processing directly related to these products.
(5) Article 9(e) of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 refers, among other issues to be included in the support programme, to provisions for checks and administrative penalties. However, national provisions on checks and administrative penalties cannot be the subject of approval in the framework of the Community support programme for the smaller Aegean islands. These national measures may only be communicated to the Commission in accordance with Article 16 of that Regulation. Therefore, Article 9(e) should be amended in order to exclude any provisions for checks and administrative penalties to be included in the programme submitted by the competent authorities of Greece.
(6) Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(7) Most of the measures referred to in Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 constitute direct payments and should as such be referenced in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003(3). Due to an error, the entry for the Aegean Islands was incorrectly deleted from Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 by Article 20(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006. Annex I should therefore be corrected with effect from the date of application of Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Opinion of 5 June 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 (OJ L 148, 6.6.2008, p. 1).