Key Benefits:
Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/96 of 28 October 1996 on the joint organization of markets in the field of processed fruit and vegetable products;
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2200/96 of 28 October 1996, as amended, establishing common markets in the fruit and vegetable sector;
Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 of 29 August 2003 on the terms and conditions for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/96 concerning the aid regime in the field of processed products based on fruit and vegetables;
Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 464/99 of 3 March 1999 on the terms and conditions for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/96 with respect to the prune aid regime;
Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 217/02 of 5 February 2002 establishing criteria for the eligibility of the raw material as part of the Regulation (EC) No. 2201/96;
Considering Commission Regulation No. 1764/86 of 27 May 1986 establishing the minimum quality requirements for tomato-based products that can benefit from production assistance;
Considering Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2319/89 of 28 July 1989 setting the minimum quality requirements for Williams and Rochas pears with syrup and natural fruit juice as part of the production aid regime;
Considering Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2320/89 of 28 July 1989 setting the minimum quality requirements for syrup and natural fruit juice fisheries under the production aid regime;
Considering Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1010/01 of 23 May 2001 concerning minimum quality requirements for fruit mixtures under the production aid regime,
Stop it!
Application for approval.
Pursuant to Articles 5 and 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 referred to above, the processing companies that have never been approved or have not participated in the aid regime, under the previous campaign, transmit to the NIFLHOR an application for approval with the following information:
- Company statutes;
- extract from K bis less than six months;
- descriptive sheet of human facilities and means provided for in Article 3 of this Order, existing or under development with the schedule of work to be carried out;
- the terms of contractualization of the raw material;
- finished products to be developed;
- the marketing forecast.
Date of filing of applications.
(a) New fish, pears and tomato transformers.
Pursuant to Article 5, paragraphs 2 and 3, of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 referred to above, the new processors wishing to participate in the aid regime shall submit, in writing, their application for approval three months before the date of signature of the contracts, at the latest:
- November 15 for tomato transformers;
- April 15 for fish transformers;
- April 31 for pears transformers.
(b) New prune transformers.
Pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 referred to above, the new processors wishing to participate in the aid regime submit, in writing, their application for approval six months before the deadline for signing the contracts, no later than 15 February.
Conditions of accreditation.
(a) Peaches, pears and tomatoes.
Transformers operate for economic purposes, under their own responsibility, one or more factories with facilities for the manufacture of one or more products referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03.
As such, they must have the following:
- raw materials reception facilities, storage where necessary, qualitative raw materials aggregation;
- appropriate weighing tools, processing and packaging tools and means of storage of finished products;
- technical and human means for the realization of qualitative controls on finished products as defined in Part VI of this Order;
- technical and human means for the maintenance of records under VIII of this Decree.
(b) Prune transformers.
Transformers operate for economic purposes, under their own responsibility, one or more factories with facilities for the manufacture of one or more products referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03.
As such, it shall have the following elements:
- technical installations allowing the transformation of dried apple plums into prunes eligible for help: reception facilities, weighing and aggregation of dried apple plums; calibration, sorting and storing of plums;
- technical installations, in their own, or through a subsidiary owned predominantly by the processor allowing the marketing of prunes into products suitable for human consumption, that is, according to the characteristics of the products marketed: mixing, rehydration, pasteurization, packaging in commercial packagings, storage;
- technical and human means for the maintenance of records under VIII of this Decree.
Nice.
The approval of the new transformers is granted by the ONIFLHOR for a campaign. It will be extended by tacit renewal, for the following campaigns, subject to strict compliance with the provisions of the aid regime and the conditions of accreditation specified in Article 3 of this Order.
Accreditation control.
After receiving all of the items specified in section 1, the NIFLHOR services perform on-site control.
The observations issued by the controllers are communicated to the company at the end of the control. If it turns out that these observations cannot be taken into account before June 1 for peaches, before June 15 for pears, before January 1 for tomatoes and before July 1 for prunes, the approval is refused and a new request will be made for the following campaign.
Any significant change in the industrial tool, which would jeopardize compliance with the approval criteria, must be notified to the NIFLHOR, as soon as the new facilities are completed and will be subject to a compliance visit by the NIFLHOR control department.
In cases justified by technical or climatic reasons, the use of the services of a transformer in the list of approved transformers is possible for a marginal amount of products to be processed. This benefit is performed as part of a service delivery contract and can only be made after prior authorization from the ONIFLHOR.
Communication concerning participation in the aid regime.
Producer organizations that have not participated in the previous campaign assistance scheme inform the ONIFLHOR, no later than one month before the date of signing of the contracts, of their desire to participate in the aid regime. The request contains the following details:
- the products concerned;
- planned volumes;
- the number of producers;
- the administrative seat if it is different from the head office.
Other communications.
All communications under sections 11, 12, 15, 20 and 21 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 are transmitted by producer organizations to the ONIFLHOR according to the regulations.
In the case of tomatoes, peaches or pears, when the contract processing takes place in another Member State, the producer organization must notify, no later than twenty-four hours before the day of delivery, electronically, to the NIFLHOR and to the competent authorities of the Member State where the transformation takes place, the following information:
- the quantity to be delivered;
- precise identification of the means of transport used;
- the contract ID number.
In the event that this information is changed after notification, the new data is notified under the conditions set out above, and before the delivery begins. Only one change is allowed.
All communications under sections 11, 15, 16, 17, 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03 is transmitted by the transformers to the ONIFLHOR according to the regulations.
Minimum quality requirements.
The raw materials must meet the minimum quality requirements set out in the above-mentioned Regulations (EC) No. 464/99 and No. 217/02. In the case of tomatoes and fisheries, and in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 2, of Regulation (EC) No. 217/02, the maximum rate of defects is 15%.
Complementary minimum requirements.
Additional provisions such as reducing the maximum default rate, setting specific limits to each of the defects or fixing additional defects may be taken by the Member State under the following conditions:
- provisions in the case of an interprofessional agreement;
- advice and agreement of the DPEI of a proposal from professionals in the sector concerned;
- provisions in the delivery contracts.
In the case of raw materials processed in another Member State than France the criteria chosen are those defined by the member-producing State unless the additional provisions provided for in the contract.
Quality control of raw materials.
In accordance with the above-mentioned regulations (EC) No. 217/02 and No. 464/99, at the time of receipt of each batch of raw material, the transformer shall weigh the net quantities supplied in the lot and proceed to its qualitative control. This control is carried out on the basis of samples taken according to the methodology defined in the procedure guides established by the ONIFLHOR. The results of these controls are recorded on the documents provided for this purpose.
In accordance with regulations (EC) No. 464/99, No. 1764/86, No. 2319/89, No. 2320/89 and No. 1010/01 referred to above, the tranformor must check each day, at regular intervals, that the finished products conform to the minimum quality requirements.
In the case of the plum, this check is carried out on each lot.
The results of these audits are recorded in an appropriate registry.
Pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03, the contracts shall include compensation in the event of non-compliance with the payment of the entire price of the raw material and/or the payment period. This allowance is at least equal to the financial penalty calculated on the basis of the legal interest rate set out in Act No. 75-619 of 11 July 1975 as amended by the Act of 23 July 1989.
(a) Payments for the payment of the raw material provided for in Article 22, paragraph 1 (b) and (c), of the aforementioned Regulation (EC) No 1535/03 shall be made by bank transfer or postal transfer within fifteen working days of receipt of the transfer of the transformer.
In the case of producer organizations acting as processors and having a commitment to input as defined in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 referred to above, the payment may be made by accreditation.
(b) In derogation from point a and in cases defined under an inter-professional agreement, a marginal portion of that payment may be deferred. The payment of this fraction shall be made in the form of bank transfer no later than fifteen days before the deadline for signature of the contracts referred to in Article 6 of Regulation No. 1535/03. In this case, the inter-professional agreement providing for such a provision must be notified to MAAPAR and ONIFLHOR prior to the contract signing deadline.
Records maintained by producer organizations.
The records referred to in Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 are referenced daily, and for each campaign and product. The information contained in the registers is chronologically documented and numbered. For quantitative data, a total must be mentioned.
Records are certified by an Accounts Commissioner or an Accountable Expert and retained on paper record at least five calendar years from the end of the year of their constitution.
In the case of computerized records, the producer organization shall make the necessary arrangements to ensure the security and inviolability of the data and to allow at any time a hard-copy edition whose pages are numbered.
Records maintained by transformers.
The records referred to in Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03 are referenced daily for each campaign and product. The information contained in the registers is chronologically documented and numbered. For quantitative data, a total must be mentioned.
Records are certified by an Accounts Commissioner or an Accountable Expert and retained on paper record at least five calendar years from the end of the year of their constitution.
In the case of computerized records, the processor shall make the necessary arrangements to ensure the security and inviolability of the data and at any time permit a paper edition whose pages are numbered.
Requests for assistance are transmitted by producer organizations and processors to the ONIFLHOR according to the provisions of Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03 referred to above.
All controls under sections 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03 are carried out by the NIFLHOR services.
The control of the records under Part VIII is carried out in accordance with the operator's financial accounting. In the event that the control reveals the absence of elements, the operator is still required to reconstitute and produce the missing data within one month of the receipt of the stay.
If, at the end of this period, the NIFLHOR services are not able to validate any or all of the registers provided for in the regulations, the sanctions provided for in title XI are applied.
Penalties for producer organizations.
In the case of tomatoes and in accordance with Article 34, paragraph 3, of Regulation (EC) No 1535/03, if it is found, for two consecutive campaigns, an offence under the administrative and physical controls of the declared area, the withdrawal of the recognition of the producer organization under Regulation (EC) No 1432/03 is pronounced.
Sanctions against transformers.
Unless there is a major force, if the controls carried out by the ONIFLHOR indicate that the transformer has not paid the full price under the contract conditions, the following penalties are applied:
(a) If it is found that, for a campaign, the processor did not pay the full price within the time limits and did not pay the compensations set out in section 14 of this order, the NIFLHOR will continue to make the payments for the payment of the balance and the compensations provided for in the contracts within fifteen working days of the receipt of the stay. If at the end of this period the transformer has not made the corresponding transfers the withdrawal of the approval will be pronounced for the following campaign.
In the event of recidivism, the withdrawal of the licence will be pronounced for the following campaign;
(b) In the event of a false statement or non-holding of the records provided for in Article 17 of this Order or non-payment of the sanctions under Article 35, paragraph 1, of Regulation (EC) No. 1535/03, the withdrawal of the approval shall be pronounced for the following campaign.
In the event of a withdrawal of approval, a new application for approval may only be filed by the transformer after the actual payment of the amounts due under the campaign for which the withdrawal of approval was made.
The Director of Economic and International Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs, Department Prefects and the Director of the National Interprofessional Office for Fruit, Vegetables and Horticulture are responsible, each with regard to it, for the execution of this Order, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, July 22, 2004.
For the Minister and by delegation:
By preventing the director
Economic and international policies:
The chief engineer of rural engineering,
Water and Forests,
Mr. Guittard
