(1)

Article 53(5) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 (2) provides that where recently recognised producer organisations have insufficient historical data on marketed production for the application of paragraph 2 of that Article, the value of the marketed production may be considered to be the value of marketable production and that this shall be calculated as the average value of the marketed production for the three previous years of all producers who are members of the producer organisation when the application for recognition is submitted.

(2)

In the interest of legal certainty, it should be made clear that the average value of marketable production in the three-year period in Article 53(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 should be calculated by way of reference to the periods during those three years in which the producers were actually producing fruit and vegetables and that periods during which no fruit and vegetables were produced should be disregarded.

(3)

Articles 93 to 97 of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 implement Article 103e of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 on national financial assistance for producer organisations in regions where the degree of organisation of producers in the fruit and vegetable sector is particularly low, which should contribute to improve the degree of organisation of producers in such regions. National financial assistance should be directly linked to the production in those regions. Therefore, it should be clarified in Article 93 of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 that only products of the fruit and vegetable sector produced in regions where the degree of organisation of producers in the fruit and vegetable sector is particularly low may benefit from national financial assistance.

(4)

The second subparagraph of Article 94(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 concerns the information that should be accompanied in a Member State’s request for national financial assistance. It is appropriate to require Member States that submit such a request to prove that the assistance is only granted for production that originates in the region where the degree of organisation of producers in the fruit and vegetable sector is particularly low, especially where producer organisations operating on its territory are active in more than one region.

(5)

Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1943/2003 (3) allowed producer groups to include processing aids in the value of marketed production. This principle should be maintained for producer groups which were granted preliminary recognition under Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 (4) until processing aids systems are phased out. It is appropriate that producer groups referred to in Article 203a(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 may continue to calculate processing aids received on the basis of Commission Regulations (EC) No 1621/1999 (5), (EC) No 1622/1999 (6), (EC) No 1535/2003 (7) and (EC) No 2111/2003 (8) into their sales. Such producer groups should be allowed to lodge an additional application for the aid referred to in Article 103a(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 to be calculated on the basis of this additional value of marketed production if these processing aid were not taken into account in the earlier standard applications. It is appropriate to lay down the rules for calculating the aid referred to in Article 103a(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards producer groups in Member States which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004 or thereafter with annual segments of recognition plans that started in 2007 and ended in 2008.

(6)

Following the reform of the common organisation of the fruit and vegetables sector, certain culinary herbs are since 1 January 2008 subject to the rules applicable to this sector. As a result, from that 1 January 2008 onwards, Member States may recognise as producer organisations operators that are specialised in, or which production includes, the culinary herbs listed in Part IX of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, including: saffron, thyme, fresh or chilled, basil, melissa, mint, origanum vulgare (oregano/wild marjoram), rosemary and sage, fresh or chilled. However, the application of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 to producer organisations which members started producing culinary herbs before 2008 resulted in a strict and short period for the inclusion of the value of these products into the value of the marketed production for the operational programmes for 2008 and 2009. It is therefore appropriate to allow producer organisations to include the value of those products into the value of the marketed production for operational programmes implemented in 2008 and 2009.

(7)

Regulation (EC) No 1580/2007 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

1.

In Article 53, paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

2.

Article 93 is replaced by the following:

3.

in Article 94(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The request shall be accompanied by evidence showing that the degree of organisation of producers in the region concerned is particularly low, as defined in Article 93 of this Regulation, that only products of the fruit and vegetable sector produced in that region benefit from assistance, as well as details of the producer organisations concerned, the amount of assistance concerned and the proportion of financial contributions being made pursuant to Article 103b of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007.’;

4.

in Article 152, the following paragraphs are added:

(*1)   OJ L 192, 24.7.1999, p. 21."

(*2)   OJ L 192, 24.7.1999, p. 33."

(*3)   OJ L 218, 30.8.2003, p. 14."

(*4)   OJ L 317, 2.12.2003, p. 5.’ "