(2004/C 84 E/0634)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0247/04

by Elisabeth Jeggle (PPE-DE) and Peter Liese (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 February 2004)

Subject:   Revision of Regulation (EC) No 2571/97 on the sale of butter at reduced prices and the granting of aid for cream, butter and concentrated butter for use in the manufacture of pastry products, icecream and other foodstuffs

We have received queries from medium-sized bakeries with regard to the obligation to provide detailed evidence in respect of butter consumption in excess of seven tonnes per year, and to the problems this causes.

It is impossible for a medium-sized bakery to provide evidence that every single gram of butter sold at reduced prices has been processed, or to bear the huge administrative costs this would entail. This results in regular fines and thus gradual increases in the prices of pastry products.

In this context, is the Commission considering revising the above Regulation (2571/97/EC (1)) so that the obligation for bakeries to provide evidence of processing butter in excess of seven tonnes per year is greatly simplified or abolished? Has a revision procedure to this effect already been started on the initiative of a Member State?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2004)

This disposal measure is an important means to maintain a reasonable balance on the butter market and avoid purchases of butter into public intervention.

Appropriate control measures are needed in order to ensure that the rules of the Regulation are respected and to protect against abuse of Community funds. However, the control requirements specified in Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 2571/97 vary subject to tracing or not of the subsidized products and to the quantities used by the operators incorporating the subsidized product into the intermediary or final products.

For smaller operators undertaking in writing to purchase less than nine tonnes of butter equivalent per 12-month period, the controls are less severe (see Article 23(6) of the Regulation). However, an increase of the maximum quantity of nine tonnes for smaller operators is at present under consideration in the Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products.

It is the responsibility of the competent authorities in the Member States to introduce control measures ensuring that the maximum quantities, for which a less severe control applies, are respected.

For other operators the control requirements for incorporation into the final products and the control frequency are described in Article 23(4). Checks of recipes and records as well as sampling at a frequency based on the quantities used, and, in the case of traced products, at least once a month if five tonnes or more is used in the establishment per month, are required. The control requirements for medium size and bigger operators are considered reasonable measures ensuring that the conditions of the Regulation are respected.

(1)  OJ L 350, 20.12.1997, p. 3.