Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 913/2014 of 21 August 2014 laying down temporary exceptional support measures for producers of peaches and nectarines

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

The support measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall cover:

(a) withdrawal operations carried out from 11 August until 30 September 2014 by producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector recognised in accordance with Article 154 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as well as by producers who are not members of such organisations; and

(b) promotion activities as referred to in Article 33(3)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 carried out from 11 August until 31 December 2014 by producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector recognised in accordance with Article 154 of that Regulation.

Article 2

Financial assistance to producer organisations for withdrawals

For the withdrawal operations referred to in Article 1(2)(a) Union financial assistance shall be available as follows:

(a) for market withdrawals for free distribution under Article 34(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 Union financial assistance shall be available for a maximum of 10 % of the volume of marketed production of each producer organisation;

(b) by way of derogation from the first subparagraph of Article 79(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, for market withdrawals for destinations other than free distribution Union financial assistance shall be available for a maximum of 10 % of the volume of marketed production of peaches and nectarines of each producer organisation. However, amounts that are disposed of in one of the ways referred to in Article 34(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 or any other way approved by Member States under Article 80(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 shall not be taken into account in that proportion. The third subparagraph of Article 79(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 shall not apply for the purposes of point (b) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

Article 3

Financial assistance to producers not being members of producer organisations

Union financial assistance shall be granted to producers of peaches and nectarines who are not members of a recognised producer organisation in accordance with this Article for:

(a) market withdrawals for free distribution as referred to in Article 34(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013;

(b) market withdrawals for destinations other than free distribution.

For market withdrawals referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph, the maximum amounts of the financial assistance shall be the amounts set out in Annex XI to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011.

For market withdrawals referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph, the maximum amounts of the financial assistance shall be 50 % of the amounts set out in Annex XI to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011.

Producers shall conclude a contract with a recognised producer organisation for the entire quantity of products to be delivered under this Article. Producer organisations shall accept all reasonable requests from producers who are not members of a recognised producer organisation. Before signing the contract, the producer organisation shall verify that the quantity to be delivered under the contract does not exceed the lower of the following ceilings:

(a) 10 % of the producer's total production in 2012, on the basis of written documents of probative value to be provided by the producer; and

(b) the producer organisation's and its members' average production yield per hectare for peaches and nectarines respectively in 2012, multiplied by 10 % of the area used by the producer for the production of peaches and nectarines respectively in 2014 on the basis of written documents of probative value to be provided by the producer.

Member States shall establish a production yield for peaches and nectarines respectively to be used by producer organisations which did not market peaches and/or nectarines in 2012. In case Member States establish regional yields, the regions shall be the ones defined under Article 91(4) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, if applicable.

In such cases, the competent authority of the Member State shall pay the Union financial assistance directly to the producer. Member States shall adopt new or apply existing national rules or procedures for this purpose.

Article 4

Checks on withdrawal operations

The withdrawal operations referred to in Articles 2 and 3 shall be subject to first-level checks in accordance with Article 108 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011. The checks shall cover at least 10 % of the quantity of products withdrawn from the market and 10 % respectively of producer organisations and producers who are not members of a producer organisation who benefit from the support measures.

However, for withdrawal operations referred to in Article 3(4a), the first level checks shall cover 100 % of the quantity of products withdrawn.

Article 5

Additional support to producer organisations for promotion activities

This amount shall be allocated to Member States in accordance with the Annex.

Producer organisations shall submit initial requests for the additional support referred to in paragraph 1 to the Member States by 15 October 2014. Member States shall decide on the requests and on the distribution of the additional support to producer organisations as follows:

(a) in case the approved requests exceed the maximum amount allocated to a Member State in accordance with the Annex, the Member State shall set an allocation coefficient on the basis of received requests;

(b) in case the approved requests do not exceed the maximum amount of support, the allocation coefficient shall be set at 100 %.

Article 6

Application for and payment of Union support

Producer organisations shall apply for the payment of the Union financial assistance to be paid to them and/or to producers not being members of a producer organisation and for the payment of the additional support to be paid to them as follows:

(a) by 31 October 2014 for the Union financial assistance for the withdrawal operations referred to in Article 1(2)(a); and

(b) by 30 January 2015 for the additional support for the promotion activities referred to in Article 1(2)(b).

Article 7

Notifications and declarations of expenditure

Member States shall notify the Commission:

(a) by 28 November 2014 of the total quantities withdrawn and the applications for total Union financial assistance for the withdrawal; and

(b) by 27 February 2015 of the promotion activities and the applications for the total additional support for the corresponding promotion activities.

Article 8

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 11 August 2014.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX

Maximum amounts allocated to Member States for the additional support for promotion activities as referred to in Article 5(1):