Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1369 of 7 August 2015 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 laying down further temporary exceptional support measures for producers of certain fruit and vegetables

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (1), and in particular Article 219(1) in conjunction with Article 228 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) On 7 August 2014 the Russian government introduced a ban on imports of certain products from the Union to Russia, including fruit and vegetables. In response, the Commission adopted a series of exceptional support measures, in particular by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 913/2014 (2) for peaches and nectarines and by Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) No 932/2014 (3) and (EU) No 1031/2014 (4) for other fruit and vegetables.

(2) On 24 June 2015 that ban was extended until August 2016. Owing to the continuation of the ban a serious threat of market disturbances persists and could cause significant price falls due to the fact that an important export market continues to be unavailable. For such a market situation, the normal measures available under Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 appear to be insufficient. The mechanism based on support for certain quantities of products under Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 should therefore be prolonged.

(3) To establish an effective safety net, the Union financial assistance should be prolonged for all the products covered by Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 for a year. Furthermore, due to their seasonal exports, peaches and nectarines of CN code 0809 30 , which were eligible for support last year under Delegated Regulation (EU) No 913/2014, should now be added to the list of products eligible for support under Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014.

(4) The calculation of the quantities allocated to each Member State should be made on the basis of the level of exports to Russia of the products concerned during the three years preceeding the announcement of the ban, adjusted by the level of uptake by the producers in each Member State of the exceptional support measures made available to them for those products in the last year.

(5) Where the uptake of these exceptional support measures within a Member State has been very low for a particular product and the administrative costs of providing support therefore disproportionately high, that Member State should have the option to choose not to continue to implement these measures for the extended period.

(6) It is likely to be expected that the products concerned, which would normally have been exported to Russia, will be diverted to the markets of other Member States. Producers of the same products within those Member States, which do not traditionally export their products to Russia, may accordingly be faced with significant market disturbance and a fall in prices.

(7) Therefore, in order to further stabilise the market, Union financial assistance should again also be available for producers in all Member States in respect of one or more of the products covered by Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 for a quantity not exceeding 3 000 tonnes per Member State.

(8) Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9) In order to have an immediate impact on the market and to contribute to stabilise prices, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendment of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014

Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 is amended as follows:

(3) In Article 9, paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following: ‘1.   Producer organisations shall apply for the payment of the Union financial assistance referred to in Articles 4, 5 and 6 by 31 January 2015 in respect of operations carried out during the period referred to in Article 1(3)(a), by 31 July 2015 in respect of operations carried out during the period referred to in Article 1(3)(b) and by 31 July 2016 in respect of operations carried out during the period referred to in Article 1(3)(c).

(6) Annex Ib is inserted, the text of which is set out in Annex I to this Regulation;

(7) Annexes III and IV are replaced by the text set out in Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 2

Entry into force

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

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

Done at Brussels, 7 August 2015.

For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671.

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 913/2014 of 21 August 2014 laying down temporary exceptional support measures for producers of peaches and nectarines (OJ L 248, 22.8.2014, p. 1).

(3) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 932/2014 of 29 August 2014 laying down temporary exceptional support measures for producers of certain fruit and vegetables and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) No 913/2014 (OJ L 259, 30.8.2014, p. 2).

(4) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 of 29 September 2014 laying down further temporary exceptional support measures for producers of certain fruit and vegetables (OJ L 284, 30.9.2014, p. 22).