Common organisation of the market in milk and milk products

PURPOSE: the amendment of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 in a bid to simplify certain rules.

LEGISLTAIVE ACT: Council Regulation (EC) No 1152/2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products.

BACKGROUND: this act forms part of a package that has been approved alongside two other related legislative instruments concerning the dairy sector. The other two acts adopted concern amendment of:

• Council Directive 2001/114/EC relating to certain partly or wholly dehydrated preserved milk for human consumption. See CNS/2007/0025
• Council Regulation (EC) No 2597/97 laying down additional rules on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products for drinking milk. See CNS/2007/0027.

CONTENT: the purpose of this Regulation is to amend the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products by:

• Reducing the intervention price for skimmed milk powder (SMP): The protein content of European milk will be aligned to the international standard, set at 34%.
• Removing the intervention trigger for butter: The amendments simplify current rules on intervention by allowing intervention agencies to simply buy butter at 90% of the intervention price from 1 March until the overall Community ceiling has been reached.
• Abolishing the national quality class for butter: The application of different quality grades in Member States has led to different treatment with respect to the aid. In order to provide for equal treatment and simplify the administration for the aid for private storage, the national quality criteria has been replaced by Community criteria used for other market support.
• Removing certain aids for private storage: Given that aid for private storage of both cream and SMP has not be used by operators the two measures are considered obsolete and have, therefore, been removed from the basic dairy Regulation.
• Removing the disposal aid for military forces: Similarly, the possibility of granting aid for butter purchased by military forces is considered obsolete and has therefore been removed from the Regulation.
• Introducing a single rate of aid for school milk: For the sake of simplification a single rate of aid, irrespective of the sort of milk delivered to pupils has been approved. The new flat rate will be set at € 18,15/100 kg. This amount is in line with Parliamentary proposals.
• Abandoning the use of import licences: The Commission is proposing that where import quotas are, or will, be monitored by DGTAXUD, then operators will be exempt from presenting an import licence.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 7 October 2007.

APPLY: 1 January 2008.