Special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas

The purpose of this proposal for a regulation was to establish a special system of assistance for banana suppliers from the ACP countries with a view to helping them to adapt to the conditions created by the establishment of a common organisation of the market in bananas and thus to compensate for their loss of income. The assistance was to take the form of technical and financial support and/or of support in the event of fluctuations in export earnings. The technical and financial support was intended to promote the implementation of certain programmes with aims such as improvement of the quality of products and infrastructure, adaptation of production and marketing methods or promotion of training, while the support for fluctuations in export earnings would be subject to the proviso that a loss of earnings in the ACP countries must be directly linked to the conditions imposed by the new common organisation of the market. For each supplier, the support would be calculated on the basis of quantities exported to the Community and the difference between the reference price and the actual price. The commitments made in the framework of financial and technical support would be added to the resources that had already been earmarked under the fourth Lomé Convention, while those intended as compensation for loss of earnings should supplement the funds allocated in the Stabex framework. �