Community aid scheme for producers of certain citrus fruits

OBJECTIVE: to introduce a Community aid scheme for producers of certain citrus fruits in order to: - on the production side, prevent continued systematic recourse to processing as an alternative outlet for fruit originally destined for the fresh market, - on the processing industry side, enable the industry to move into new competitive products (freshly squeezed juice and pasteurized juice). COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 introducing a Community aid scheme for producers of certain citrus fruits. SUBSTANCE: under the intended system, processing contracts will be signed by processors and producers' organizations. The price of the raw materials will be freely established as a function of supply and demand. Aid will be granted to producers' organizations for raw material supplied to the industry, in order to: - support producers' incomes; - facilitate negotiations with the industry; - promote the concentration of production through producers' organizations. To ensure that recipients of the aid take a responsible attitude to their output, the aid is adjusted whenever the thresholds are exceeded, or penalties are imposed if the contract is not performed. DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE: 24 November 1996. The Regulation is applicable from the 1997/1998 marketing year. �