Common agricultural policy CAP, reform: rice, common organisation of the market CMO

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Commission Regulation 489/2005/EC laying down detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation 1785/2003/EC as regards determining the intervention centres and the taking over of paddy rice by the intervention agencies.

CONTENT: Regulation 1785/2003/EC defines the standard quality of paddy rice for which the intervention price is fixed.  To encourage the production of good quality rice, the intervention criteria are being strengthened. An increase in milling yields, and a simultaneous reduction in the tolerance of yields that deviate from the basic yield are the most effective ways of promoting quality rice production and ensuring the quality of the rice stored by the intervention agencies.

To ensure the satisfactory management of intervention, a minimum quantity should be fixed for each offer. However, provision is made for setting a higher limit so that account can be taken of the trading customs and conditions pertaining on the wholesale market in some Member States.

Paddy rice whose quality does not permit suitable use or storage should not be accepted for intervention. When fixing the minimum quality, particular consideration should be given to weather conditions in the rice-growing areas of the Community. In order to allow uniform lots to be taken over, each lot must be made up of the same rice variety.

Regulation 1785/2003/EC lays down that the intervention price be fixed for paddy rice of a specific standard quality and that, if the quality of the rice offered for intervention differs from that, the intervention price is adjusted by applying price increases/reductions.

For the application of the price increases and reductions, account is taken of the basic characteristics of the paddy rice, thereby allowing an objective assessment of its quality to be made; assessing the moisture content, the milling yield and grain defects, using simple and effective methods.

Regulation 1785/2003/EC also limits the quantity that can be bought in by the intervention agencies to 75 000 tonnes per marketing year. In order to allocate this quantity fairly, the quantities for each producer Member State are fixed, taking account of the national base areas fixed by Council Regulation 1782/2003/EC on common rules for direct support schemes under the CAP and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and the average yield.

To make the intervention scheme as simple and efficient as possible, offers should be submitted to the intervention centre closest to the place where the goods are stored and provisions on the costs of their transport to the store where the intervention agency takes them over laid down.

The checks to ensure that the requirements on the weight and quality of the goods offered are complied with are specified; a distinction being made between, on the one hand, acceptance of the goods offered after the quantity and compliance with the minimum quality requirements have been checked and, on the other hand, fixing the price to be paid to the applicant after the necessary tests have been carried out to identify the precise characteristics of each lot based on representative samples.

Specific provisions applying to cases where goods are taken over in the applicant’s stores are laid down; in such cases, reference should be made to the applicant’s stock accounts, subject to additional checks to ensure that the intervention agency’s requirements on taking over are complied with.

DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE: 01/04/2005.