Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/652 of 10 February 2021 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 as regards the activities and operational programmes of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sector
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/652of 10 February 2021amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 as regards the activities and operational programmes of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sectorTHE 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 1234/2007OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671., and in particular Article 37(a))(ii) and (vi), (b), (c)(i) and (ii) and (d), Article 173(1)(f), Article 223(2)(a) and Article 231(1) thereof,Whereas:(1)Title II of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 of 13 March 2017 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetables sectors and supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to penalties to be applied in those sectors and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 (OJ L 138, 25.5.2017, p. 4). lays down rules on the activities and operational programmes of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sector.(2)Member States may permit producer organisations to outsource certain activities. In some Member States, producer organisations are large companies, which are often holding multiple levels of subsidiaries. The provisions on outsourcing should therefore be reformulated to cover situations where the activities are outsourced to entities closely related to the producer.(3)In recent years, the production of mushrooms is not limited to the genus Agaricus variety anymore. Producer organisations specialised in the production of mushrooms produce other varieties of cultivated mushrooms such as Pleurotus, Shiitaké and Agrocybe, which reflect the market need and consumer expectations. Therefore, the scope of the provisions on the basis for calculation of the value of marketed production of mushrooms intended for processing should be extended in order to cover more cultivated mushroom varieties.(4)In accordance with the Commission legislative proposals for the future common agricultural policy (CAP), the fruit and vegetables aid scheme is to be integrated in the future CAP strategic plans of Member States. Pending the adoption of those proposals, Regulation (EU) 2020/2220 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2020/2220 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 December 2020 laying down certain transitional provisions for support from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) in the years 2021 and 2022 and amending Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013, (EU) No 1306/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013 as regards resources and application in the years 2021 and 2022 and Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as regards resources and the distribution of such support in respect of the years 2021 and 2022 (OJ L 437, 28.12.2020, p. 1). lays down certain transitional provisions in respect of the years 2021 and 2022. In particular, to ensure a smooth integration of that aid scheme into the future CAP, existing operational programmes in the fruit and vegetables sector that have not reached their maximum duration of five years may only be extended until 31 December 2022. In addition, new operational programmes in the fruit and vegetables sector may only be approved for a maximum duration of three years. Since the operational programmes in question must comply with the national strategy, Member States should be allowed to extend their national strategy until 31 December 2025.(5)The insurance indemnification received in certain cases of a reduction in production may be included in the calculation of the value of marketed production. It is appropriate to clarify when it has to be included, namely in the calculation of the value of marketed production of the 12-month reference period in which it is actually paid.(6)Expenditure under operational programmes eligible for aid is to be restricted to the actual costs incurred. However, for the purpose of the clearance of expenditure of actions and measures under operational programmes, the use by Member States of flat rates, scales of unit costs or lump sums should be aligned with the rules on rural development programmes.(7)Chapter III of Title II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 contains rules on crisis prevention and management measures, including, inter alia, market withdrawals. In its Special Report No 23/2019 "Farmers’ income stabilisation: comprehensive set of tools, but low uptake of instruments and overcompensation need to be tackled" of 5 December 2019ECA SR 23/2019 – Special Report on Farmers’ income stabilisation: comprehensive set of tools, but low uptake of instruments and overcompensation need to be tackled – https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/DocItem.aspx?did=52395, the European Court of Auditors raised concerns as regards some aspects of the fruit and vegetables withdrawal scheme, in particular for processed products made from withdrawn produce which could lead to an overcompensation. The European Court of Auditors recommends to set a maximum Union financial assistance for withdrawals for free distribution of processed fruit and vegetables with the view to avoiding any possible effect of overcompensation. For that reason, the provisions on support for market withdrawals for free distribution of processed fruit and vegetables should make clear that payments made to processors are to compensate only for processing costs and should exclude overcompensation.(8)Rules on support for market withdrawals relating to the application of the 5 % limit of the volume of marketed production should be clarified.(9)Taking into account that it is important to streamline, simplify and better coordinate existing instruments and complement them with new actions where necessary, the provisions on the implementation of harvest insurance actions should be aligned with the rules on rural development programmes.(10)With a view to increasing the attractiveness of the coaching measure as a crisis prevention and management measure, the eligibility conditions relating to the coaching recipient should be softened.(11)Producer organisations are obliged to evaluate the implementation of their operation programmes. As Article 24 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/892Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/892 of 13 March 2017 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetables sectors (OJ L 138, 25.5.2017, p. 57). has been replaced, the reference to that Article should be deleted in the rules on the evaluation report in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891.(12)Some transitional provisions are obsolete and should therefore be removed.(13)Pursuant to Article 55 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891, Member States must notify the Commission of the weighted average recorded producer prices of fruit and vegetables corresponding to the types and varieties of products, sizes and presentations as specified in Annex VI to that Regulation. In order to accurately reflect the market situation, details on the "type/variety", "presentation/size" and "representative markets" relating to tomatoes and apples as specified in that Annex should be updated. Furthermore, in order to align as much as possible the price notification system provided for in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 with the provisions laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 of 20 April 2017 laying down rules for the application of Regulations (EU) No 1307/2013 and (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards notifications to the Commission of information and documents and amending and repealing several Commission Regulations (OJ L 171, 4.7.2017, p. 113)., the list of the products for which Member States must notify the Commission weekly of their prices should be reduced from 32 to 16 products. That limited list of 16 products would be identical to the list of products set out in Annex IV to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891. Finally, the United Kingdom should be removed from the list of "representative markets".(14)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 should therefore be amended accordingly,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: