THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organisation of the market in raw tobacco, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 546/2002, and in particular Article 14a thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EC) No 546/2002 amended Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92, with regard to the establishment of a Community Tobacco Fund. The amendments concern the areas of activity of the Fund. As a result, detailed rules for the application of that provision should be adopted.
(2)
Assistance should be provided for measures to discourage smoking, and in particular for improving public awareness of the dangers of tobacco consumption, and funding should be provided for specific measures to encourage tobacco producers to switch production, in collaboration with the quota buy-back programme, and for studies into the possibilities for encouraging producers to switch to other crops or activities.
(3)
The funding should be divided appropriately between the two main objectives of the Fund, which are providing information and encouraging producers to switch production. However, if the funds earmarked for one of these objectives are not used up in full, the distribution of the initial allocation between the objectives should be adjusted.
(4)
The Tobacco Fund is financed by a deduction from the premiums granted to tobacco producers and it is therefore justified to propose that all public assistance for measures financed under the Fund be provided from the Community own resources in the Fund.
(5)
For the information programmes, the various proposals presented under the procedures adopted should be assessed in accordance with criteria that will ensure the best possible choice. Provision should be made also for projects to be carried out on the initiative and on behalf of the Commission. To that end, a call for proposals or, as appropriate, a public invitation to tender seem the most appropriate course.
(6)
Eligibility criteria should be laid down for natural or legal persons who may present proposals under the information programmes.
(7)
In the interests of sound administration of the information programmes, the projects approved by the Commission should be carried out within a specified period. The time limit originally envisaged may prove difficult to meet in exceptional cases. Provision should be made, therefore, for the time limit to be extended under certain conditions.
(8)
In order to make the best possible choice of projects financed within the context of the information programmes and ensure the proper implementation of the approved projects, provision should be made for the Commission to be assisted in the selection of the projects by a scientific and technical committee. The Commission should have access to the services of independent experts in assessing the projects.
(9)
In order to guarantee the proper implementation of each project financed within the context of the information programmes, it is necessary for details of the conditions of implementation to be included in the contracts concluded with the Commission. Where an application is made for an advance, contractors must lodge a security in favour of the Commission on the conditions laid down in Title III of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of securities for agricultural products, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1932/1999.
(10)
Regarding the information programmes, provision should be made to prevent the unjustified cumulation of measures for the same project, and for payments to be recovered in certain cases, particularly in the event of irregularities.
(11)
As regards the specific measures to promote a switch of production, individual measures should be laid down to promote a switch of production, as well as general interest measures and studies into the possibilities for tobacco producers to switch production, that are eligible for financing by the Fund. The beneficiaries of each type of measure should also be defined.
(12)
To ensure that the measures to support the switch of production are sufficiently effective, the intensity of the aid to be granted for each measure and the total amount of assistance per producer should be determined for all the measures. The intensity of the aid for each measure should be set at a sufficiently attractive level to encourage producers to take up the opportunity to switch production, given the major changes that this entails to how production is organised on their holding.
(13)
The Fund must guarantee assistance for producers to switch production across the whole Community and must operate in collaboration with the quota buy-back programme. To this end, the distribution of financing under the Fund should be determined for each tobacco-producing Member State. In order to respond to the actual rate of withdrawal from tobacco production in each Member State, provision should also be made for a second distribution of the financing, based on applications for assistance received.
(14)
To guarantee that the assistance granted to promote the switch of production by tobacco producers is implemented in the proper framework, a programme must be drawn up by each producer Member State. The content of these programmes should therefore be determined, together with the obligation on Member States to inform the Commission of the monitoring they have carried out on the progress made by the programmes each year.
(15)
Any risk of a funding overlap for the same project from the Tobacco Fund and other assistance schemes must be avoided. Moreover, all decisions by tobacco producers to withdraw from tobacco production should be facilitated. The conditions should be determined in which an application for assistance from the Tobacco Fund can be accepted, and provision made for the possibility of having the project financed by another scheme where no further funding is available under the Tobacco Fund. The type of controls to be carried out and the penalties to apply should also be determined.
(16)
To give Member States sufficient time to draw up financing plans for production-switching measures for 2003, that year's deadline for notifying the Commission of these plans — and, consequently, the deadline for the definitive distribution of the resources among the Member States — should be deferred.
(17)
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1648/2000 of 25 July 2000 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 with regard to the Community Tobacco Fund should therefore be repealed and replaced. However, the provision of that Regulation must continue to apply to projects approved before the entry into force of this Regulation.
(18)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Tobacco,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: