Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (repealed)Show full title

Article 103 Aids to operator organisations

1. The Community shall finance, by means of the amounts withheld by Member States in accordance with Article 110i (4) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, three-year work programmes to be drawn up by operator organisations referred to in Article 125 in one or more of the following areas:

(a) the market follow-up and administrative management in the olive oil and table olives sector;

(b) the improvement of the environmental impacts of olive cultivation;

(c) the improvement of the production quality of olive oil and table olives;

(d) the traceability system, the certification and protection of the quality of olive oil and table olives, in particular the monitoring of the quality of olive oils sold to final consumers, under the authority of the national administrations;

(e) the dissemination of information on the activities carried out by operator organisations with the aim of improving the quality of olive oil.

2. The maximum Community funding for the work programmes referred to in paragraph 1 shall be equal to the part of the amounts withheld by the Member States. This funding shall concern the eligible cost with a maximum of:

(a) 100 % for activities in the areas referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 1;

(b) 100 % for fixed assets investments and 75 % for other activities in the area referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1;

(c) 75 % for the work programmes carried out in at least three third countries or non-producing Member States by approved operator organisations from at least two producer Member States in the areas referred to in points (d) and (e) of paragraph 1, and 50 % for the other activities in these areas.

Complementary financing shall be ensured by the Member State up to 50 % of the costs not covered by the Community funding.

The Commission shall establish the detailed rules for the application of this Article and in particular the procedures for the approval of the work programmes by the Member States and the types of activities eligible under such programmes.

3. Without prejudice to any specific provisions which may be adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 194, Member States shall verify that the conditions for granting Community funding are met. To that end, they shall carry out an audit of work programmes and a control plan involving a sample determined on the basis of a risk analysis and comprising at least 30 % per year of producer organisations and all the other operators' organisations in receipt of Community funding under this Article.