THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation), and in particular Article 103h(f) in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
In the light of the experience acquired in the management of the School Fruit Scheme established by Article 103ga of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 and in order to facilitate its implementation, it is necessary to clarify and simplify a number of provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 288/2009.
(2)
Article 103ga(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 requires Member States to adopt the accompanying measures necessary to make their scheme effective. Accompanying measures do not benefit from Union aid for the School Fruit Scheme. It is therefore necessary to distinguish such measures with more precision from the communication measures which are eligible for Union aid.
(3)
Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 288/2009 provides for a list of costs which are eligible for Union aid. In order to ensure proper financial management and control of expenditure, it is necessary to set out more clearly which costs are eligible for Union aid. To ensure the effectiveness of the scheme, it is appropriate to provide that personnel costs should not benefit from Union aid, with the exception of certain personnel costs which are directly linked to the implementation of the scheme.
(4)
Experience has shown that the detailed rules on aid applications and the payment of aid provided in Regulation (EC) No 288/2009 are difficult to apply in respect of entities that could execute monitoring, evaluation and communication tasks in the framework of the School Fruit Scheme when such entities are not involved in the delivery of products. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the conditions under which aid should be granted in respect of monitoring, evaluation and communication activities.
(5)
In order to limit the control requirements in respect of aid applicants that are solely responsible for dealing with monitoring, evaluation and communication tasks, rules on controls and checks should be simplified. By reason of the specific nature of those tasks, it is appropriate to exempt them from on-the-spot checks and to subject them only to full administrative checks.
(6)
In the second sentence of Article 3(5) of Regulation (EC) No 288/2009, there is an inconsistency in the language versions as regards the implementation of the School Fruit Scheme by Member States. It should be clarified in some language versions that if Member States choose to implement more than one scheme, they have to draw up a strategy for each scheme.
(7)
Regulation (EC) No 288/2009 should therefore be amended and corrected accordingly.
(8)
For programming purposes and in order to ensure that the rules do not change during the applicable period, it is necessary to apply the amendments introduced by this Regulation from the beginning of the current implementation period of the School Fruit Scheme, i.e. 1 August 2011.
(9)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: