THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to the 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 1234/2007,
Having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1852 of 15 October 2015 opening a temporary exceptional private storage aid scheme for certain cheeses and fixing in advance the amount of aid, in particular Article 15 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1852 opened a temporary exceptional private storage aid scheme for certain cheeses and fixed in advance the amount of aid.
(2)
Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2015/1852 sets 15 January 2016 as the last date for the submission of applications for aid.
(3)
Ireland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom notified the Commission of their wish to continue using the private storage aid scheme.
(4)
A quantity of 68 123 tonnes remained unused after 15 January 2016. It is therefore appropriate to make that quantity available to those Member States which notified their wish to further make use of the private storage aid scheme and to set a breakdown of that quantity per Member State, taking into account the quantities applied for by Member States until 15 January 2016.
(5)
A new period for lodging applications for aid should be set.
(6)
The rules laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1852 for the implementation of the private storage aid scheme for certain cheeses should apply mutatis mutandis to the implementation of the scheme set out by this Regulation,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: