Implementing rules regarding national financial assistance in the fruit and vegetables sector should be updated.

Details for implementation of the increase of the limit of Union financial assistance from 50 % to 60 % in Member States where producer organisations market less than 20 % of fruit and vegetables production referred to in Article 34(3)(f) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and in particular the details of the calculation of the degree of organisation of producers in a Member State should be laid down to ensure that the applications for aid and the verification of the conditions for the increase are implemented coherently throughout the Union.

It should also be clarified that promotion of the products as a crisis measure includes diversifying and consolidating the fruit and vegetables markets.

Provisions relating to annual reports on producer organisations, associations of producers organisations, including transnational organisations, and producer groups, and on operational funds, operational programmes and recognition plans should be simplified. These reports should enable the Commission to adequately monitor the sector.

Conditions for the application of the import duties referred to in Article 182 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 which may apply to imports of certain fruit and vegetables should be clarified.

Where an association of producer organisations or transnational association of producer organisation implements an operational programme Member States should ensure that double funding is avoided, and that appropriate checks are carried out for the actions implemented at the level of the association of producer organisations as well as at the level of its producer organisation members, as required under Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.

Annexes I and II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/892 should be updated to simplify Part A of the Annual Report of Member States, common performance indicators and to remove the common baseline indicators.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/892 should therefore be amended accordingly.

This Regulation should apply from the same day as Regulation (EU) 2017/2393. However, provisions that concern reporting should apply from 1 January 2019 to give Member States and the economic operators concerned sufficient time to implement the amendments set out in this Regulation. The flexibility for producer organisations provided for by the new measures and actions should apply brought by the transitional provisions must be implemented together with retroactivity in order to coincide with the application date of Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 so that the application of the amendments in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 is respected.

The conditions for the application of the new measures and actions eligible for Union financial assistance set out in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 should apply from the date of application of the amendments to that Regulation introduced by Regulation (EU) 2017/2393 to ensure market stability for producer organisations and their members, in particular given that those measures concern mainly crisis management and prevention and to enable them to fully benefit from the new measures. To safeguard legitimate expectations, producer organisations may choose to continue their operational programmes under the previous legal framework or to modify their operational programmes to benefit from the new measures and actions eligible for Union financial assistance as set out in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets,