PURPOSE: to lay down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Regulation 247/2006/EC laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union.
CONTENT: this Regulation has been agreed in order to lay down specific measures on agriculture in order to remedy the difficulties caused by the remoteness, insularity, distant location and small surface of the EU’s outermost regions. In order to offer them affordable agricultural products, the Regulation establishes specific supply arrangements for a number of products and which can be found in Annex I of the Regulation. The agricultural products listed are those deemed essential for human consumption as well as for the manufacture of other products.
A number of provisions have been put in place to prevent the exportation of the specific products back into the Community or with other third countries. However, the dispatch or exportation of those products from the outermost regions have been authorised in cases where the advantage is reimbursed and in cases where the products are traded between the two outermost Portuguese regions. In addition, account has been taken of traditional trade flows with third countries in all of the outermost regions and as such exports of processed products corresponding to the traditional exports for all of those regions has been authorised. In other measures, the Regulation allows for the restructuring of the sugar processing sector in the Azores and special arrangements have been made regarding the specific supply arrangements for milk-based products destined for the Canary Islands.
In order to encompass all of the requirements, the Regulation has been structured along the following lines:
- Specific supply arrangements: Title II, refers to forecasting the supply balance, the operation of the arrangements, export to third countries and dispatch to the rest of the Community, provisions on sugar, milk-based preparations and import of rice into the Reunion Islands.
- Measures to assist local agricultural products: Title III, refers to support programmes; their compatibility, content and the monitoring thereof.
- Accompanying measures: Title IV, refers to matters such as defining a specific graphic symbol for quality agricultural products, rural development, state aid, plant health programmes, wine and milk products, livestock farming and state aid for tobacco production.
- Financial provisions: Title V. The measures provided for under this heading constitute the level of intervention needed to stabilises the agricultural markets. The Community will finance the measures provided in Title II and III of the Regulation up to an annual maximum as follows:
- French overseas departments: EUR 84.7 million.
- Azores and Madeira: EUR 77.3 million
- Canary Islands: EUR127.3 million.
The amounts allocated to the programmes provided for in Title II may not exceed:
- French overseas departments: EUR 20.7 million
- Azores and Madeira: EUR 17.7 million
- Canary Islands: EUR 72.7 million.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 15 February 2006.