Commission Regulation (EC) No 1468/2006 of 4 October 2006 amending Regulation (EC) No 595/2004 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector

‘4 Where no declaration is submitted before 15 June, Member States shall within 15 working days give formal notice to the purchaser to submit such declaration within 15 days. Where no declaration is submitted at the end of that period, Member States shall either withdraw approval or require payment of an amount in proportion to the volume of milk involved and the seriousness of the irregularity. Paragraph 3 shall continue to apply during the period of notice.’

‘4 Where no declaration is submitted before 15 June, Member States shall within 15 working days give formal notice to the producer to submit the declaration within 15 days. Where no declaration is submitted at the end of that period, the reference quantity for direct sales of the producer concerned shall revert to the national reserve. The first subparagraph of paragraph 3 of this Article shall continue to apply during the period of notice.’

‘3 The Member States shall declare to the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) the amounts resulting from the application of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 together with the expenditure declared in respect of November each year. Where pursuant to Article 26(3) of this Regulation, the Member States communicate an update of the questionnaire provided for in paragraph 1 of that Article, the resulting adjusted amounts shall be declared to the EAGF at the latest together with the expenditure declared in respect of the month before which the questionnaire shall be communicated.’

1 Where appropriate, Member States shall determine the priority categories of producers referred to in Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003, on the basis of one or more of the following objective criteria: (a) formal acknowledgement by the competent authority of Member State that all or part of the levy has been wrongly charged; (b) the geographical location of the holding and primarily mountain areas within the meaning of Article 18 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 ; (c) the maximum stocking density on the holding for the purpose of extensive livestock production; (d) the individual reference quantity is exceeded by less than 5 % or less than 15000 kg, whichever is the lowest; (e) the level of individual reference quantity is less than 50 % of the national average individual reference quantity; (f) other objective criteria adopted by the Member State after consulting the Commission.

2 The redistribution of the excess levy shall be completed 15 months after the end of the 12 month period in question at the latest.

Where pursuant to Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003, the 1 % levy not payable into the EAGF exceeds the amount necessary to cover cases of bankruptcy or definitive inability of certain producers to pay the levy, Member States may use the excess in accordance with Article 13(1) of that Regulation.’

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 1(2) shall apply from 1 April 2007.