Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the provisions concerning producer organisations, operational funds and operational programmes in the fruit and vegetables sector since the 2007 reform

Producer organisations (POs) became the cornerstone of the EU regime for the fruit and vegetables (F&V) sector in the 1996 reform. The aim was to strengthen the position of producers in the face of a greater concentration of demand and to integrate environmental concerns in the production and marketing of F&V. For the first time, POs could receive EU support in the form of a contribution to the operational funds needed to implement operational programmes.

The 2007 reform aimed to strengthen the POs further. A wider range of tools was made available to enable them to prevent and manage market crises. Incentives were created to encourage mergers between POs, associations of POs (APOs) and transnational cooperation. There was special emphasis on protecting the environment, with POs required to include a minimum level of environmental spending in their operational programmes.

For the first time, Member States had to establish a national strategy for sustainable operational programmes, integrating a specific environmental framework.

The 2007 reform also removed export refunds in the sector and decoupled aid for fruit destined for processing. Aid to encourage producer groups to establish themselves and make investments so as to become fully-fledged POs within five years was limited to Member States which joined the EU on 1 May 2004 or thereafter, the outermost regions, and the smaller Aegean Islands.

This report complies with Article 184(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. It is based primarily on information Member States provided on the implementation of the EU fruit and vegetables scheme on their territory and, in particular, on information in the annual reports and evaluation reports sent to the Commission. These are mainly based on data for 2008-2010.

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)112: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:112:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2014)54: Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the report http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:054:FIN

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