Brussels, 24/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to an estimate published on 23 October by the European Commission, the total fines to Member States exceeding their milk quotas during the period 2002-2003 will be 320 million EUR for the whole of the EU, compared to 276 million the previous year. The overall excess throughout the EU was 344,000 tonnes across all sectors.
The total available quota for deliveries was set at 117,74 million tonnes (split between 560,000 individual quotas) for the whole of the EU during the period 2002-2003. According to the annual declarations of the Member States, nine of them (Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Portugal) exceeded their quota by 855,500 tonnes between them, which corresponds to a fine of 305 million EUR. Six Member States (Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Sweden and the UK) did not fill their quotas and will therefore not have to pay a fine. They under-used their quotas by 369,900 tonnes. Producers from these countries will also be exempt from any fine, and the national reference quantities were not exceeded. If the under-use is subtracted from the excess, the overall excess was 485,000 tonnes for the period 2002-2003, as against an under-use of 450,000 tonnes in 2001-2002. On the 1.2 million tonnes of quota for direct sales to consumers, Italy and the Netherlands declared a total excess of 41,123 tonnes, which corresponds to an additional fine of 14.6 million EUR. For the deliveries sector, over the last four seasons (from 1999/2000 to 2002/2003) and in the Europe of Fifteen, the overall quota has increased, from 116 to 117.7 million tonnes, following specific increases in quotas granted in under agenda 2000. At the same time, the number of active producers has dropped from 703,000 to 560,000, and the average quota (deliveries) of each producer has risen from 164,000 to 210,000 kg.
It is worth noting that the sales of cow's milk in the EU is subjected to quotas in order to ensure a balance between supply and demand and to keep on top of excesses. Each Member States received two "reference quantities" (quotas), one for deliveries to central dairies, the other for direct sales to consumers. These quantities are divided between producers (individual quotas) in each Member State. If the national quota is exceeded, a fine must be paid in that State by the producers who contributed to exceeding it. This fine is paid by cow's milk producers on all quantities of milk or milk equivalent sold above-quota during a period of twelve months, from 1 April to 31 March. The unused quantities can be reallocated to other producers in the same Member State. Each year, before 1 September, Member States must inform the Commission of the results of the application of the milk quota during the previous period, in the form of a complete questionnaire including all data necessary to calculate the fine. This is 0.35627 EUR per kilo of excess.