L 270/96 Official Journal of the European Union 21.10.2003 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1785/2003 of 29 September 2003 on the common organisation of the market in rice THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 36 and the third subparagraph of 37(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the regions (%), Whereas: (1) The operation and development of the common market for agricultural products must be accompanied by the establishment of a common agricultural policy to include, in particular, a common organisation of agricultural markets which may take various forms depending on the product. Council Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organisation of the market in rice (*) has been substantially amended several times. Since further amendments are to be made, in the interests of clarity that Regulation should be replaced. Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 should accordingly be repealed. The European rice market is in serious unbalance. The volume of rice stored in public intervention is very large, equivalent to about a quarter of Community output, and is likely to increase in the long run. The imbalance has been caused by the combined effect of an increase in domestic output, which has stabilised in recent marketing years, the continuing growth of imports and by the restrictions on exports with refunds in accordance with the Agriculture Agreement. The present imbalance is to be exacerbated even further and (') Opinion delivered on 5 June 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (3 0] C 208, 3.9.2003, p. 72. (®) Opinion delivered on 2 July 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () O] L 329, 30.12.1995, p. 18. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 411/2002 (O] L 62, 5.3.2002, p. probably to reach an unsustainable level, in the course of the years to come as a result of increasing imports from third countries due to the implementation of the EBA Agreement. This problem must be solved by revising the common market organisation for rice, in such a way as to take control of output, improve the equilibrium and fluidity of the market and enhance the competitiveness of Community agriculture, while pursuing the other aims of Article 33 of the Treaty, including maintaining suitable income support for producers. It appears that the most suitable solution is to decrease strongly the intervention price and to create, as a compensation an income payment per farm and a crop specific aid reflecting the role of rice production in traditional production areas. The latter two instruments are incorporated in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 on establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing support schemes for farmers (°). To prevent the system of intervention becoming an outlet in itself, the quantities bought in by the intervention agencies should be limited to 75000 tonnes per year and the intervention period should be limited to four months. The creation of a single Community market for rice involves the introduction of a trading system at the external frontiers of the Community. A trading system complementing the intervention system and including import duties applying the rates of the Common Customs Tariff and export refunds should, in principle, stabilise the Community market. The trading system should be based on the undertakings accepted under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. In order to monitor the volume of trade in rice with third countries, provision should be made for an import and export licence scheme with the lodging of a security to ensure that the transactions for which such licences are requested are effected. For the most part, the customs duties applicable to agricultural ~ products under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements are laid down in the common customs tariff. However, for some rice () See page 1 of this Official Journal.