30.10.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 32877 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1903/2004 of 29 October 2004, amending Regulation (EEC) No 3149/92 laying down detailed rules for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3730/87 of 10 December 1987 laying down the general rules for the supply of food from intervention stocks to designated organisations for distribution to the most deprived persons in the Community (1), and in particular Article 6 thereof, Whereas: (1)  Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3149/92 (%) lays down the application rules of Regulation (CEE) No 3730/87 for the supply of food from intervention stocks for the benefit of the most deprived persons in the Community by charitable organisations designated by the Member States. (2)  In order to ensure more standardised implementation in the Member States participating in this scheme, the concepts of ‘beneficiaries’ and ‘final recipients’ of the measure need to be clarified. In order to facilitate the management and control of the implementation of the annual plan as laid down in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 3149/92, the charitable organisations designated by the competent national authorities can be deemed final recipients if they are actually engaged in the local distri- bution of the foodstuffs (in various forms) where the most deprived persons live. (3)  Implementation of the plan in each participating Member State must be programmed, phased and regular both as regards withdrawals of the products from intervention stocks and the performance of the later phases until distribution to the beneficiaries or final recipients, in order to satisfy both the aim of the Community measure and the requirement to manage intervention stocks well. To this end, most withdrawals from inter- vention stocks should occur before 1 July of the year in which the plan is implemented. In the case of milk products, the characteristics of this sensitive market () OJ L 352, 15.12.1987, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2535/95 (O] L 260, 31.10.1995, p. 3). (® OJ L 313, 30.10.1992, p. 50. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 2339/2003 (O] L 346, 31.12.2003, p. 29). and in particular the impact of re-introducing products onto the market require provision to be made for limiting withdrawals of these products from public storage as part of the measure concerned, during periods when buying-in by intervention agencies is possible and, with effect from the implementation of the 2006 plan, even during the weeks preceding these buying-in periods. Appropriate measures must be imple- mented by the Member States, to include sanctions in line with the length of the delay in taking over the products. (4)  The most appropriate types of check of the implemen- tation of the annual plan should be specified and in particular the rate of checks to be made by the competent authorities. The annual reports of plan imple- mentation should include information allowing both the outcome of the checks and the plan’s implementation to be assessed. The checks must be carried out with due regard to the application of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3002/92 laying down common detailed rules for verifying the use and/or destination of products from intervention (3). (5)  Regulation (EEC) No 3149/1992 should be amended accordingly. These amendments should apply from the start of the 2005 annual plan period. (6)  The relevant Management Committees have not delivered opinions within the time limits set down by their chairmen, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 3149/92 is hereby amended as follows: 1. The following paragraph is added to Article 1: ‘3. For the purposes of this Regulation, “the most deprived persons” means physical persons, whether indi- viduals, families or groups composed of such persons, whose social and financial dependence is recorded or recognised on the basis of eligibility criteria adopted by the competent authorities, or is judged to be so on the basis of the criteria used by charitable organisations and which are approved by the competent authorities.” () OJ L 301, 17.10.1992, p. 17. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 770/96 (O] L 104, 27.4.1996, p. 13).