L 200/54 Official Journal of the European Communities 8.8.2000 COMMISSION DECISION of 24 July 2000 on the granting of aid for the production of table olives in France (notified under document number C(2000) 2198) (Only the French text is authentic) (2000/498EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation No 136/66/EEC of 22 September 1966 on the establishment of a common organ- isation of the market in oils and fats (), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2702/1999 (3), and in particular Article 5(4) thereof, Whereas: (1)  Article 5(4) of Regulation No 136/66/EEC grants the Member States the possibility of allocating part of their national guaranteed quantities and of their olive-oil production aid to support for table olives on conditions to be approved by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 38 of that Regula- tion. (2)  France has presented a request in respect of the 2000/01 marketing year and detailed rules should be laid down for the granting of the aid. (3)  Provision should be made for aid to be granted to growers of processed table olives from olive groves in France and the conditions governing the granting of the aid should be specified. (4)  The processing period should be defined as running from 1 September 2000 to 31 August 2001. Olives which have undergone initial treatment in brine lasting at least 15 days and have been removed from the brine definitively or failing that have undergone making them fit for human consumption should be deemed to be processed olives. (5)  The weight of processed table olives for which aid is payable and the equivalence between processed table olives and olive oil should be determined for the purposes of calculating the unit aid for olives and of administering the national guaranteed quantities. (6)  Undertakings processing table olives must be approved in accordance with conditions to be determined. Account should be taken of the fact that processing undertakings located within the area covered by a regis- tered designation of origin must maintain stock records, irrespective of the type of olives processed. () O] 172, 30.9.1966, p.3025/66. () O] L 327, 21.12.1999, p. 7. (7)  Provisions should be laid down for checks on aid for table olives. Those provisions must in particular cover crop declarations by table-olive growers, notifications by processors of the quantities of olives delivered by growers and leaving the processing chain, and the obli- gations on paying agencies regarding controls. Provision should be made for penalties on table-olive growers where their declarations conflict with the results of checks. (8)  The information needed for calculating the aid to be granted to growers of processed table olives should be determined. An advance on the aid may be granted on certain conditions. (9)  France must notify the Commission of the national measures adopted for the purposes of applying this Decision and of the information used for calculating the advance on the aid and the definitive aid. (10) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Qils and Fats, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 For the 2000/01 olive-oil marketing year, France is authorised to grant aid for the production of table olives in accordance with this Decision. Article 2 1. Aid for the production of table olives shall be granted to growers of olives which come from olive groves in France and are sent to approved processing undertakings for processing into table olives. 2. For the 2000/01 olive-oil marketing year, aid shall be granted for table olives processed between 1 September 2000 and 31 August 2001. 3. Within the meaning of this Decision, ‘processed table olives’ means olives that have undergone for at least 15 days initial treatment in brine and have been removed from the brine definitively or failing that have undergone treatment making them fit for human consumption.