1. 5. 92 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 117/85 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 1117/92 of 30 April 1992 on the improvement of the quality of milk in Spain, Ireland, Northern Ireland ' and Portugal THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1079/77 of 17 May 1977 on a co-responsibility levy and on measures for expanding the markets in milk and milk products (), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1632/91 (), and in particular Article 4 thereof, Whereas provision should be made, amongst the measures for expanding the markets in milk products referred to in the fourth indent of Article 4 (2) of Regula- tion (EEC) No 1079/77, for measures to improve the quality of milk in Ireland and Northern Ireland, taking into account the seasonal character of milk production and the strong export tradition in these areas; whereas steps should also be taken to encourage measures to facili- tate the application of Council Directive 85/397/EEC on health and animal health problems affecting intra- Community trade in heat-treated milk (*), as last amended by Directive 89/662/EEC (*), in Spain and Portugal, taking into account the structure of dairy holdings in these countries ; Whereas for administrative reasons the organizations and producer groups possessing the necessary qualifications and experience should be invited to propose detailed programmes which these organizations would themselves carry out; Whereas, as regards the other arrangements, the main provisions of earlier Regulations, as amended in the light of relevant experience, may be repeated ; Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products, () OJ No L 131, 26. 5. 1977, p. 6. ) O] No L 150, 15. 6. 1991, p. 23. () OJ No L 226, 24. 8. 1985, p. 13. () OJ No L 395, 30. 12. 1989, p. 13. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 1.  Under the conditions laid down in the Regulation, measures shall be taken in Spain, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Portugal to improve the quality of milk, and in particular to encourage : (a) provision and installation, upgrading and testing of ~ on-farm milk holding facilities and milking equip- ment, directed in particular towards improvmeents in total bacterial count and somatic cell count; (b) setting-up of milk collection centres, if necessary with refrigeration facilities (in properly justified exceptional cases, aid may also be granted to single farms); (c) counselling of individual milk producers concerning the production of milk (cowshed hygiene, milking, animal health) and its treatment (cooling); (d) counselling on the collection (jointly operated equip- ment, collection points) and transport of raw milk (specifications, equipment and operation of milk tankers) ; (e) counselling of producers, particularly as regards the use of antibiotics, mastitis control, the need to test milking machines, udder preparation and milking techniques ; (f) the improvement of the quality of water on farms; (g) the improvement of equipment for the bacteriological analysis of milk; (h) examination of the health aspects of milk; (i) the fitting of automatic sampling devices to collection vehicles. 2. The measures shall be completed before 1 January 1994. : 3. The time limit fixed in paragraph 2 shall not prevent subsequent agreement to an extension of that limit where the party to a contract makes the appropriate application to the competent authority before the fixed expiry date and proves that, due to exceptional circum- stances beyond his control, he is unable to meat the dead- line originally stipulated. However, this extension may not exceed six months.