21.10.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 270/123 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1788/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Whereas: ey Council Regulation (EEC) No 856/84 of 31 March 1984 amending Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products (?) introduced an additional levy scheme in that sector from 2 April 1984. The scheme has been extended several times, in particular by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 of 28 December 1992 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (%) and most recently, until 31 March 2008, by Council Regulation (EC) No 1256/1999 of 17 May 1999 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (*. In order both to benefit from the lessons learned and to simplify and clarify the scheme, Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 should be repealed and the rules governing the extended scheme should be reorganised and clarified. The main purpose of the scheme is to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand on the milk and milk products market and the resulting structural surpluses, thereby achieving better market equilibrium. It should therefore continue to be applied for seven further consecutive twelve-month periods starting on 1 April 2008. Those periods are to be added to the periods already provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92. The method adopted in 1984, which consists of applying a levy to quantities of milk collected or sold for direct consumption above a certain guarantee threshold, should be maintained. This guarantee threshold is fixed for each Member State as a guaranteed total quantity for a reference milk-fat content. (") Opinion delivered on 5 June 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 90, 1.4.1984, p. 10. () O] L 405, 31.12.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2028/2002 (O] L 313, 16.11.2002, p. 3). () OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 73. () The levy should be set at a dissuasive level and be payable by the Member States as soon as the national reference quantity is exceeded. The Member State should then divide the burden of payment among the producers who have contributed to the overrun. The latter must be liable vis-a-vis the Member State for payment of their contribution to the levy due for the mere fact of having overrun their available quantity. Member States shall pay to the EAGGF, Guarantee Section, the levy corresponding to the overrun of their national reference amount, reduced by a flat-rate amount of 1% in order to take account of cases of bankruptcy or the definitive inability of certain producers to make their contribution to the payment of the levy due. Member States should be allowed a certain amount of time to allocate the levy to be paid among producers and to pay it to the EAGGF Guarantee Section. If they are unable to meet the time limit set, it should be ensured that the amounts due are available in the EAGGF Guarantee Section, by deducting them from the monthly refunds made to Member States. This involves derogating from the procedure laid down in Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 of 26 September 2000 on budgetary discipline (°). Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 provided for a distinction between deliveries and direct sales. Experience has shown that administration should be simplified by restricting deliveries to whole milk and excluding all other milk products. Consequently, direct sales must henceforth include sales and direct transfers of milk to consumers, as well as all sales and transfers of other milk products. For each individual reference quantity for deliveries there should be a matching representative fat rate established with reference to existing and modifiable rates in accordance with rules to be defined. Rules should be laid down to ensure that the difference between the weighted average of the individual representative fat contents and the relevant national reference fat content remains minimal. (%) O] L 244, 29.9.2000, p. 27.