EUROPA

SUMMARY

In this Regulation, the Council establishes a Community system for the purpose of identifying and making known to all the competent authorities of the Member States and the Commission operators presenting a risk of non-reliability. It covers tendering procedures, export refunds and sales at reduced prices of intervention products, financed by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF.

Identification procedures

The identification procedures and rules relating to notification are to be implemented on the initiative of the Member State in which the risk of the operator's non-reliability is identified. Where a Member State fails to fulfil this obligation, the Commission must ensure that it implements this identification and notification system.

Member States may take measures to deal with operators, in particular:

• reinforced checking of all operations performed by the operator;
• suspension, until the administrative determination of the existence of an irregularity, of payment of amounts relating to current operations to be determined, and, where appropriate, of release of the security relating thereto;
• their exclusion for a period of time from operations to be determined.

These measures must comply with the following principles, in accordance with the national law of the Member State:

• a prior hearing and right of appeal by the operator concerned;
• proportionality between the irregularity committed or suspected and the measures to be applied;
• non-discrimination between operators.

Member States and the Commission must take all necessary precautions to ensure that the information which they exchange pursuant to this Regulation are kept confidential.

This Regulation is supplementary to the specific provisions under the CAP.