L 151/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 21.5.98 COMMISSION DECISION of 13 May 1998 derogating, for the 1997/98 marketing year, from certain provisions of Commis- sion Regulation (EEC) No 1201/89 as regards aid applications and applications for supervised storage of unginned cotton originating in certain Greek prefec- (Only the Greek text is authentic) (98/341/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to protocol 4 on cotton annexed to the Act of Accession of Greece, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1553/95 (), Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1554/95 of 29 June 1995 laying down the general rules for the system of aid for cotton and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2169/81 (?), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1584/ 96 (), and in particular Article 11(1) thereof, Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1201/89 of 3 May 1989 laying down rules implementing the system of aid for cotton (*), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1740/97 (), lays down 31 March as the time limit for placing unginned cotton in supervised storage but allows the possibility for the Member State to set a later time limit under certain conditions; whereas for the 1997/98 marketing year Greece used that provision by setting the time limit for supervised storage at 31 January 1998; whereas, as a result of exceptional weather conditions, it proved impossible to harvest the unginned cotton until the beginning of March 1998 in certain Greek prefec- tures; whereas, therefore, the start of supervised storage and the lodging of the corresponding aid applications should be accepted without penalty for the unginned cotton originating in those prefectures up to a date allowing for the other time limits in the rules to be complied with; Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Flax and Hemp, () OJ L 148, 30. 6. 1995, p. 45. () OJ L 148, 30. 6. 1995, p. 48. () OJ L 206, 16. 8. 1996, p. 16. () OJ L 123, 4. 5. 1989, p. 23. () OJ L 244, 6. 9. 1997, p. 1. HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 1. By derogation from the first indent of Article 5(3), from Article 7(1) and from the first and second subpara- graphs of Article 9(2), the following conditions shall apply for the 1997/98 marketing year to unginned cotton harvested in the Greek prefectures indicated in paragraph 2: (a) aid applications lodged by 15 April at the latest may be accepted; (b) if the aid applications are lodged between 1 April and 15 April, the aid to be granted shall be that valid on the previous 31 March; (c) applications for supervised storage lodged by 15 April at the latest may be accepted. 2. The Greek prefectures referred to in paragraph 1 are: Kavala, Xanthi, Rodopi and Evros. Article 2 This Decision is addressed to the Hellenic Republic. Done at Brussels, 13 May 1998. For the Commission Franz FISCHLER Member of the Commission