L 319/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 21. 11. 97 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2300/97 of 20 November 1997 on detailed rules to implement Council Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 laying down general rules for the application of measures to improve the production and marketing of honey THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 of 25 June 1997 laying down general rules for the applica- tion of measures to improve the production and mar- keting of honey ('), and in particular Article § thereof, Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 lays down measures for the purpose of improving the conditions under which honey is produced and marketed in the Community; whereas Article 1 of that Regulation states that Member States may establish national programmes; whereas it is necessary to specify the basic elements that these programmes are required to contain and the time limit for their transmission to the Commission; Whereas the Community’s financial contribution to national programmes should be restricted, by reference to each Member State’s share of the total number of hives in the Community; Whereas the Member States are to monitor programmes implemented pursuant to this Regulation; whereas those monitoring measures are to be notified to the Commis- sion; Whereas, although measures included in operational programmes under Objectives 1, 5 (b) and 6 cannot be financed pursuant to this Regulation, a list of such measures should also be notified to the Commission; Whereas common criteria should be laid down to ensure that the studies referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 are carried out in a consistent fashion; Whereas rules should be adopted for setting the agricul- tural conversion rates to be applied to the financing of national programmes; Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Poultrymeat and Eggs, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 The national annual programmes referred to in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the programmes’) shall: () OJ L 173, 1. 7. 1997, p. L. (a) describe the situation in the sector; the description must make it possible to update regularly the struc- tural data in the study referred to in Article 2 of Regu- lation (EC) No 1221/97; (b) state its aims; (c) give a detailed description of the measures involved, with unit costs where appropriate; (d) state the estimated costs and financing plan at national and regional level; (e) refer to the applicable laws, regulations and admin- istrative provisions; (f) list the representative organizations and bee-keeping cooperatives that collaborated in drawing up the programmes; (g) set up the monitoring and assessment arrangements. Article 2 Member States shall notify their programmes to the Commission before 30 September of each year. For the first year this date shall be 15 December 1997. Article 3 Community part-financing of programmes, as referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/97, shall be restricted for each Member State to an amount corres- ponding to its share of the total number of bechives in the Community, as shown in Annex I to this Regulation. However, if one or more Member States does not notify its programme within the time limits laid down in Article 2, or does not use all of the amount of part-financing referred to in the first paragraph, the shares of the other Member States may be increased in proportion to their share. Article 4 1. Member States shall forward to the Commission, together with their programmes, documents specifying how the programmes are to be monitored. The monit- oring checks shall be designed to verify compliance with the terms on which aid is granted under the national programmes. These shall consist of both administrative and on-the-spot checks.