25.6.76 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 166/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1418/76 of 21 June 1976 on the common organization of the market in rice THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1), Whereas since their adoption the basic provisions concerning the organization of the market in rice have been amended a number of times; whereas, by reason of their number, their complexity and their dispersal among various Official Journals, these texts are difficult to use and thus lack the clarity which should be an essential feature of all legislation; whereas they should therefore be consolidated in a single text; Whereas the operation and development of the common market in agricultural products must be accompanied by the establishment of a common agricultural policy to include in particular a common organization of agricultural markets which may take various forms depending on the product; Whereas the common organization of the market in rice should include a single price system for the Community; whereas this system may be established through the annual fixing of a target price for husked rice valid for the whole Community, of an inter- vention price for paddy rice at which the competent agencies are obliged to buy in the rice which is offered to them, and of a threshold price for husked rice, wholly milled rice and broken rice to which the price of imported products must be equated by means of a variable import levy; () OJ No C 53, 8. 3. 1976, p. 43. Whereas the aim of the common agricultural policy is to attain the objectives set out in Article 39 of the Treaty; whereas in the rice sector, in order to stabilize markets and to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community concerned, intervention agencies should continue to take intervention measures on the market; Whereas free movement within the Community should enable surpluses in production areas to be offset against requirements in deficit areas; whereas, so as not to impede such offsetting, intervention prices should be fixed in such a way that the differences between them reflect the disparities which, given a normal harvest, arise under natural conditions of price formation on the market, and that the forces of supply and demand may adapt freely on that market; Whereas the smooth adjustment of the market to the regionalization of prices requires intervention agencies to be able, in special circumstances, to take intervention measures suited to those circumstances; whereas, however, so that the required uniformity of intervention systems may be maintained, those special circumstances should be assessed and the appropriate measures determined at Community level; Whereas the target price, intervention prices and threshold prices should, in the course of the marketing year, be subject to a certain number of monthly increases in order to take account, inter alia, of storage costs and interest charges for storing rice in the Community and of the need to ensure that the disposal of stocks conforms to market requirements; '