No L 164/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 24. 6. 85 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1677/85 of 11 June 1985 on monetary compensatory amounts in agriculture THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNTIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Fconomic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, laving regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors, Having regard to the opinion of the Monetary Committee, Whereas for several years the common agricultural policy has required the use, for the conversion into national currencies of amounts fixed at Community level in units of account or in ECU, of special conversion rates which differ appreciably from the market exchange rates; whereas, when most currencies were being allowed to float, the fixing of such agricultural conversion rates was the only way of maintaining the common agricultural policy and its price system in being; Whereas, if in a Member State the market rate deviates from the agricultural conversion rate by more than a specified margin, the functioning of the common agricultural policy may be seriously impeded; whereas, since trade to which the market rate applies may then be effected at a price, in national currency, different from the intervention price resulting from the use of agricultural conversion rates; whereas, moreover, the amounts to be granted or charged in trade with non-member countries will differ from one Member State to another; Whereas such effects might jeopardize the proper functioning of the market organization in general and its intervention system in particular; whereas, furthermore, abnormal changes in prices and artificial movements in trade flows might occur; Whereas it is justifiable to forestall these difficulties by providing for the application in trade of a system of monetary compensatory amounts bridging the gap between the market rate and the agricultural conversion rate; whereas these amounts were introduced by Council Regulation (EEC) No 974/71 of 12 May 1971 on certain measures of conjunctural policy to be taken in agriculture following the temporary (') O] No C 21, 23.1. 1985, p. 15. (2) O] No C 97, 21. 4. 1980, p. 44. (*) O] No C 182, 21. 7. 1980, p. 41. widening of the margins of fluctuation for the currencies of certain Member States (*), as amended on several occasions and as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 855/84 (%); whereas that Regulation has been amended several times; whereas, in_the interests of clarity and administrative efficiency, it should be consolidated and republished in its entirety; Whereas, by virtue of Council Regulation (EEC)No 652/79 of 29 March 1979 on the impact of the European Monetary System on the common agricultural policy (¢), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3657/84 (7), the ECU is applied for the purposes of the common agricultural policy; whereas, for the currencies of the Member States which are taking part in the exchange rate system of the European Monetary System, central rates have been fixed against the ECU; Whereas, in cases where the Member States maintain a maximum spread at any given time of 2,25 % between their currencies, the central rates vis-a-vis the ECU can be used as market rates; whereas it is desirable, in order to ensure a measure of stability in monetary compensatory amounts, to calculate the amounts for the Member States concerned by reference to the central rates instead of the actual market rates; Whereas for the other Member States it is appropriate to take the relationship between their currencies and the currencies of the Member States referred to above as the basis for calculating the monetary compensatory amounts; Whereas experience has shown that the re-incorporation of the agricultural sector into the economic context by alignment of the agricultural conversion rates on the central rates is a difficult undertaking, particularly for the Member States applying positive monetary compensatory amounts, the dismantlement of which entails reductions in prices when expressed in the national currencies; Whereas for this reason, price differences due to the agricultural conversion rates tend to be permanent; whereas, if market unity is to be restored, these differences must be narrowed down in the future; whereas rules on the dismantlement of the monetary compensatory amounts are therefore needed; Whereas these rules must cover both the methods of calculation of the monetary compensatory amounts and the agricultural conversion rates; whereas, for the monetary 4 (*) OJ No L 106, 12. 5. 1971, p. 1. (5) OJ No L 90, 1. 4. 1984, p. 1. () O] No L 84, 4. 4.1979, p. 1. (7) OJ No L 340, 28.12. 1984, p. 9. 7