No L 100/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 4. 97 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 659/97 of 16 April 1997 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 as regards intervention arrangements in the fruit and vegetables sector THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organization of the market in fruit and vegetables('), and in particular Articles 30 (6), 48 and 57 thereof, Whereas Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 es- tablishes the intervention arrangements for the products referred to in Article 1 (2) thereof;, whereas the detailed rules of application must therefore be laid down; Whereas, in relation to products, the terms ‘not put up for sale’ and ‘withdrawn from the market’ should be treated as equivalent and should be included in a single defini- tion; whereas it should also be clarified that the provisions on packaging requirements do not apply to the products withdrawn from the market; Whereas the marketing years for the products listed in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 must be estab- lished; Whereas, to apply the limits laid down in Article 23 and 24 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, the ‘marketed quantity’ of a given product marketed by a producer or- ganization must be defined, taking acocunt of the produc- tion actually disposed of by the producer organization in question, the production from other producer organiza- tions and the production of producers not affiliated to any producer organization; Whereas Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 requires Member States to notify the Commission of the prices recorded on representative producer markets for certain products and for certain periods; whereas a list of those markets and of the products in question should therefore be drawn up; Whereas Article 26 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 es- tablishes the Community withdrawal compensation for the products listed in Annex II to that Regulation; whereas a system should be introduced for paying this compensation in such a way as to ensure that the limits laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 are complied with at all times; () OJ No L 297, 21. 11. 1996, p. 1. Whereas, to prevent irregularities in applying the scheme and to ensure its transparency, the producer organizations must notify the responsible monitoring authorities in advance of each withdrawal; whereas, in the absence of this notification, the product can be disposed of only after authorization from the Member State; whereas, further- more, a communications system for the producer organ- izations and the Member States should be set up; Whereas, for the implementation of Article 25 of Regula- tion (EC) No 2200/96, the time limits should be laid down for presenting the measures taken by the Member States to ensure environmentally sound practice in the withdrawal operations; Whereas the first, second and third indents of point (a) of Article 30 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 provide that the fruit and vegetables withdrawn from the market in accordance with Article 23 (1) and which remain unsold may be distributed free, both within and outside the Community, as humanitarian aid to certain needy cat- egories of the population through charitable organiza- tions; whereas the charitable organizations should be approved beforehand; Whereas, in the case of free distribution of fruit and ve- getables withdrawn from the market, the transport costs are to be borne by the Community pursuant to Article 30 (6) of Regulation (EC} No 2200/96; whereas it must be stipulated that those costs must be paid to the consignor who has borne the cost of transport; whereas flat rates should be laid down for the defrayal of such costs; Whereas, in the case of free distribution of apples and citrus fruits withdrawn from the market, the actual costs of sorting and packaging may be defrayed by the Com- munity pursuant to Article 30 (6) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, up to a specific limit; whereas, to qualify for this measure, the charitable organizations and the producer organizations must conclude contractual agreements; whereas provisions governing such agreements should be laid down; Whereas the procedures for the physical and documentary monitoring of the intervention and free distribution operations must be laid down; whereas, in cases of in- fringement, deterrent penalties that are in line with the seriousness of the offence should be stipulated; whereas the monitoring operations must cover the producer or- ganizations and charitable organizations involved;