L84/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 28.3.2002 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 546/2002 of 25 March 2002 fixing the premiums and guarantee thresholds for leaf tobacco by variety group and Member State for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests and amending Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 36 and 37 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas: (1)  Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organisation of the market in raw tobacco (* provides for the fixing of the amount of the premium and the supplementary amounts for each tobacco harvest, taking particular account of past and foreseeable possibilities for the disposal of the various types of tobacco, under normal conditions of competition. The premiums should therefore be fixed and linked to the guarantee thresholds fixed for 2002, 2003 and 2004. 2)  In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 8 and Article 9(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92, the guarantee thresholds for each variety group and Member States should be fixed for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests, taking particular account of market conditions and socio-economic and agronomic conditions in the production areas concerned. The threshold levels should be set in good time so that the producers can plan their production for the harvests in question. (3)  Atticle 6(5) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 allows the Member States to apply a cultivation contract auction scheme. Under the provisions currently in force, if this scheme is applied it must cover all the groups of tobacco varieties produced in a Member State. The system has not yet been applied because the Member States believe that auctioning is warranted only for certain variety groups and only for contracts of producer groups which manifest an interest. With a view to encouraging auctions as a way of increasing the commercial price of raw tobacco, more flexible provi- sions should be introduced so that the Member States () O] C 51 E, 26.2.2002, p. 382. (3 Opinion delivered on 14 March 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (*) Opinion delivered on 20 February 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (*) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992, p. 70. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 1336/2000 (O] L 154, 27.6.2000, p. 2). can restrict this mechanism to certain variety groups only and to producer groups which wish to participate. The national quota reserves created under Article 9(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 have failed to achieve the conversion or farm-restructuring objectives for which they were created. Application at national level, in particular the criteria laid down by the Member States for redistributing the reserves and the small amounts involved in their establishment, has proved inadequate for achieving the desired effect. Furthermore, the administrative arrangements for managing the national reserves have created an excess workload and have excessively complicated the management of the quotas, resulting in serious delays in their distribution. However the possibility should remain open for Member States which wish to do so to have recourse to this system where they consider it to be useful. The Treaty requires that a high level of human health protection be ensured in the definition and implementa- tion of all Community policies and activities. In the framework of the strategy for sustainable development in the European Union, the economic, social and envir- onmental consequences of every policy must be taken into account. In the raw tobacco producing regions, it is consequently advisable to implement actions aimed at developing new sources of income and economic activity for the growers. In order to achieve this goal, it is proposed that the activities of the Community Tobacco Fund should be amended and agronomic research should be replaced by a measure to support specific initiatives allowing tobacco growers to switch from tobacco into other crops and economic activities creating employment. It is also advisable to increase the deduction used to finance the Fund to 3 % in 2003 in order to strengthen the budgetary means available for financing information measures on the harmful effects of tobacco consump- tion and initiatives to convert production. This latter measure, which is a new priority, could be implemented nationally as part of specific conversion measures and would accompany and develop synergies with the quota buy-back programme. For the 2004 harvest, if necessary, the deduction could be increased up to 5 % according to the use of the Fund's appropriations, on the basis of a report drawn up by the Commission. Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 should therefore be amended,