No L 329/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 12. 95 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organization of the market in rice THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 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 ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), (1) Whereas the new orientation of the common agricultural policy should lead to better balance on the markets and improve the competitiveness of Community agriculture; Whereas the common organization of the market in rice must include a common price system for the Community; whereas that system may be established by fixing an intervention price for paddy rice valid for the whole Community at which the competent agencies are obliged to buy in the rice which is offered to them; Whereas, under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, the Community has undertaken gradually to reduce the customs duties resulting from the tarification of the former levy system; whereas the reduction in customs duties must be accompanied by a fall in Community prices to enable the competitiveness of the Community product to be maintained; whereas, to prevent income losses for producers resulting from the aforementioned reduction in institutional prices, it is appropriate to establish a system of compensatory payments for production granted per hectare and intended to maintain present profitability levels for the crop, the amount of which is fixed on the basis of the envisaged price reduction and the agronomic yields recorded in the various Member States over a period considered to be representative; whereas for this purpose it is appropriate to choose the highest result between: — the average of the three years obtained by eliminating the one in which the yield is highest (') Opinion delivered on 14 December 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal). {?) Opinion delivered on 23 November 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (6) and the one in which the yield was lowest during the period 1990/91 to 1994/95, — the average of the three years 1992/93, 1993/94 and 1994/95; Whereas it is necessary to determine certain conditions concerning claims for compensatory payments and to specify the date of payment to producers; Whereas the introduction of the aforementioned system of compensatory payments per hectare renders it appropriate to lay down a base area per producing  Member  State;  whereas  that determination should reflect the area cultivated during the last year of production available in statistical terms; whereas, however, in order to take account of drought, in the case of Spain and Portugal it is appropriate to take account of the last year available by region except for regions affected by drought, where the last year before the drought is taken into account; whereas as regards French Guiana it is appropriate to lay down the base area in accordance with the one which is the subject of the arrangements provided for in Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3763/91 introducing specific measures in respect of certain agricultural products for the benefit of the French overseas departments (*); whereas such a determination makes it possible to maintain production objectives compatible with the requirements of the market and to comply with the undertakings accepted under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations concerning trade exports; whereas compliance with the base area can be ensured, in the event of overshooting, by reducing the aid sufficiently to dissuade producers from exceeding the maximum; Whereas a system of intervention should be set up in order to balance the market; whereas the intervention period should be limited to four months in order to preserve the original purpose of intervention and to prevent it becoming an outlet in itself; Whereas the intervention price should .continue to be subject to a certain number of monthly increases in order to take account, inter alia, of storage costs and financial charges for storing rice in the Community and of the need to ensure that the disposal  of stocks conforms to  market requirements; (*) OJ No L 356, 24. 12. 1991, p. 1.