21. 3. 95 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 63/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 603/95 of 21 February 1995 on the common organization of the market in dried fodder THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 'Community, and in particular Article 42 and 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parli- ament (3), Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1117/78(}) set up a common organization of the market in dried fodder; whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1417/78 (%) set out the aid system for dried fodder; Whereas a simple flat rate aid payment should be made for dried fodder ; whereas the rate for fodder which is arti- ficially heat-dried should be higher than that for sun- dried fodder in order to take into account the additional costs involved ; Whereas in order to limit Community dried fodder production, the amount for which aid may be granted should be subject to maximum limits; Whereas two different maximum guaranteed quantities MGQ) should be fixed, one for artificially heat-dried fodder and another for sun-dried ; Whereas these MGQs should be distributed between Member States on an equitable basis taking into account, in particular, the average of their production for which aid was received under Article 5 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1117/78 in the marketing years 1992/93 and 1993/94 according to the data available to the Commission in July 1994 ; () OJ No C 365, 21. 12. 1994, p. 8. (» O] No C 56, 6. 3. 1995. () OJ No L 142, 30. 5. 1978, p. 2. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3496/93 (Oj No L 319, 21. 12. 1993, p. 17). (9 OJ No L 171, 28. 6. 1978, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1110/89 (OJ No L 118, 29. 4. 1989, p- 1). Whereas in order to ensure that the MGQs are respected and in order to discourage excess production throughout the Community, in the event of an overshoot, the aid for dried fodder should be reduced ; whereas that reduction should equally be applied in all Member States for the first 5 % by which the MGQ is exceeded ; whereas in the event of a larger excess, those Member States which have exceeded their national guaranteed quantities should subject to an additional reduction ; Whereas the final amount of the aid cannot be paid until it has been calculated whether the MGQ has been exceeded ; whereas it is therefore necessary that advance payments of the aid be made after the dried fodder has left the processing undertaking ; Whereas the European Parliament has called for a more substantial advance than the 50 % provided for in the Commission proposal ; whereas the Commission has endorsed that view; whereas, as a consequence, the amounts appearing in Article 6 have become provisional ; whereas, in order to meet this request, the Council will ‘forthwith examine the question of the amount of the advances on the basis of the Commission proposal, so that a regulation settling the issue deﬁnmvely can be adopted as soon as possible ; Whereas the marketing year for dried fodder for which aid is paid should be from 1 April each year to 31 March of the following year as production in southern Member States commences already in April ; Whereas criteria relative to the minimum quality of dried fodder entitled to aid should be determined; Whereas, in order to encourage a regular supply of green fodder to processors and to enable producers to benefit from the aid scheme, the granting of aid should in certain cases be conditional on the conclusion of contracts between producers and processing undertakings ; Whereas the contracts should, on the one hand, promote regular supplies for the processing undertakings and, on the other, permit the producers to benefit from the aid; whereas, to this end, it should be laid down that the contracts include certain information ;