Date: 2022-03-28Category: Not ApplicableState: Union GovernmentCountry: Europe
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/486 of 21 January 2022 amending Annexes I and III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the calculation methods of public intervention expenditure
Issued by European Commission
· Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
**Executive Summary:**
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/486 amends Annexes I and III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014, which supplements Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 regarding the calculation methods of public intervention expenditure. The amendments address interest rate calculations for financing costs and standard amounts for products in public storage, aiming for simplification and resource efficiency. The regulation entered into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
**Key Points / Main Content:**
* **Interest Rate Calculation (Annex I):**
* The Commission will fix a uniform interest rate for financing costs borne by the EAGF.
* The uniform interest rate corresponds to the average of the 3-month and 12-month forward EURIBOR rates, recorded during a 6-month reference period, with a weighting of one-third and two-thirds respectively. If EURIBOR is unavailable, the average STR will be used.
* Member States must notify the Commission of the average interest rate they bore during the reference period, using the provided form, upon request and by the deadline.
* For Eurozone members, the reference rate is EURIBOR 3 months or, if unavailable, STR.
* For non-Eurozone members, the reference rate is IBOR 3 months or a replacement rate if IBOR is unavailable.
* The Commission implementing regulation fixing the interest rate remains in effect until repealed.
* **Standard Amounts for Public Storage (Annex III):**
* If fewer than four Member States place a product in public storage or notify costs, standard amounts will be based on the costs recorded in the involved Member States, with a limit of 2% difference from the previously established amount.
* If there is no public storage in the accounting year, the Commission implementing decision fixing the standard amounts remains applicable until repealed.
**Impact Analysis**
**European Commission:**
* *Impact:* The Commission is responsible for fixing uniform interest rates, updating these rates only when public storage intervention occurs, and establishing standard amounts for products in public storage. They are also responsible for providing a form for Member States to report interest rates.
* *Action Required:* The Commission must monitor EURIBOR and STR rates, update interest rates as needed, and ensure the availability of a reporting form for Member States.
**Member States:**
* *Impact:* Member States are required to report average interest rates to the Commission upon request.
* *Action Required:* Member States must track and report their average interest rates accurately and by the specified deadline.
**European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF):**
* *Impact:* The EAGF will bear the financing costs based on the uniform interest rate fixed by the Commission.
* *Action Required:* The EAGF must adapt its financial management to the updated interest rate calculations.
Key Entities Referenced
European Union: A political and economic union of member states located primarily in Europe.
European Commission: An institution of the European Union, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU.
Regulation EU No 1306/2013: A regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy.
Commission Delegated Regulation EU No 906/2014: A delegated regulation supplementing Regulation EU No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to public intervention expenditure.
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF): A fund providing financial support for the common agricultural policy of the European Union.
EURIBOR: Euro Interbank Offered Rate, a daily reference rate based on the average interest rates at which Eurozone banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the euro money market.
IBOR: Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lend to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans.
Ursula VON DER LEYEN: The President of the European Commission.
28.3.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 100/1
II
(Non-legislative acts)
REGULATIONS
COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2022/486
of 21 January 2022
amending Annexes I and III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 supplementing Regulation
(EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the calculation
methods of public intervention expenditure
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013on
the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC)
No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008(1), and in
particular Article 20(2) and (3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014(2)lays down detailed rules applicable to public intervention
expenditure under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF). The provisions of that Regulation need to be
adapted in order to take into account that public intervention is used only occasionally.
(2) Part I of Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 defines the applicable interest rates for the financing of
public intervention expenditure under the EAGF.
(3) In order to determine those interest rates, the Member States are to notify to the Commission the average interest rate
they actually bore during a reference period. If a Member State did not bear any interest costs, because it did not have
agricultural products in public storage, the Commission is to fix the reference interest rate based on average reference
interest rates. For Member States that use the euro, the reference rate is the euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR).
For Member States whose currency is not the euro, the reference rate is the Interbank Offered Rate (IBOR).
(4) Given the decreasing number of transactions underlying the EURIBOR, the euro short-term rate (€STR) should be
provided as a fall-back rate for cases where the EURIBOR is not available. For Member States whose currency is not
the euro, the possibility to use the fall-back rate replacing the national IBOR should also be provided.
(5) Currently, pursuant to the rules set out in Part I of Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014, the
Commission is to adopt, for every accounting year, an implementing regulation fixing the interest rate, even if there
is no change to the interest rate and even if there are no products in public storage. For reasons of simplification and
resource efficiency, it is appropriate to provide that the Commission implementing regulation fixing the interest rate
remains in force until its repeal. The Commission should thus update the interest rate only if a public storage
intervention takes place or an intervention buying-in is expected to take place.
(1) OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 549.
(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the
European Parliament and of the Council with regard to public intervention expenditure (OJ L 255, 28.8.2014, p. 1).L 100/2 EN Official Journal of the European Union 28.3.2022
(6) Part I, point 4, of Annex III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 lays down the rules for establishing the
applicable standard amounts for the Union when fewer than four Member States place a given product in public
storage. However, it may occur that more than four Member States place a given product in public storage but fewer
than four Member States notify their recorded costs. To avoid legal uncertainty in establishing the applicable
standard amounts, a provision should be added for cases where fewer than four Member States notify their recorded
costs.
(7) Part II, point 3, of Annex III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 provides that the Commission may roll over
the standard amounts fixed previously for a product where there was no public storage, or there will be no public
storage, for the current accounting year. For reasons of simplification and resource efficiency, the applicable
standard amounts should not be fixed routinely every year. Instead, the Commission implementing decision fixing
those standard amounts should remain applicable until it is repealed.
(8) Annexes I and III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Annexes I and III to Delegated Regulation (EU) No 906/2014 are amended as follows:
(1) Annex I, Part I is amended as follows:
(a) point 1 is replaced by the following:
‘1. For the purposes of calculating the financing costs to be borne by the EAGF for the funds mobilised by the
Member State for buying in products, the Commission shall fix a uniform interest rate in accordance with
Article 20(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 throughout the Union. The uniform interest rate shall
correspond to the average of the 3-month and 12-month forward EURIBOR rates, recorded during a 6-month
reference period which is to be determined by the Commission, with a weighting of one-third and two-thirds
respectively. If the EURIBOR is not available, the average €STR, recorded during that 6-month reference
period, shall be used.’;
(b) point 2 is amended as follows:
(i) the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:
‘In order to determine the applicable interest rates, the Member States shall notify the Commission, at its
request, of the average interest rate they actually bore during the reference period referred to in point 1 no
later than by the deadline referred to in that request. The notification shall be made using the form made
available to the Member States by the Commission.’;
(ii) in the third subparagraph, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:
‘(a) For Member States whose currency is the euro, the EURIBOR 3 months or, if the EURIBOR is not available,
the €STR;
(b) For Member States whose currency is not the euro, the IBOR 3 months applicable in each of those
Member States or, if the IBOR is not available in the Member State concerned, the rate replacing the IBOR.’;
(c) in point 3, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:
‘The interest rates fixed by the Commission implementing regulation adopted on the basis of Article 20(4) of
Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 shall be rounded to 1 decimal.’;
(d) the following point 4 is added:
‘4. The Commission implementing regulation fixing the interest rate as referred to in point 3, second
subparagraph, shall continue to apply until it is repealed by a new Commission implementing regulation
fixing a new interest rate.’;28.3.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 100/3
(2) Annex III is amended as follows:
(a) in Part I, point 4 is replaced by the following:
‘4. If fewer than four Member States place a given product in public storage or notify costs for a physical operation
relating to a product referred to in Annex II, the standard amounts for that product shall be established on the
basis of the costs recorded in the Member States concerned. However, the final standard amount for that
product cannot differ from the previously established amount by more than 2 %.’;
(b) in Part II, point 3 is replaced by the following:
‘3. If there is no public storage in the accounting year concerned, the Commission implementing decision fixing
the standard amounts shall continue to apply until it is repealed by a new Commission implementing decision
fixing new standard amounts.’.
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 21 January 2022.
For the Commission
The President
Ursula VON DER LEYEN