1.Article 6 (2) of Regulation No 804/68 of the Council of 27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market in milk and milk products (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1968 (I), p. 176) established, within the framework of the intervention scheme, a system of aid for the private storage of butter and cream produced in the Community.The aid is granted in respect of quantities stored at the expense of the producer and in respect of butter manufactured during a limited period immediately prior to the commencement of storage. The aid is designed essentially to counteract seasonal price fluctuations and to provide for a temporary withdrawal from the market.The twelfth recital in the preamble to Regulation No 985/68 of the Council of 15 July 1968 laying down general rules for the intervention on the market in butter and cream (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1968 (I), p. 256) states that, ‘to ensure uniformity in the Community, provisions should be made for a Community form of storage contract and a uniform method of calculating the amount of aid according to the cost of storage and market developments’. The intervention agency is bound to conclude such a contract with any interested party capable of fulfilling the prescribed terms. Those terms are established in detail by the Member State concerned and annexed to the various contracts as ‘Standard Conditions’. There are, however, a number of provisions which under the Community rules have to be incorporated.The amount of aid is decided by the Community having regard to the storage costs and foreseeable developments in the prices for fresh butter and stored butter. It is made up of several elements, defined in Article 24 of Regulation No 685/69 of the Commission (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1969 (I), p. 194), as amended by Regulation No 658/74 of the Commission (Official Journal 1974 L 80, p. 3).Article 27 of Regulation No 685/69 stipulates that for calculation of aid for the storage of cream, the quantities of (pasteurized) cream shall be converted into ‘butter equivalents’ by multiplying the fat content of the cream by 1.25.Article 26 or the same regulation provides that aid for private storage may be granted only if the duration of storage is at least four months, and Article 28 of the regulation provides that, except in respect of the 1968/69 marketing year, the storage period shall run from 1 April to 30 September of the same year, whereas the period for removal from storage runs from 1 November to 31 March of the following year. Finally, Article 29, which in its original version dealt with the case of an increase in aid owing to a decrease in the buying-in price for butter provided, in the version as amended by Regulations No 880/69, No 1064/69 (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1969 (I), p. 218 and p. 235) and No 603/70 of the Commission (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1970 (I), p. 169), as follows:‘Should the buying-in price for butter change, the aid specified in Article 24 in respect of quantities of butter and of cream expressed as butter equivalent covered by a storage contract and taken into store before the date on which the change in the buying-in price became effective, and remaining in storage when the price changes, shall be:(a) increased by an amount equal to the decrease in the buying-in price, or(b) decreased by an amount equal to that of the increase in the buying-in price.’Then the following subparagraphs were added to the article by Regulation No 2517/74 of the Commission of 3 October 1974 (Official Journal 1974 L 269 p. 24):‘If the increase in the buying-in price is higher than the level of aid, no aid shall be granted.The provisions of the preceding subparagraphs shall also apply in the event of a change in the buying-in price for butter, expressed in national currency, applied by the intervention agency concerned’.That regulation, published on 4 October 1974, entered into force on 1 October 1974.By Regulation No 2496/74 of the Council of 2 October 1974 (Official Journal 1974 L 268, p. 1), the intervention prices (which correspond to the intervention agencies' ‘buying-in prices’) applicable in agriculture for the 1974/75 marketing year were amended in relation to those fixed by Regulation No 663/74 of the Council of 28 March 1974 (Official Journal 1974 L 85, p. 52). As regards butter in particular, the intervention price was raised, in the case of Ireland, from 163.40 to 170.43 units of account per 100 kg. Thereby, the intervention price per long ton of butter rose from 1660.14 to 1731.57 units of account. That regulation entered into force on 7 October 1974.
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