Article 8 Statement of deliveries

At the end of each 12-month period, purchasers shall draw up a statement for each producer showing at least the quantity and fat content of the milk delivered by the latter during that period.

In the case of leap years, the quantity of milk shall be reduced by 1/60 of the quantities delivered in February and March.

Before 15 May each year, purchasers shall forward to the competent authority of the Member State a declaration summarising the statements referred to in paragraph 1, showing at least the total quantity and the average fat content of the milk delivered to them and, where so required by decision of the Member State, for each producer, the reference quantity and the representative fat content, the quantity corrected in accordance with Article 10(1), the sum of the individual reference quantities and the corrected quantities and the average fat content of those producers' production.

Where applicable, purchasers shall declare that they have received no deliveries during the period concerned.

The Member State shall require purchasers who fail to comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph 2 to pay an amount equal to the levy due for a 0,01 % overrun of the quantities of milk delivered to them by producers for each calendar day of delay. Where those quantities are not known because no declaration has been made, they shall be estimated by the competent authority. That amount may not be less than EUR 100 nor more than EUR 100 000.

Where no declaration is submitted before 15 June, Member States shall within 15 working days give formal notice to the purchaser to submit such declaration within 15 days. Where no declaration is submitted at the end of that period, Member States shall either withdraw approval or require payment of an amount in proportion to the volume of milk involved and the seriousness of the irregularity.

Paragraph 3 shall continue to apply during the period of notice.

The penalties referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 shall not be imposed where the Member State recognises a case of force majeure or establishes that the irregularity was not committed deliberately or as a result of serious negligence, or where the irregularity is negligible in terms of the functioning of the scheme or the effectiveness of the checks.