WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1758/97 by José VALVERDE LÓPEZ to the Commission. Inspectorate of the markets in fruit and vegetables
C 76/52 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 11. 3. 98 provisions in question. Moreover freedom of payment to suit the administrative convenience of paying agencies would clash with the rules of budgetary discipline set by the Council for agricultural expenditure (Council Decision 94/729/EC of 31 October 1994 on budgetary discipline (7)). (1) OJ L 148, 28. 6. 1968. (2) OJ L 148, 30. 6. 1995. (3) OJ L 405, 31. 12. 1992. (4) OJ L 57, 10. 3. 1993. (5) OJ L 59, 3. 3. 1994. (6) OJ L 39, 17. 2. 1996. (7) OJ L 293, 12. 11. 1994. (98/C 76/134) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1758/97 by Jose· Valverde Lo·pez (PPE) to the Commission (27 May 1997) Subject: Inspectorate of the markets in fruit and vegetables The COM in fruit and vegetables provides for the establishment of an inspectorate of the markets in fruit and vegetables. What will the status of these inspectors be? How many of them will there be? What will their duties be? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (17 July 1997) Article 40 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 (1) requires the Commission to establish a special corps of inspectors consisting of Commission officials and possibly of staff appointed at the latter’s request by Member States to take part in specific enquiries. Article 40 states that the corps will participate in checks carried out by the Member States’ competent authorities and at the Commission’s initiative carry out checks under Article 39 of the Regulation. When the Regulation was proposed to the Council the Commission notified its intention of assigning 5 posts to the corps. So far only 2 have been assigned but on 3 March 1997 the Commission adopted a decision to assign a further 3 posts to give the number originally scheduled and so enable the corps to discharge the tasks charged to it by the Regulation. This decision awaits implementation. The status of the inspectors would as initially planned be that of officials and other servants of the European Communities. The participation of staff appointed by Member States (albeit in specific enquiries only) will substantially boost the special corps. The Commission has already written to each Member State asking for a list of national officials available to participate in inspection work. They would keep their national status. At least two persons per Member State are required. (1) OJ L 297, 21. 11. 1996