Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES I ft ft ft I ft j ft ft ft i - A,. A. Brussels, 13. 07. 1998 COM(1998) 420 final 98/0232 (CNS) Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines (presented by the Commission) EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. Introduction Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 lays down the basic provisions for statistical surveys of areas under vines. The survey results are used to determine the production potential and medium-trend in production in the Community. The Member States carry out basic surveys of areas under vines every ten years and every year in the case of intermediate surveys relating to changes in the area under wine grape vines. It is appropriate to revise the system outlined by Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 in order to make it more flexible from a technical point of view and given the need to lighten the burden of statistical operations required of the Member States. This proposal for a Regulation meets the requirements of the Commission in terms of both making it easier for Member States to carry out statistical operations and achieving economies. 2. Vineyard register Council Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86 lays down the provisions for the establishment of the vineyard register in the Member States. This register is needed to obtain vital information on production potential and trends in order to ensure the proper functioning of the common organization of the market in wine, and in particular of the Community arrangements on intervention and planting, and monitoring measures. The process of implementing this register is not uniform in all the Member States. However, it is already operational in some Member States. The vineyard register, which is already used in some countries for annual surveys, enables: highly reliable information to be supplied to the Commission as quickly as possible; survey the the considerable economies. on ground to be replaced, thus allowing In this proposal for a Regulation it is also proposed that the register be used as part of the basic survey. In the medium-term the vineyard register is therefore intended to become the cornerstone of the survey system, supplying high-quality results more cheaply and more quickly. 3. Synchronizing the winegrowing survey with the survey on the structure of agricultural holdings On the basis of Regulation (EEC) No 357/79, Member States carry out basic surveys on areas under vines every ten years. The next basic survey is scheduled for 1999. In some Member States, the Community Survey on the structure of agricultural holdings is also planned for 1999, whereas in other Member States it will be the year 2000. Given that both surveys call upon considerable human and financial resources, it seems appropriate to give Member States the possibility of carrying out both surveys simultaneously, even if the survey year is not the same. In the latter case, in particular, it is appropriate to give Member States which will be carrying out the structural survey in the year 2000 the possibility of carrying out at the same time the survey of areas under vines. 4. Exemption for Portugal Portugal alone has been granted an exemption for the 1999 survey, because of the technical difficulties it faces in carrying out this survey. Such an exemption is to be considered exceptional, as these difficulties should tend to disappear in the next three to four years as the vineyard register becomes operational in Portugal. Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament2, (EEC) No 357/793, as last amended by the Act of Whereas Council Regulation Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, lays down the basic provisions for statistical surveys of areas under vines and the survey results are used to determine the production potential and medium-term trend in production in the Community; Whereas it is appropriate to give greater flexibility to the system established by Regulation (EEC) No 357/79, not only because of developments in techniques and computer technology but also because of the need to lighten the burden of statistical operations required of the Member States; Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 provides that the Member States concerned are to carry out basic surveys of areas under vines every ten years; whereas, for technical and practical reasons, certain Member States, however, consider that it would be appropriate to link up this operation with the Community survey on the structure of agriculture holdings provided for by Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/884, as last amended by Commission Decision 98/377/EC5; it would be appropriate to give Whereas as part of a flexible methodology, the vineyard register provided for by Member States the possibility of using Council Regulation (EEC) No 2392/866, as (EC) No 1596/967, as a source of information on the basic survey, given that developments in computer technology enable increasingly accurate and comprehensive information to be obtained from reliable data in a updated register, last amended by Regulation i OJ 2 OJ 3 OJL 54, 5. 3. 1979, p. 124. 4 OJ L 56,2. 3. 1988, p. 1. 5 OJL 168, 13. 6. 1998, p. 29. 6 OJ L 208, 31. 7. 1986, p. 1. 7 OJL 206, 16. 8. 1996, p. 38. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 is amended as follows: 1. In Article 1 ( 1 ), the following fourth paragraph is added: "If a Community survey on the structure of agricultural holdings on the basis of Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 is scheduled within a maximum of twelve months in relation to the basic survey provided for in the first paragraph, first indent, both surveys may be carried out simultaneously. Member States shall inform the Commission in advance of their intention to make use of this provision. OJ L 56, 2. 3. 1988, p. 1. " 2. In Article 2(3)(A), the following second paragraph is added: "However, as regards the 1999 basic survey, Portugal may transmit information on vine varieties which together represent at least 53% of the total area under wine grape vines. " 3. In Article 3, the following paragraph 4 is added: "4. Member States which have completed the establishment of the vineyard register at national level or in certain regions and which update it annually, in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86, may use the data in the vineyard register as a source for communicating to the Commission the basic-survey information. " Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, For the Council The President ISSN 0254-1475 COM(98) 420 final DOCUMENTS EN 17 03 06 Catalogue number : CB-CO-98-427-EN-C ISBN 92-78-37833-X Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg £