WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1707/98 by Stéphane BUFFETAUT to the Commission. Delegation of powers to joint-trade organizations
C 13/66 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 18. 1. 1999 The additional 353 000 tonnes proposed is applicable to the whole of the Community although the reason for introducing it is to take account of the enlarged Community following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden. It corresponds to the average net imports into these three Member States in the period 1991-1993. On 26 June 1998 the Council reached a political agreement to set the within-quota duty for the 353 000 tonnes autonomous tariff rates quota (TRQ) at 75 ECU a ton. The figure that was formerly proposed by the Commission was 300 ECU a ton but the Council revised the figure to 75 ECU a ton. This new level means that the autonomous tariff quota will be at the same rate as the basic tariff quota of 2 200 000 tonnes. The Commission does not have any proposal to introduce a tariff system without licences and a standard tariff rate as it is not obliged to do so following the World trade organisation (WTO) ruling nor does it believe it would comply with its obligations towards Community producers and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. (1999/C 13/096) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1705/98 by StØphane Buffetaut (I-EDN) to the Commission (29 May 1998) Subject: Power of joint-trade organizations restricting competition In France, joint-trade organizations exist to deal with agricultural products covered by a common market organization (COM). They operate: › either under laws and decrees dating back to 1942 and 1943, which give such joint-trade organizations powers as regards Market Management And Price Fixing, which are in breach of Union rules. Accordingly, their decisions have been repeatedly struck down by the European Court of Justice (in particular in Cases 123/83, 136/86 and C-249/91), › or under the amended Law No 75600 of 10 July 1975 which limits their remit to the advertising and promotion and the statistical monitoring of the product, in accordance with Union rules. The French Government is preparing to submit to the French National Assembly an agricultural guidelines bill (PLOA) which would extend the powers of the agricultural joint-trade organizations deriving from the 1975 law and approximate them to those provided for in the 1942 and 1943 laws. Accordingly, pursuant to Article 87 of the PLOA, the joint-trade organizations would be able to: 1. intervene in market management requirements, etc. , to ensure that product quantities were more in line with market 2. intervene in order to improve food safety, in particular by the identification of products. This involves areas, currently within the Exclusive remit of Union and/or national authorities, in respect of which each regional joint-trade organization may well promulgate its own rules, varying from one region to another, a process which will culminate in damage to the internal market. Similarly, the notion of improving the identification of products is the major pretext put forward in an attempt to justify any moves to impose an obligation for wines to be bottled in the region of production. Does the Commission feel that intervention by joint-trade agricultural organizations, in the form of the promulgation of binding rules in these two areas, complies with Articles 34, 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty, despite the case-law of the Court of Justice referred to above? (1999/C 13/097) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1707/98 by StØphane Buffetaut (I-EDN) to the Commission (29 May 1998) Subject: Delegation of powers to joint-trade organizations In the event of a serious crisis affecting one of more national agricultural products subject to a common market organization (COM), the current Treaty and the case-law of the Court of Justice authorize the Member States, and the Member States alone, to take emergency measures in order to avoid serious public order disturbances