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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(82)490
Vol.1982/0166

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Conformément aurèglement (CEE, Euratom) n°354/83 duConseil du1erfévrier 1983
concernant l'ouverture aupublic desarchives historiques delaCommunauté économique
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p.1),telquemodifié par lerèglement (CE, Euratom) n°1700/2003 du22septembre 2003
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Inaccordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No354/83 of1February 1983
concerning theopening tothepublic ofthehistorical archives oftheEuropean Economic
Community andtheEuropean Atomic Energy Community (OJL43,15.2.1983, p.1),as
amended byRegulation (EC, Euratom) No1700/2003 of22September 2003 (OJL243,
27.9.2003, p.1),this fileisopen tothepublic. Where necessary, classified documents inthis
filehave been declassified inconformity with Article 5oftheaforementioned regulation.
InÜbereinstimmung mitderVerordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr.354/83 desRates vom 1.
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft undderEuropäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L43vom 15.2.1983,
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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(82)490final
.Brussels.28July1982
COMMUNICATION FROM-THECOMMISSIONTOTHECOUNCIL
l-;.•
onresponsibility fortravelexpenses,oftheMemberStates*delegatestov\ .agricultural Management .Committeesandsimilarcommitteessetupunderthe\*ygricultural policy
COM(82)lf90final

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDU M
Theappropriations available under Article 251ofthecurrent General
Budget ,fortheexpenditure onmeetings ,make necessary anumber ofspecial
measures tocutdown such expenditure .One such measure already decided
upon isthat henceforth expenses .will not bepaid formore than two
representatives perMember State onmost working gxoups called together by
theDirectorate-General for Agrici'lture .
Thecase oftheagricultural Manf^ement Committees andsimilar committees
setupunder theagricultural policy issomawhet different inthaa the
Council ,aslong agoas1962 ,examined theques \, ofhowman}members
each delegation might include *
Although theCouncil didnotdiscuss responsibility fortheexpenses of
members ofthese committees ,sothat theCommission istherefore innoway
bound astowhat decision ittakes ,themajor role played bythese
committees inmanaging thecommon agricultural policy makes itdesirable
that theCouncil beinformed that ,forthese committees also ,the
Commission wishes henceforth tolimit its financial contribution tothe
travel expenses oftwodelegates only perMember State .
That isthepurpose ofthis communication ,which also specifies that the
measure innowaylimits thefreedom ofMember States tosend uptofive
members intheir delegations .
TheCommission isinvited toapprove thedraft communication annexed hereto
andtodecide upon itstransmission totheCouncil .

1.TheMember States aresble tosend adelegation ofuptofivemembers to
meetings ofagricultural Management Committees orother similar committees
setuptomanage thecommon agricultural policy (theFund Committee ,
Standing Committees ,Committees onRules ,etc.).
This isusually laidSowuintherules ofprocedure ofthese committees (l)
and ,inasingle case ,intheactual text oftheCouncil Regulation
instituting thecommittee (theFund Committee (2)).
ι
This rule istheresult ofanagreement intheCouncil atits76thmeeting
on23and24July 1962 ,the'minutes ofwhich state :"Inaddition the
Council decided upon thecomposition oftheManagement Committees setupby
theregulations onthecommon agricultural policy andfixed thenumber of
members ofManagement Committees atfive perdelegation ".
Each timeanother Management Committee orcommittee with similar powers has
been setup,thesame rule hasbeen adopted ..
2«Aspart oftheimplementation ofthis rule ,theCommission decided to
accept responsibility forthetravel -expenses oftherepresentatives of
Member States present ateach meeting ,uptothis maximum offive members .
This ,however ,wasapurely internal measure *
3'Thebudgetary allowance no*?imposed ontheCommission inexercising someof
itstasks nolonger allow ittocontinue this practice ,andithasto
choose either toreduce thefrequency with which thecommitte&s concerned
meet ortomake other financial arrangements tocover thetravel expenses
oftheir members .
(1)"Thedelegation ofeachMember Stata islimited tofiveofficials ,each
under thesole authority ofaMinister " '
(2)Regulation (EEC)No729/70,Artide 12(l).

-2-
4*The Commission has taken internal measures torationalize asfaras
possible themeetings tobecalled .Thus ,thenumber ofmeetings during
thecurrent year may remain steady oreven fall ,despite newwork ,and this
Will also reduce thesubsistence expenses ofnational civil servants tobe
defrayed bytheMember States .
However ,itisnotpossible togofurther than this without jeopardizing
thevery valuable role ofthese committees inmanaging thecommon
agricultural policy .Twenty years' experience inrunning these committees
shows that they are theforum where there isthemost efficient exchange of
information and theclosest cooperation between theMember States and the
Commission ,this being indispensable for theproper management ofthe
markets .The Commission therefore considers that reducing thefrequency of
meetings forpurely budgetary reasons would beprejudicial tctheproper
operation ofthecommon agricultural policy .While itdoes notconsider
that current practice should bemodified theCommission isnonetheless
ι
constrained tolimit itsfinancing ofthe travel expenses ofmembers of
these committees totworepresentatives perMember State .
$
The travel expenses ofother members ofeach delegation will have tobe
borne bytheMember State concerned .
m
5»This decision bytheCommission innowayalters therules concerning the
representation ofMember States onthecommittees :asinthepast each
delegation mayconsist ofuptofive members .Past experience leads the
Commission toconsider that thecontinuation ofthepresent rules is
justified as,without jeopardizing theproper conduct ofmeetings ,they
enable each Member State tofreely adapt thecomposition ofitsdelegation
both tothe realities ofits own administrative structures and tothe need
forparticular experts tobepresent .