ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(80)44
Vol.1980/0017

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Report onexperience acquired during the first survey
Vv* -
carried out bythe ^:Member States oftheenlarged Comt ■munity in1977 inorder todetermine theproduction
potential ofplantations ofcertain species offruit
trees
Submitted bytheCommission totheEuropean Parliament
and the Council inconformity with Article 8ofCouncil
Directive 76/625/EECof20July 1976 ,asamended by
Article 1ofCouncil Directive 77/159/EEC of14FebruaryCOM(80)44 final
Brussels ,12February 1980
r * .» \s^
r -
1977
COM(80 )44final
»

J-1-
I.IilTRODUCTIOU
1.Undertheprovisions ofArticle8ofCouncilDirective 76/625/CZOof
20July1976^)asamendedbyArticle1ofCouncilDirective 77/159/S3Cof
2")14February 1977 1theCommission isrequired tosubmittotheEuropean
Parliament andtheCouncilareportonexperience acquired duringthefirst
surveyintheenlarged Community .
2.Thisreportsummarises theexperience gainedfromthefirstsurveyconducted in
1977andmentions whereapplicable NvariouGproposals madebyMemberStatesfor
modifications tothestatistical characteristics surveyed .
* ■-
II.OBJECTIVE
3.Theobjective oftheDirective istoprovidetheCommission withinformation
ontheproduction potential ofplantations ofdessertapples,dessertpears,
peachesandoranges,andwithmedium-term estimates ofproduction andsupply
-onthemarkets .
III.THE1977SURVEY ~ '
a)Dateofthesurvey(Articlel(l))
4.FiveMemberStatesconducted theirsurveysinthespringof1977i.e.the
March-May period.Theothercountries carriedouttheirsurveys somewhat
laterfor.methodological reasons (F.R.Germany-Aprilto
July1977;France-mid-Maytomid-September 1977»Luxembourg -autumn/
winter1977/78;Ireland-July1977)•
b)Scopeofthesurvey(Article1(2))
5.Thesurveycoveredallundertakings plantedwithdessertapples,dessert
pears,peachesandoranges,inpureormixedstand,provided thatthe
areacoveredatleast1500squaremetresandthatthefruitproduced were
„entirely -ormainlyintendedforsale.However,thisprovision ofthe
Directive sometimes l'edtoanexcessive amountofworkforverylittle
result.(Forexample,intheUnitedKingdom,40"fooftheholdingssurveyed
onlyaccounted for4$ofthearea).
c)Typeofsurvey(Article1(3)) '
6.Arandomsamplesurveywasconducted inFrance,ItalyandtheHessenand
Rheinland-Pfalz LanderofGermany.Acomplete enumeration ofholdings was
madeintheotherGermanLadderandgillotherMemberStates.
1)CJ:J°L21U,11.3.76,p.10
2)OJS8L43,19.2.77,p.31

-2-
d)Charsot^riplie?-•rvcyri(Article?)
(i)Varietyoffruit
7.MemberStateswererequired toshowseparately enoughvnriotiesof«ach
speciestoaccountforatleast80y>ofthetotalareaofthespecies.In
addition ,allvarieties representing 3?>ormoreofthetotalar^iofth^
speciesweretobeshewn.Averydetailed breakdc-.;r byvariety wasprovi
and,inthecaseofapplesandpears,specified varieties account *-!for
ovei^90ofthetotalareainmostcountries .
(ii)Ageoftrees
t
8.Onthebasisofexperience acquired fromtheprevious surveysconducted
between 1972and1974,theage-class boundaries forthe1977surveywere
revisedforpeachestotakeaccountoftheirrelatively shortlife-sp.-n,
andfororan~estotakeaccountoftheirlongerlife-span .Theboundaries
forapplesandpearsremained unchanged .
9.TwoKemberStatesquestioned theneedfordatatobesubdivided intothe
individual ages0,1,2,3 and4years.TheNetherlands drewattention tothe
likelyerrorsinthedatafors^chsmallclasses andproposed th.ntthe
areaoftreeslessthan5yearsoldshouldbesub-divided intonomoretivi
■twoage–classes.
(iii)Densityofplantation
10.Thedensitycl?.3sboundaries forpeachesandorangeswerealsochangedfr
the1977surveyonthebasisofexperience acquired fromtheprevious
surveys.Theboundaries forapplesandpears,whichwereleftunchanged ,
gaveasatisfactory iJreakdcwn oftheareaalthough inItalyandLuxembourg
therewasamarkedconcentration oftheareaunderapplesinthelowest
densitycldss(lessthan400treesperhectare),whileinBelgiumthearea
underapplesandpearswasconcentrated inthe"800-1599treesperhectare"
class.
e)Sa-ipljr.-errors (Article 3)
11.Thesamplingerrorsreported byYemberStatesusingsamplingtechnique for
theirsurveywerewithinthe3limitlaiddownintheDirective withthe
exception oforangesinItaly,wheretheerrorwasapproximately },6
f)Submission ofre.-gift3(Article^(l))
12.OnlythreeMerrfcerStateswereabletosubmittheirresults bythedevili-o
dateof1April1973.Infact,tW-lantresultsw=renotreceiveduntil

8monthslater;Tomakemattersworse,EURCSTAT encountered seriousdelaysinthe
processing ofthesurveydatabacauseoftechnical problems causedbytheinstalla­
tionofanewcomputer inthecomputer centre,andashortage ofexperienced staff
theretogiveEUaOSTAT thenecessary adviceandassistance .Consequently ,the
resultswerenotpublished untilNovember 1979»morethantwoyearsafterthesurvey ,
werecarried out.
13.StepsarebeingtakenbyEURCSTATtoensurethatsuchprocessing delaysdonot
recurinthefuture,buttherestillremainstheproblemofthela-tesubmission of
thedataby.MemberStates.Ifdelaysareinevitable underthepresentsurveysysU-n;;
.usedbyMemberStatesitmaybenecessary toconsider postponing thedeadline date.
specified intheDirective .However ,anypostponement canonlyhavea-detrimental •
affectontheusefulness ofthedatasinceup-to-datestatistics areessential for .
policypurposes .
IV.THERESULTS SUPPLIED ANDTHEIRSIGNIFICANCE (Article 7)
/
14«Becauseofchangesindefinitions and/orthecoverageofthesurveys,adetailed ,
comparison betweentheresultsofthe1977andprevious surveyscouldnotbemade
forcertaincountries .Wherecomparisons couldbemade,however' ,alumberof
discrepancies appeared whichwerethoughttobemainlyduetoobservation errors.
(Forexample,theareaoftreesaged5-9yearsin1977wassometimes greaterthan
thecorresponding areaoftreesagedG-4yearsin1972).
-15.Sampling errorsverewithinacceptable limitsintheseMemberStatesusingsamplins-
techniques (?.R.Germany,Fr=.nceandItaly). ' .
V.CALCULATION OFMEDIUM-TSUI FORECASTS OFPRODUCTION POTENTIAL
16.Asstatedinparagraph 3above,theobjective oftheDirective istoprovide
information ontheproduction potential ofcertainspeciesoforchard ,fruit.tr.^
basisofthe1977surveyresults,medium-term forecasts to1932havebeenmadefcr
themajorvarieties ofeachspeciesineachMemberState.Theseresultswillbe
examined bythe'Vegetable' ProductsStatistics "(OrchardFruitSurveys)Working
Partytoconsiderthepossibility ofmakingmedium-term forecasts basedonthe
quinquennial surveys andtheintermediate annualestimates ofarea3offruittrees
clearedandnewlyplanted (requiredunderArticles 5and6oftheDirective).
VI.CONCLUSIONS -
17#Onthewholenomajordifficulties wereexperienced byMemberStates,buttheexecution of
*
theirsurveysinvolved aconsiderable expenditure ontheirpartoftime,effort3wnoney.
18.Varioussuggestions havebeen.putforwardbyMemberStatesbasedontheirexperience
fromthe1977survey.Thesuggestions havebeendiscussed indetailinameetingof
the"Vegetable ProductsStatistics "(OrchardFruitSurveys)WorkingParty;Asa
resultofthesediscussions itwillbenecessary fortheCommission topropose
amendmentstothebasicDirective,andpossiblytotheimplementating Decisions"^
aswell,inreadiness fcrthenextsurveytobeconducted in1982.
1)Commission Decision 7o/c0o/JLCof1October1976(OJN°Lox16.10.76,p.34)
Commission Decision 77/144/SECof22December1976(OJN°L47of16.2.77,p.jZ)