COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 06.11.1998 
COM(1998) 635 final 
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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
Flowers - method of calculating Community producer and import prices 

klTOkï IKOM TIIK( OM MISSION TO TIIK('0|IN< II, 
Flowers - method of calculating Community producer and import prices 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 4088/87 of 21 December 1987 fixing conditions for 
the application of preferential customs duties on imports of certain flowers 
originating in Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip1, 
as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1300/972 of 30 June 1997, provides for 
preferential customs duties to be granted within quota limits and, for certain cut 
flowers (roses and carnations), only if the import price is at least 85% of the 
Community producer price for these products. 
The main change introduced in June 1997 by Council Regulation (EC) No 1300/97 
is (he use of weighted averages instead of arithmetical averages in order to mirror 
reality more closely. Article 2 states that twelve months after the entry into force of 
the Regulation the Commission must present to the Council an assessment report on 
the implementation of this new system for determining Community producer prices, 
possibly accompanied by proposals for adjustments to be made to it. 
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 700/883 of 17 March 1988 has been amended by 
Regulation (EC) No 2062/974 of 21 October 1997 to incorporate these changes, and 
Member States have been notifying the new prices to the Commission since 3 
November 1997. 
2. BRIBE QUTllNE OF THE METHOD 
Since the introduction of the new system, the Member States have notified the data 
required under (he above Regulations, i.e. the weighted producer and import prices 
(indicating the total quantities in each case) for each of the four groups of flowers in 
question (bloom carnations, spray carnations, large-flowered roses, small-flowered 
roses). This data is notified to the Commission every two weeks, in national 
currency per 100 pieces, by fax or by IDES electronic transfer. However France 
does not notify the import quantities within the required time, which means that 
French import prices have not been weighted; and these are not, therefore, taken into 
consideration in calculating the Community average. France has committed itself to 
setting up a system to rectify this problem. 
1 OJL 382, 31.12.1987, p. 22. 
2 OJL 177, 5.7.1997, p. 1. 
3 OJ L72, 18.3.1988, p. 16. 
4 OJ 1,289,22.10.1997, p. 1 
As for the moment prices are only notified for flowers imported from Israel and 
Morocco, each Member State has to notify 12 figures at most (4 producer prices + 
quantities, and 8 import prices + quantities). 
The Commission converts the notified prices into ECU (using the valid agricultural 
conversion rate) and weights them to obtain Community averages. Community 
producer prices are published every two weeks in the Official Journal of the 
European Communities in an Annex to a Commission Regulation. If necessary, 
further Regulations are adopted to suspend or reintroduce preferential customs 
duties for Israel and/or Morocco, for each group of flowers. 
Data is collected for the previous fifteen days and is used to determine the customs 
duties that apply for the following two weeks. This period begins on a Wednesday 
so that the Commission has time to finalise the procedure. 
3. ASSilSSMliN'l' »F THlvMHTHOP 
Impact of this method on producer prices and on customs duties to be paid 
3.1. Producer prices (see enclosed Tables 1 to 4) 
Although the graphs showing the evolution of prices in 1997/98 (weeks 45 
to 24) mirror the trends already observed over the two previous years, for the 
same periods, the peaks are much sharper. This is because the old method 
eliminated the extremes - 40% either side of the calculated average - while 
the new method takes all values into account. 
3.2. Application of customs duties (see enclosed Table 5) 
In Israel, the situation relating to bloom carnations and small-flowered roses 
is comparable with that of the previous year for the same period; for largc-
llowcrcd roses the situation is comparable with that of 2 years ago, and for 
spray carnations it is mid-way between these two years. 
Morocco benefits, as in the past, from preferential customs duties for the 
entire quota period except for two two-week periods for bloom carnations. 
These results are therefore very similar to those obtained by the old method. 
4. CONCLUSION 
The results obtained by the new method as regards the suspension of preferential 
customs duties arc fairly similar to those obtained by the old method, while having 
the advantage of mirroring market realities more closely, since producer prices arc 
calculated on the basis of currenl weighted prices rather than arithmetical averages 
over a three-year period as before. 
The Commission therefore considers that it is not necessary for the time being to 
draft proposals to modify the present system which was introduced in late 1997. 
TABLE 1 
Reference 
week No 
45-46 
47-48 
49-50 
51-52 
01-02 
03-04 
05-06 
07-08 
09-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23-24 
25-26 
27-28 
29-30 
31-32 
33-34 
35-35 
37-38 
39-40 
41-42 
43-44 ECU/100 
1995/96 
12,60 
12,17 
12,21 
15,39 
13,97 
13,83 
14,79 
13,42 
12,54 
11,87 
12,96 
13,07 
14,97 
11,24 
10,48 
10,46 
10,12 
8,30 
9,20 
9,80 
12,22 
13,56 
13,97 
14,33 
14,31 
19,40 1996/97 
12,54 
12,92 
13,44 
16,90 
13,87 
13,55 
14,90 
14,25 
13,36 
12,56 
12,38 
12,27 
14,23 
13,37 
11,04 
10,29 
9,94 
8,52 
8,42 
9,62 
11,91 
13,10 
14,47 
14,45 
14,23 
19,11 1997/98 
13,91 
12,23 
14,62 
16,37 
15,06 
13,20 
14,97 
15,83 
17,01 
11,74 
11,68 
16,09 
17,16 
14,36 
14,04 
13,96 
TABLE 2 
Reference 
Week No 
45-46 
47-48 
49-50 
51-52 
01-02 
03-04 
05-06 
07-08 
09-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23 - 24 
25-26 
27-28 
29-30 
31-32 
33-34 
35-36 
37-38 
39-40 
41-42 
43-44 ECU/100 
1995/96 
10,83 
9.82 
9,16 
8,87 
9.61 
10,84 
11,55 
11,65 
9,84 
11,02 
9,92 
9,74 
12,85 
9,55 
9,46 
10,37 
10,60 
10,16 
8,92 
7,77 
9,09 
11,69 
12,24 
12,73 
12,72 
13,55 1996/97 
11,39 
10,03 
10,40 
9,94 
10,09 
10,36 
11,94 
11,49 
10,61 
11,18 
9,97 
9,38 
12,06 
10,60 
11,37 
9,96 
10,00 
9,95 
9,02 
8,05 
9,27 
11,38 
12,21 
11,93 
12,17 
13,04 1997/98 
11,27 
9,19 
9,87 
11,74 
11,15 
11,68 
11,86 
11,94 
11,18 
10,37 
10,23 
10,72 
14,23 
8,40 
7,27 
10,56 
TABLE 3 
Reference 
Week No 
45-46 
47-48 
49-50 
51-52 
01-02 
03-04 
05-06 
07 - 08 
09-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23-24 
25-26 
27-28 
29-30 
31-32 
33-34 
35-36 
37-38 
39-40 
41-42 
43-44 ECU/100 
1995/96 
28,01 
27,94 
34,31 
42,10 
42,26 
49,39 
57,76 
55,25 
49,57 
38,14 
29,52 
27,52 
29,34 
25,99 
27,29 
25,67 
21,19 
20,24 
20,30 
19,25 
20,69 
25,17 
26,14 
25,00 
26,68 
32,17 1996/97 
30,19 
31,92 
36,28 
48,40 
43,35 
52,21 
61,54 
63,70 
53,28 
49,54 
36,02 
31,31 
32,85 
32,29 
30,66 
26,38 
24,57 
21,99 
21,01 
20,79 
22,31 
26,35 
27,53 
26,53 
27,98 
33,70 1997/98 
36,84 
42,81 
44,15 
56,02 
46,23 
47,65 
65,00 
71,64 
58,27 
41,90 
27,37 
29,46 
33,31 
31,78 
29,37 
31,83 
TABLE 4 
Reference 
week No 
45-46 
47-48 
49-50 
51-52 
01-02 
03-04 
05-06 
07-08 
09-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23 - 24 
25-26 
27-28 
29-30 
31-32 
33-34 
35-36 
37-38 
39-40 
41-42 
43-44 ECU/100 
1995/96 
16,11 
17,00 
17,56 
22,69 
20,32 
21,49 
27,07 
29,93 
26,76 
21,33 
19,12 
17,90 
18,29 
16,31 
16,55 
12,66 
11,64 
9,90 
9,35 
9,02 
10,33 
12,56 
12,06 
12,70 
14,80 
18,41 1996/97 
17,31 
16,97 
18,45 
25,16 
21,67 
19,36 
23,07 
30,37 
25,28 
22,37 
20,06 
16,73 
17,40 
19,80 
18,44 
13,97 
12,9 
11,23 
10,93 
13,17 
12,7 
14,34 
14,13 
13,78 
15,06 
19,19 1997/98 
14,62 
16,28 
16,95 
21,03 
20,84 
21,90 
26,85 
27,60 
20,15 
15,12 
14,27 
15,79 
16,37 
15,18 
15,11 
14,30 
TABLE 5 
from 19 Nov.'97 
•K 
to 30 June 1998 No of 
weeks 
47-48 
49-50 
51 -52 
1-2 
3-4 
5-6 
7-8 
9-10 
11-12 
13-14 
15-16 
17-18 
19-20 
21-22 
23-24 
25-26 
Tot.= 224 days ISRAEL 
bloom carnations spray carnations large-flowered 
roses 
1997/98 (current method) small-flowered 
roses 
full (quota exhausted) 
pref. autom. 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
full 
full pref. autom. 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
full full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full 
full full 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
full 
full 
preferential 
full 
full MOROCCO 
bloom carnations spray carnations large-flowered 
roses 
1997/98 (current method) small-flowered 
roses 
preferential 
preferential 
full 
full 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full: 28 days (quota period 
closed on 31/5/98) preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
preferential 
full: 42 days (quota period 
closed on 14/5/98) 
(1996: 29 days in February) 19/11/97-30/06/98 
(tot.: 224 days) 
18/11/96-29/06/97 
(tot.: 224 days) 
19/11/95-30/6/96 
(tot.: 225 days) preferential 
full 
preferential 
full 
preferential 
full 112 
112 
110 
114 
91 
134 154 
70 
126 
98 
184 
41 0 
224 
65 
159 
6 
219 84 
140 
78 
146 
131 
94 168 
28 + 28* = 56 
175 
19+ 28* = 49 
182 
15+ 28* = 43 196 
*28 
196 
*28 
196 
*28 182 
*42 
182 
*42 
173 
10+ 42* = 52 182 
*42 
182 
*42 
182 
*42 
* "Full" because quota period closed 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 635 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 03 10 17 02 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-98-621-EN-C 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg