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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(78)88
Vol.1978/0031

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(78)88 final .
Brussels ,6March 1978
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TOTHE COUNCIL
onthefat content ofwhole drinking milk
COM(78 )88final .

COMMISSION REPORTTOTHECOUNCIL
onthefatcontentof
wholedrinkingmilk
1*InaccordancewithArticle3(8)ofRegulation(EEC)NOI4H/7I°f"theCouncil
of29.6.71layingdownadditionalrulesonthecommonorganization ofthe
marketinmilkandmilkproductsforproductsfallingwithintariffheading
No04.01^aslastamended"byRegulation(EEC)NO566/76of15.3.1976^^,the
CommissionsubmitstotheCouncilthefollowingreportonthewaysinwhich
thefollowingsectionsofArticle3have"beenapplied:
–paragraphl(b),secondindent,onwholemilktreated "byamilkprocessor
thefatcontentofwhichmustmeetoneofthefollowingrequirements :
"standardized",i.e.atleast3*50$fat;"non-standardized ",i.e.milkwith
afatcontentthathasnot"beenalteredsincethemilkingstageandisnot
lessthan3.00^;
–paragraph5»ontheprocedureto"befollowedbytheMemberStatesforthe
purposeofchoosingbetweenthetwoformulae;
–paragraph6,onthefreecirculation onwholemilkbetweenMemberStates
whichhavenotchosenthesameformula;
–paragraph7,ontheCouncil'sfixingofaguidelinefigureforthefat
contentofwholemilkexportedtoMemberStateswhichhavedecidedonnon-
standardized milk.
2.WhenRegulationI4II/7Iwasadoptedtherewereanumberofdifficultieswith
regardtosettingtheminimumfatcontentofwholemilkat3*5$andthedate
ofexpiryofthetransitional periodformeetingtherequirement indicated
inArticle6(2)oftheRegulationwaspostponedfirstfrom31.12.73to31.5*74
byRegulation(EEC)No3478/73of17.12.1973,thento31.12.75(Regulation
(EEC)NO1556/74of18.6.74)andfinallyto31.3.76(Regulation (EEC)
No3358/75of23.12.75).
}UOJNoL148,3.7.1971,P.4
OJNoL67,15.3.1976,p.23 ./.

-2-
The situation was that inaddition tothe fears ofcertain Member State3 that
demand forwhole milk with a3«5$ fatcontent would godown fordietetic
reasons andbecause oftheinevitable increase inretail price that would "be
involved objections were raised byGreat Britain andIreland ,inboth ofwhich
standardization ofwhole milk was practically unknown ,both consumers and
industry being oriented exclusively towards milk rich and even very rich in
fat ,thenatural composition andcertain physical characteristics oforigin
ofwhich (homogenization )were notaltered before door–to-door delivery .
There was arisk that thehigh andvery stable demand forthis milk inboth
Member States would beaffected ifnormalization was introduced and the
formation ofnew surplus stocks ofbutt erfatwhich would have tobetaken into
public storage wasalso feared# TheCouncil therefore inadopting Regulation
(EEC)NO566/76accepted that Member States should beable tochoose between
standardized and non–standardized milk#
3.Great Britain andIreland having opted fornon-standardized milk within the
time limit laid down ,alltheother Member States except Italy settled' for
standardized milk with a3*5i°fatcontent# This hadbeen onthemarket for
several years inGermany andDenmark but inFrance and theBenelux countries
the fat content had tobeincreased tothis level#
4#Asregards consumer reaction toa3»5$ fatcontent inwhole milk intheregions
oftheCommunity where thelevel was previously lower ,notenough time has
yetelapsed toenable conclusions ofanyreal significance tobedrawn (a
fairly limited quantity ofstatistical information isavailable)# Allthat
canreally besaid isthat inFrance demand forpasteurised milk (whole ,
semi–skimmed ,skimmed )hasbeen thesame over thetwelve months from 1August
76to31July 77asitwasover thecorresponding period in75–76#
Statistics forBelgium cover only 9months of77•Thetrend indemand for
whole milk hasbeen rather irregular inprevious years while total consumption
ofheat–treated milk hasbeen showing some tendency toincrease# This situation
seems tohave changed slightly in77•I*1Luxembourg in77 "thedeclining
demand forwhole milk andthe increase inconsumption ofsemi–skimmed milk
have become slightly more marked ,while intheNetherland s(provisional data
for52weeks of'77)demand forheat–treated milk andforwhole milk hascon­
tinued todecline while that for semi–skimmed milk shows acontinuous increase#
./

-3-
This has "been thetrend intheNetherlands forseveral years and thevariations
observed aredue toacombination offactors among which itisdifficult to
isolate the influence offat content .In1973 thedrop indemand forwhole
milk from theprevious year almost reached thelevel ofthe '77drop ,
5.Turning totheincrease intheretail price ofwhole drinking milk caused by
increasing thefatcontent to3»5i°"theCommission restricts itself tonoting
that price increases have been fairly small .InBelgium forexample ,where
themaximum retail price system allows more precise comparisons ^the increase ,
expressed asapercentage oftheprevious price inforce ,has "been appreciably
lower oratmost close tothose made atthe "beginning ofthemilk years .On
theother hand theupward trend inmaximum retail prices dropped off inBelgium
in'77bycomparison with thepreceding years .Theincrease intheretail
price introduced inPrance from 1August 76appears tohave reflected numerous
factors among which was thefatcontent increase .
6.Great Britian andIreland have duly communicated theweighted average fatcon­
tent ofwhole milk produced andmarketed during last year .The guideline
figures fixed bytheCouncil have been :from 1October *[6to31March 77»
3.51 foforIreland and3«76$ forGreat Britain (Regulation (EEC)No2413/76of
4.IO.76),andforthe77/7^milk year ,3»52%forIreland and3.77% forGreat
Britain (Regulation (EEC)No540/77of14»3«77 )«Thefigures for7^/79will
be3.55$ forIreland and3*78^forGreat Britain (Regulation (EEC)No /78)»
Thefigures given above virtually correspond tothose communicated "bythese
Member States totheCommission forpublication inthe "Monthly Milk Statistics "
published byECJROSTAT .
Asthefigures areweighted averages itdoes notappear necessary toadopt
standard Community calculation methods .
7.Itisrather difficult inthepresent situation toevaluate theeffectiveness
ofArticle 3(6)ofRegulation I4H/7Iforbidding prohibition ofthefree
circulation ofwhole milk between theMember States which have opted fornon-
standardized milk and the others .Itdoes not appear that there has sofar
been anytrade ofthis nature .Themeasure wasconceived asfirst stage in
theliberalization ofintra-Comnrunity trade indrinking milk and theCouncil 's
decision ofMarch 76(Regulation (EEC)No566/76)wasconsequently accompanied
byacompromise statement (document R/532/76(AGRI 139)(FUT 107)of27«2»7 6,p.23,
point (e))inwhich theCouncil undertook toadopt general rules onthequality
andmarketing ofdrinking milk "before 31»12.76 .
./.

Itisunlikelythattherewill"beanyeffectiveapplicationofparagraph6
untilthetechnicalbarriers(mainlyhealthregulation)presented "bythe
nationallegislations have"beenwithdrawn.
Ontheotherhandthepresentsatisfactory trendinthedemandforwholemilk
inGreatBritianandIrelandmustnot"beunderestimated .
TheCommission'sconclusions areasfollows:
–theresultsachievedlayincreasingthefatcontentofwholemilkandintro­
ducingthenon-standardized milkoptionhave"beensatisfactory ;
–itisimpossibletoassesstheeffectiveness oftheprescriptions of
Article3(6)ofRegulation(EEC)NO1411/71sincetheCouncilhasnot
proceededwiththeoriginallyenvisagedprogrammeforliberalizing intra-
Communitytradeinwholemilk.
TheCommissionisthereforeoftheopinionthattheprovisionswhichaxethe.
subjectofthisreportcanbemaintainedunchangedbutthatwithinasbrief
atimeaspossiblemeasuresmustbeintroducedtoeliminatethebarriers
againstthefreecirculation ofdrinkingmilk.