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COM (74)1566
Vol.1974/0251

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(74)1566final
Brussels,2Septemlter1974
NOTTOBEPUBLISHED
COMMISSION OPINION
of2September1974
onthedraftprovisionsfortheimplementation ofTitleI
ofCouncilDirectiveNo72/161/EECof17April1972,
communicated "bytheUnitedKingdomGovernment
I
t.■
\
C0M(74)1566final

COMMISSION OPINION
of2September1974
onthedraftprovisionsfortheimplementation ofTitleIofCouncilDirec­
tiveNo72/161/EECof17April1972,communicated "bytheUnitedKingdom
Government .
PursuanttoArtiole10(l)ofCouncilDireotiveNo72/161/EECconcerning
theprovisionofsocio-economic guidanceforandtheacquisitionofoccu­
pationalskillsbypersonsengagedinagriculture ,on13July1974the
UnitedKingdomGovernmentoommunicateditsdraftschemefortheprovision
ofsocio-economic guidancefortheagricultural populationoftheUnited
Kingdom.
Afterconsultation oftheStandingCommitteeonAgricultural Structures
79thmeetingon26July1974)»theCommission,actinginaccordancewith
Article10(3)ofDirectiveNo72/l6l/EEC,hasadoptedthefollowingpo­
sitionswithregardtothesedraftprovisions:\
1.Opérationofthescheme
1.1.EnglandandWales(points4-6oftheCommunication )
Points4-6ofthecommunication specifythatinEnglandandWales
theprovisionofsocio-economic guidancewill"beentrustedtothe
Agricultural DevelopmentandAdvisoryService(ADAS),abodyre­
sponsibleforagricultural counselling .
Asregardstheorganization ofsocio-economic guidance,provision
ismadeforaHeadquarters ,whiohwillberesponsiblefor..the
administrative coordinationofsocio-eoonomio guideuioeinatoted.,,
of^Regionsand31Divisions.
IneachRegionaRegionalSocio-Economic Specialistwillbeappoin­
tedwithresponsibility fortheimplementation oftheDireotivein
thatRegion.Hewillalsohavespecialresponsibility forascer­
tainingtheparticularproblemsoftheRegionandplanningsolutions
forsuchproblems *

AtdivisionalleveltherewillbeSpecialInterestAdvisersinSocio-•j
Economios'whowilicarryouttheirdutiesintliisfield,undertheguidanoe i
oftheRegionalSpecialist .^FromonetothreeSpecialInterestAdvisers
aretobeappointedperDivision,thetotalnumber'beingaboutfifty*|
Theirresponsibilities willbethesameatdivisionallevelasthoseofj
theSpecialistsatregionallevel.Dependingontheaoutenessandthe f
*' " '-... Iextentofthesocio-economic problemsintheDivision,mostoftheirwork|
willbeconcernedwithsocio-economicguidance. |
!
TheLocalAdvisersoftheADAS,whonumberapproximately 600andare
responsibleforgeneralagricultural counsellinginparticularcases, 1
willperformtheimmediateliaisonworkwiththefarmingpopulationofeach ■
Division.Wheretheyarecompetenttodoso,theywillalsoprovide j
socio-econoraio counselling withsupportfromtheRegionalSocio-Economio
Specialists andtheSpeoialInterestAdvisers.Inthecommunication it
isalsopointedoutthat,asworkincreasesinthefieldofsooio-economio
guidance,itmaywellbetheoasethateventheLocalAdvisersthemselves
willbeprincipally concernedwithBocio-economio guidance.
Scotland(points9-11oftheCommunication )
Points9-11ofthecommunication specifythatsocio-eoonomio guidanoein
ScotlandwillbeentrustedtothethreeAgricultural Colleges,whioh
provideanadvisoryservicesimilartothatoftheADASinEngland .and..
Wales.InitiallyeachofthethreeCollegeswillemployafull-time
socio-economic Specialist,whosedutieswillbethesameasthoseof
theRegionalSocio-EoonomioSpecialistsinEnglandandWales.These
threeSpecialistswillfirstofallundertakeastudyoftheirRegion,
inordertoasoertaintheneedforsocio-economic guidanoe."

-3-
Socio-Economic guidance will also begiven bymore than 100College
Field .Advisers ,inaddition tothegeneral counselling work which they
perform .
1.3.Northern Ireland (points 12-17 ofthecommunication )
Points 12-17 ofthecommunication specify that inNorthern Ireland two
Specialist andsixSpecial Interest Advisers will beappointed .^ .
with responsibilities essentially similar tothose oftheir counterparts
inEngland andWales .Inaddition ,socio-economic guidanoe will bepro­
vided bytheexisting ninety Looal Advisers ,with theassistance ofthe
Specialist Advisers andSpecial Interest Advisers .
1.4.Under Article 2(a)"oftheDirective ,Member States aretoberesponsible
forthecreation anddevelopment ofservices providing sooio-eoonomic
guidance ,such services tobeeither public orexpressly appointed for
that purpose byMember States ,orthecreation anddevelopment within
services already existing ofspecial departments fortheprovision of
such guidance .
1.5 *The Commission oonsiders that thecontent andfunction ofsocio-economic
guidanoe within themeaning oftheDirective canbedetermined only if
thethree Council Directives of17,April 1972 onthereform ofagricul -
« (
tural structures aretaken together .
TheDirectives arebased ontheassumption that thestructure ofagri­
culture intheCommunity ischaracterised by ;theexist ence ofalarge
number offarms which laok thenecessary *structures toenable them to
provide asatisfactory inoome andliving conditions comparable with
"those ofother occupations .
The aimoftheDirectives is,consequently ,toencourage thecreation .
anddevelopment offarms whose structure andsize enable them toadapt
tofuture economio developments .Itisassumed ,firstly ,that vacant
land isrequired forthedevelopment ofsuch farms and ,secondly ,that

-4-
manyfarmersaxeunableorunwillingtocarryoutsuchdevelopment.
Thelatterareto"beenabled ,"bythemeasurescontainedinDirective
No72/160/EECtoleaveagricultureandtoplacetheirlandatthe
disposalofotherfarmsforpurposesofmodernization .
Accordingly,thepreambletoDirective72/161/EBGstatesthatagri­
culturalstructurescannotbereformedunlessalargenumberofthose
workinginagriculture makeafundamental changeintheiroccupational
orientation .Thechoiceinvolvedinanychangeoforientation within
agriculture (farmmodernization )orinanytransferencetootheroccu­
pationsmustbemadewithfullknowledgeofexistingoppurtunities and
oftheconsequence ofsuchachoiceforthefarmerandhisfamily.Thus
theobjectiveofsocio-economic guidanceistoprovidehelpinsolving
theirsocialandeconomioproblemstofarmersandthefamiliesoffai>-
merswhosefarmsdonotmeettherequirements ofmodernagriculture and
whoareconsequently obligedtiftheywishtoimprovetheirownandtheir
family'ssituations,totakedecisionsontheirworkingfutureandthe
futureoftheirchildren.Thismeansthatthoseresponsibleforsocio­
economicguidancemustalso,wherenecessarywiththeassistanceof
specialists ,studytheeoonomicsituationofthefarmandthesocial
andeconomicsituationofthefarmingfamilyandpresenttheresults
ofthisstudytothefarmerandhisfamilyorrecommendappropriate
decisions.
Socio-economic guidancethusrepresents,asregardsfarmsofthekind
withwhichtheDirectiveismainlyconoerned,thatis,farmswhich
cannotberegardedasmodern,thefundamentalbasiocounselling onthe
basisofwhioh,dependingonthedecisiontaken,othermorefar-reaching
advicecanormustbesought<

-5-
eitherwithaviewtodrawingupafarmdevelopmentplanand/orre­
organizingthefarm,orinconnectionwiththechoiceofanoccupation
outsideagricultureorwithprovidingthefarmers'childrenwithtraining
forsuohanoccupation(seeArticle3(f)oftheDireotive).
Thus,DireotiveNo72/l6l/EECascribestosocio-economio guidancea
fundamental andspecificimportancewhiohdistinguishes itclearlyfrom
traditional economicandtechnicalcounsellinginagriculture *
Inlinewiththisfundamental andspecifioimportanceandwiththe
functionofsooio-economio guidance,Article2(a)alsoobligesMember
Statestosetupindependentservicesorindependentspecialdepartments
withinservicesalreadyexistingfortheprovisionofsuohguidance.
Socio-economio guidanceisthusanactivitywhichrequiresinprinciple
thefull-timeemploymentofspeciallytrainedandexperiencedstaff*
Thisfollows,moreover,fromthefirstindentofArticle12(2)ofthe
Directive,wherebytheCommunityonlycontributes towardsthecostsof
afull-timesocio-economio adviser.
AtthesametimetheCommissionfullyappreciatesthatespeciallyin
thoseMemberStateswheretherehasneverbeenasocio-economio advisory
servicewithinthemeaningoftheDirective,thecreationofasocio-
economioguidanceservicemayrequireacertainperiodoftimeduring
whichpracticalexperienceofsocio-economic guidancecanormustbe
gained.Particularly duringthisinitialperiod,itwould,therefore,
seemacceptableifonlyacomparatively smallnumberofsocio-economio
adviserswithinthemeaningoftheDireotivewereavailableandregional
centresoouldbeestablished .

TheCommissionassumes,however,thatafterareasonableinitial j
period,asufficientnumberofsocio-economic adviserswillbe
availableforfull-timeemploymentinthefieldofsocio-economic
guidance.Itmustbequiteclear,however,thatCommunitysubven- ■i
tionsunderArticle12(2),firstandsecondindents,willbegiven J
onlyforthosepersonswhoaremainlyemployedassocio-economic advisers,i
TheCommissionisoftheopinion,furthermore ,thattheMemberStates
arefreetoentrusttoacertainnumberofotheradvisersthetaskof
givingsocio-economic guidanceinadditiontotheirworkinthefield
ofgeneralandtechnicalcounselling ,thuscomplementing theworkof
thesocio-economio >advisers.Suchadviserscannot,however,qualify
foranyfinancialcontribution fromtheCommunityunderArticle12of
theDirective.
TheCommission'sopinionmaytherefore,besummarizedasfollows:
-asregardstheimplementation provisionsforEnglandandWales,
theCommissionseesnoreason,intermsofArticle2(a)ofDirective
No72/l6l/EBC,whytheresponsibility forsocio-economic guidance
shouldnotbegiventotheADAS,thepublioadvisoryserviceforagri-
Inviewoftheconsiderations outlinedabove,theprovisionofeight
RegionalSocio-Economic Specialists andapproximately "fiftySpecial
InterestAdvisersinSocio-Economics wouldseemsufficienttoenable
anappropriatestarttobemadetotheimplementation oftheDirective *
ItisassumedthattheSpecialInterestadviserswillalsobeessen­
tiallyengagedinsocio-economic guidanceworkwithinthemeaningof
theDirective.
TheCommissionhasnoobjectiontotheLocalAdvisersoftheADAS
beinggivenadditionalresponsibility forsocio-economic guidance.
Suchadviserscannot,however,qualifyforafinancialcontribution
fromtheCommunityunderthefirstindentofArticle12(2).culture.

-Asregards theimplementation provisions forScotland ,three full-time
I
socio-economio Specialists donotseem sufficient toensure theproper i
provision ofsocio-economio guidance within themeaning oftheDirective .|
\
Since theUnited Kingdom Government hasstated ,however ,that this is j
merely aninitial arrangement andthat itwill "bethetask ofthese three j
Specialists toascertain theneed forsocio-economic guidance ,andin j
■•- •■.
viewofthestructural situation peculiar toScotland ,theCommission j
isoftheopinion that thearrangements forScotland will meet there- r
rquirements oftheDirective forthetime "being .Theemployment ofthe t
College Field Advisers inScotland cannot qualify forfinancial assis­
tance from theCommunity .
-Asregards theimplementation provisions forNorthern Ireland ,the
Commissions comments are the same asforEngland andWales . !
Traimng ofthe socio-economic Advisers
2.1 .Both point ^andtheAnnex totheCommunication speoify thetraining
arrangements fortheRegional Socio-Economic Specialists ,theSpecial
Interest Advisers andtheLocal Advisers forEngland andWales .
The duration andintensity ofthetraining have also been laid down for
eachgroup ofadvisors . !
Points 10and13oftheCommunication state thatthese training arrangements |
will also heapplied toScotland andNorthern Ireland .
2.2.TheCommission hasnoparticular comments tomake concerning thetraining
envisaged .Intheopinion oftheCommission this training meets the
requirements ofArtiole 4ofDirective No72/l6l/EEC .However ,aCommunity
subvention under Art *-12(2),seoond indent ^will apply only totrainees
-whoqualify forthesubvention speoified inArt .12(2)first indent .–
■■The Commission would however draw attention tothe fact that theplanned -•
3-4 day course forLocal Advisers oftheADAS cannot qualify forfinan­
cial assistance from theCommunity under thefirst indent ofArticle 12(2 ).

-8-
CONCLUSIONS
Following theexamination ofthe draft from thepoint ofview of ■
itscompatibility with Directive No72/16i/EECandtaking into
account theaims ofthis Directive andthenecessary connection
between thevarious measures ,theCommission concludes that the
draft forwarded meets theoriteria forafinancial contribution ;
bytheCommunity tothemeasures envisaged ,butthat theplanned
employment andtraining ofthe .various Looal Advisers cannot . ;_;*
qualify forafinancial contribution' from theCommunity under the j
first andseoond indents ofArticle 12(2 ). . I
i
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' !
■ " !
Done a*tBrussele ,2September 1974
I
FortheCommission , j
' 1 !
The Président j
François-Xavier ORTOLI
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