ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(77)464
Vol.1977/0147

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(77)464final.
*» .
«
Brussels,26September1977*
COMMUNICATION FROMTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
Difficulties connectedwiththecollectionoftheco-responsibility
levyinItaly
CCM(77)464final.

COMMUNICATION FROM THECOMMISSION TOTHBCODICIL
Subject :Difficulties connected with thecollection ofthe co-responslblllty
levy inItaly
1.Inadopting theCommission 'sproposals onprices andrelated Masores
atitsmeeting on25and26April 1977 theCouncil approved provisions
fortheeollection tasfrom 16September *1977 »oftheco-responsibility
levy inthemilk products sector *TheCounoil also agreed that the
Commission should examine the administrative difficulties involved in
collecting theco-responsibility levy inItaly andreport onthen to
the Council *
Atitsmeeting on19July theCounoil heard anoral Commission statement
ontheproblems anddifficulties peculiar toItaly assetoutinthe
memorandum forwarded totheCommission bytheItalian authorities *
This Communication resumes thepoints already made intheoral state­
ment andamplifies some ofthem inthelight ofadditional information
received from theItalian authorities andofthediscussion inthe
Management Committee forMilk andMilk Products concerning Regulation
(SBC)NO1822/77laying down detailed rules forthecollection of
theco-re sponsibility levy introduced inrespect ofmilk andmilk products .
TheCommunication concerns itself only with iheadministrative problems
asdesired bytheCouncil *
2*TheMemorandum from theItalian authorities drew attention tothe
following problems arising from theparticular features ofmilk pro­
duction inItaly andthestructure ofthemilk industry inthat country *
-Thegreat number ofdairies ,thesmall scale onwhich they operate
andtheir lack ofadministrative staff make itvery difficult todo
thework involved incalculating andcollecting thelevy *
•••/•••

–Itisdifficult todetermine which milk producers areexempt from the
levy (because located inupland regions )andwhioh aresubject toit,
·*»mainly duetothepractice .oftrans humance ,dairy herds being transferred
from theplains tomountain pastures inthesummer .(This applies mainly
tosheep ).
-Some farmers whopurchase milk from their neighbours andprocess it
directly atthesame time asmilk from their ownholding aresubject
totwodifferent systems andmust keep separate accounts toshow the
quantities which aresubject tothelevy .
-Some Italian milk cooperatives donotpaytheir members formilk until
eight ortenmonths after delivery .Application oftheprinciple of
monthly collection ofthelevy would involve producers inpaying the
levy onamounts which they have notyetreceived .
-Additional difficulties could arise ,incontrolling collection of
thelevy ,inrespect ofItalian imports ofmilk (l000000tperyear ).
TheCommission hassought totake account oftheabove-mentioned difficulties
indrafting theregulation laying down detailed rules forcollection of
thelevy .
Toreduce theadministrative work and take account ofthe situation of
small enterprises ,thelevy could becollected every three months inthe
case ofdairies that process anaverage ofnotmore than 1500kgofmilk
perday .
This derogation would apply toalarge number ofdairies inItaly asover
70%ofthem collect less than 1000tofmilk peryear .
Toensure that producers arenotrequired topaytheco-responsibility
levy before having received payment fortheir milk ,dairies producing
cheese where thematuring time isatleast sixmonths andwhich prepare
only ayearly account forpayment oftheproducer would berequired to
make only anannual statement andonly anannual payment oftheco-responsibility
levy .

Inpractice this derogation would apply toallItalian cheese plants
making Parmesan andGrana padano cheese *
Thedifficulties in"Italy *German andFrance entailed inexempting
producers inmountain regions from thelevy andtheproblems created in
certain regions "bythetranshumance ofherds should not "beunderestimated#
These problems have "been thoroughly examined "bytheManagement Committee and
theway inwhich they canheresolved onthe "basis ofthedetailed rules
adopted hasbeen explained todelegations *Itshould beemphasized that
restriction ofthelevy toproducers ofcows *milk automatically resolves
theproblems oftheItalian producers ofsheep 'smilk *
Theadministrative andcontrol problems ofenterprises using milk imported
from other Member States aresimplified bythefact that thelevy hasbeen
applied bytheenterprise which collected andprocessed themilk before
itsexport toItaly *Thedistinction tobemade intheaccounts isnot
specific toimported milk butmust also bemade atnational level ,inthe
case ofdairies which purchase milk from other dairies *
Regulation (EEC)NO1822/77laying down detailed rules forthecollection
oftheco-responsability levy took account ofthemain administrative
difficulties notified bytheItalian authorities *Theflexibility inthe
rules thus introduced should enable theco–responsibility levy tobe
collected from Italian dairies *
Further ,Article 4(4)oftheRegulation provides that totake account of
special administrative difficulties inItaly ,other than those covered
bytheRegulation ,additional rules ofapplication maybeadopted *
Butthese provisions donotaffeot theparticipation ofItaly inthe
co-responsibility levy ,this obligation having been accepted byall
Member States including Italy *