Proposal for a Council Directive amending Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on pig, bovine animal and sheep and goat production (97/C 288/06) COM(97) 413 final - 97/0220(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 29 July 1997)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43, thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas, in order to ensure that the common agricultural policy is properly administered, particularly where the pigmeat, the beef and veal and the sheep and goatmeat markets are concerned, the Commission requires regular data on trends in livestock and in pigmeat, beef and veal and sheep and goatmeat production;

Whereas Council Directive 93/23/EEC, of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on pig production (1), Council Directive 93/24/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on bovine animal production (2) and Council Directive 93/25/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on sheep and goat stocks (3) rule on the frequency of statistical surveys to be carried out on pig, bovine animal and sheep and goat production;

Whereas to adapt the periods of reference in order achieve a better use of the resources available for agricultural statistical surveys;

Whereas to relieve the survey units from work related to statistical surveys;

Whereas to achieve a better synchronization of different surveys within the sector of agricultural statistics;

Whereas in some Member States the stock of sheep and goats represents a relative minor part of the Community's total stock,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Amendment of Directive 93/23/EEC

Council Directive 93/23/EEC is amended as follows:

1. In Article 1 paragraph 4 is added as follows:

'4. The Member States may, at their request and based on an appropriate documentation, be authorized to carry out only two surveys per year, at a six-monthly interval in the months of May/June and November/December. This derogation may only be granted under the condition that they can prove to guarantee the quality of the forecasts as given in Article 12. In the light of experience and based on the results of those forecasts, this authorization may be revoked. The Commission shall consider such requests in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17.`

2. In Article 5 paragraphs 3 and 4 are added as follows:

'3. Those Member States authorized to carry out only two surveys per year shall notify the Commission of the provisional results of the surveys and additional estimates before:

- 31 July of the same year for the May/June survey,

- 15 February of the following year for the November/December survey.

4. Those Member States authorized to carry out only two surveys per year shall notify the Commission of the results of the surveys and additional estimates, as defined in Article 4 (2), before:

- 15 September of the same year for the May/June survey,

- 1 April of the following year of the November/December survey.`

3. In Article 6 (1) the term 'December` shall be replaced by the term 'November/December`.

In Article 6 (2) the term 'April` shall be replaced by the term 'April or May/June`.

4. In Article 8 (1) the term 'December` shall be replaced by the term 'November or December`.

Article 2

Amendment of Directive 93/24/EEC

Council Directive 93/24/EEC is amended as follows:

1. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 1

1. The Member States shall carry out statistical surveys of the bovine population on their territory each year with reference to one day in the month of May/June and with reference to one day in the month of November/December.

2. The Member States may, at their request, be authorized to carry out the May/June, November/December surveys respectively in selected regions, on the understanding that these surveys cover at least 70 % of the bovine population.

Those Member States whose bovine population is less than 1,5 million per head may be authorized to dispense altogether with one of the two surveys laid down in paragraph 1 or to carry it out in selected regions only.

The Member States may, at their request, be authorized to use administrative sources instead of statistical surveys pursuant to paragraph 1.

3. In considering the requests referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission shall decide in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17, the obligations arising from Article 6 being taken into account.`

2. In Article 5 (1) and (2) the terms 'December` shall be replaced by the term 'November/December`.

3. In Article 6 (1) the term 'December` shall be replaced by the term 'November/December`.

4. In Article 8 (1) the term 'December` shall be replaced by the term 'November/December`.

5. In section II the title 'Slaughterin statistics` shall be corrected to 'Slaughtering statistics`.

Article 3

Amendment of Directive 93/25/EEC

The Council Directive 93/25/EEC is amended as follows:

1. In the title of the Directive 93/25/EEC the term 'stocks` shall be replaced by 'production`.

2. Article 6 (2) shall be replaced by the following:

'2. By way of derogation from Articles 1 and 5, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands shall be authorized to estimate the sheep and goat populations and the United Kingdom the goat population held in December on the basis of the populations recorded during the annual livestock census or agricultural structure survey which they carry out in May/June of the same year. They shall forward the provisional results referred to in Article 5 (1) to the Commission before 1 March and the results referred to in Article 5 (2) before 1 April of the year following the reference year.`

3. Article 9 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 9

By way of derogation from Article 8:

(a) Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands shall be authorized to notify sheep numbers by région/gewest, Länder respectively provincie in the case of populations covered by the livestock census or agricultural structure survey conducted in May of the reference year, before 15 October of that year;

(b) the Member States referred to in Article 1 (2) (b) shall be exempt from notifying the regional breakdown of their goat numbers.`

4. Article 12 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 12

By way of derogation from Article 11, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands shall be authorized to notify the data on the structure of their sheep and goat populations and the United Kingdom those of its goat population covered by the livestock census or agricultural structure survey conducted in May/June of the reference year before 15 May of the following year.`

Article 4

The Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive before 1 January 1998.

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such a reference shall be laid down by the Member States.

Article 5

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, p. 5.

(3) OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, p. 10.