COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
C0M(93) 346 final 
Brussels, 20 July 1993 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
amending Council Regulation (EHC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys oi areas under vines 
(presented by the Commission) 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
Article 1 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86 of 24 July 1986 ^ required Member States in 
which the total area under vines in the open air is equal to or more than 500 hectares to establish a 
Community vineyard register within six years of the date of the Regulation's entry into force, i.e. by 
the end of July 1992. The purpose of the register is to obtain essential information on the potential for 
and trends in the production of grapes and wine. Regulation 2392/86 also provides for the register to 
be used for statistical purposes. 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 of 5 Eebruary 1979^) on statistical surveys of areas under vines 
provides for basic Community surveys to be carried out once every ten years, starting in 1979/80, and 
annual intermediate surveys, starting in 1981. 
Articles 5 and 6 of Council Regulation (EEC) 357/79 lay down the annual results which the Member 
States must submit to the Commission concerning intermediate surveys. 
Under current Community legislation, the Member States must collect from their wine-growers 
certain types of information requested by the Commission twice annually: once as part of the annual 
intermediate survey and once as part of the establishment and annual up dating of the vineyard 
register. 
As the results of the annual intermediate surveys requested by the Commission can be obtained from 
the vineyard register, and as certain Member States are already in a position to use the register for this 
purpose, the present proposal for a Regulation is designed to allow progressive statistical use of the 
register with a view to reducing, as far as possible, the workload on the Member States concerned. 
The proposal for a Council Regulation, which amends Regulation (EHC) 357/79, therefore represents 
the first step towards the statistical use of the vineyard register, while initially restricting that use It) 
the annual information referred to above. Under the proposal, the register can only be used for 
statistical purposes by those Member States which have already established the register at national 
level or in certain regions and which update it annually. 
i ) L 208 of 31 July 1986, p. 1 
2) OJ L 54 of 5 March 1979, p. 124 
Proposal for a 
rotlNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic 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 Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 of 5 February 1979 provides for 
some annual data on vineyard areas collected in intermediate surveys to be forwarded to the 
Commission ; 
Whereas Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86 provides for the register to be 
established within a period of six years from the date of that Regulation's entry into force, and 
whereas the register is teginning to become operational or at least to be presented in a form that 
enables it to be used for statistical purposes in some Member States and regions, especially as 
regards the characteristics of areas under vines ; 
Whereas the Member States which have already set up the vineyard register at national level or 
in some regions and ensure its regular updating in accordance with, article 3 of Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86, can begin to use it for statistical purposes ; 
Whereas it is appropriate to use the statistical results from the vineyard register annually 
updated as the source of the annual data to be forwarded to the Commission, once its statistical 
reliability has been validated : 
Whereas it is essential to ensure close cooperation between the Member States and the 
Commission ; 
Whereas the Treaty lays down that agricultural policies are Community policies; whereas it is 
necessary to establish general and comprehensive rules valid throughout the Community for the 
agricultural statistics on which the Common Agricultural Policy is based; whereas the resulting 
workload must be kept to a minimum by avoiding that the same information is collected by the 
Member States, several times. 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 is hereby amended as follows: 
1. The following paragraph shall be added to Article 5 at the end of paragraph 4: 
"4a. The Commission shall examine in close collaboration with the Member States 
concerned whether the conditions governing the use of the vineyard register for 
statistical purposes have been fulfilled''. 
2, The following Article shall be added at the end of Article 6: 
"Article 6a" 
The Member States which have introduced the vineyard register at national level or in 
some regions and which update it annually, as provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 
2392/86, may communicate to the Commission the annual information laid down in 
Articles 5 and 6, using the data in the vineyard register as their source. 
A£ticje_2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official 
Journal of the European Communities. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 
Done at Brussels, 
ISSN 02M-1475 
COM (93) 346 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 17 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-93-379-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-58060-7 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
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