Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines (98/C 257/05) COM(1998) 420 final - 98/0232(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 13 July 1998)

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 Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 (1), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, lays down the basic provisions for statistical surveys of areas under vines and the survey results are used to determine the production potential and medium-term trend in production in the Community;

Whereas it is appropriate to give greater flexibility to the system established by Regulation (EEC) No 357/79, not only because of developments in techniques and computer technology but also because of the need to lighten the burden of statistical operations required of the Member States;

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 provides that the Member States concerned are to carry out basic surveys of areas under vines every ten years; whereas, for technical and practical reasons, certain Member States, however, consider that it would be appropriate to link up this operation with the Community survey on the structure of agricultural holdings provided for by Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88, (2), as last amended by Commission Decision 98/377/EC (3);

Whereas as part of a flexible methodology, it would be appropriate to give Member States the possibility of using the vineyard register provided for by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86 (4), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1596/96 (5), as a source of information on the basic survey, given that developments in computer technology enable increasingly accurate and comprehensive information to be obtained from reliable data in an updated register,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 1(1), the following fourth paragraph is added:

'If a Community survey on the structure of agricultural holdings on the basis of Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 (*) is scheduled within a maximum of twelve months in relation to the basic survey provided for in the first paragraph, first indent, both surveys may be carried out simultaneously. Member States shall inform the Commission in advance of their intention to make use of this provision.

(*) OJ L 56, 2.3.1998, p. 1.`

2. In Article 2(3)(A), the following second paragraph is added:

'However, as regards the 1999 basic survey, Portugal may transmit information on vine varieties which together represent at least 53 % of the total area under wine grape vines.`

3. In Article 3, the following paragraph 4 is added:

'4. Member States which have completed the establishment of the vineyard register at national level or in certain regions and which update it annually, in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2392/86, may use the data in the vineyard register as a source for communicating to the Commission the basic-survey information.`

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of 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.

(1) OJ L 54, 5.3.1979, p. 124.

(2) OJ L 56, 2.3.1988, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 168, 13.6.1998, p. 29.

(4) OJ L 208, 31.7.1986, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 206, 16.8.1996, p. 38.