Brussels, 22.12.2004

COM(2004) 826 final

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the experience acquired from the statistical survey on plantations of certain species of fruit trees, carried out by the Member States in 2002 in application of Directive 2001/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001

1. The 2002 basic survey on plantations of certain species of fruit trees was carried out in the 15 EU Member States in application of the Directive 2001/109/EC[1] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 and in accordance with the Commission Decision 2002/38/EC of 27 December 2001[2] setting out the survey parameters and laying down the code and standard rules for the transcription, in machine-readable form, of the data.

The present report on experience acquired during the 2002 survey is submitted in accordance with Article 7 of the Directive 2001/109/EC.

The previous report (on experience acquired during the 1997 survey) was presented by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council as document COM(2000) 362 final of 14 June 2000.

2. In the 2002 basic survey, the following species were surveyed:

dessert apples (in the Member States of EU-15);

dessert pears (in the Member States of EU-15, except Ireland and Finland);

peaches (in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Austria only);

apricots (in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Austria only);

oranges (in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain only);

lemons (in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain only);

small-fruited citrus fruit (in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain only).

Data on plantations producing apples for uses other than dessert fruit were sent optional by Germany, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and United Kingdom.

Data on plantations producing pears for uses other than dessert fruit were sent optionally by Germany, Spain, Luxembourg and Netherlands.

3. In accordance with Article 4 (4) of Directive 2001/109/EC, Member States sent to the Commission methodological reports on how the survey was carried out. A summary table of the national survey methods is included in Annex 1 of this Commission report.

The 2002 survey was

- a complete enumeration in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom (for large holdings);

- an area frame sampling in Spain;

- a farm sample survey in the other Member States.

4. The data from all Member States were transmitted in accordance with the rules and technical parameters indicated in the Commission Decision 2002/38/EC.

Article 4 of Directive No 2001/109/EC states that the Member States shall notify the Commission of the results of the basic survey before 1 October of the year following the survey year. The transmission dates are presented in Annex 2.

All Member States provided data on each variety representing more than 3% of the area of the species.

Compared with the 1997 survey, progress was made regarding "the area of orchard considered". All Member States sent the 2002 survey results in terms of net orchards area (“net area” means surface solely occupied by trees).

According to Directive 2001/109/EC, Article 1 (3), "the survey shall apply to all holdings with an area planted with fruit trees, provided that the fruit produced is entirely or mainly intended for the market”. In practice, the situation is different from Member State to Member State, ranging from "no threshold (all holdings surveyed" to "threshold [pic] 50 ares"). Furthermore, some Member States have changed their threshold from one survey to the other.

With the improvements mentioned above, namely in relation with the common use of the concept of net areas, the 2002 survey can be considered satisfactory in overall terms. With regard to future surveys, consideration should be given to the update of the list of varieties and codes, and the harmonisation of thresholds. The integration of this survey with other surveys, such as the survey on the structure of agricultural holdings, should be explored.

5. The main results of the 2002 survey are presented in Annex 3 and are available through Eurostat’s databases.

87,5% of the EU orchard area was concentrated in Spain, Italy, Greece and France.

The EU orchard area declined by approximately 161 000 ha (13% in relative terms) from 1997 to 2002. This decline was particularly notable for apple and peach trees (both in absolute values and in relation to the total area under these species). On the other hand, there was an increase for small-fruited citrus trees (resulting mainly from a significant rise in Spain). With the exception of Greece, Ireland and Finland, areas under fruit trees shrank in all Member States.

An analysis of the proportion of the individual varieties, within a given species, reveals considerable developments linked to changes in consumer preferences.

ANNEX 1

SURVEY METHODS USED BY THE MEMBER STATES-BASIC SURVEY 2002

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ANNEX 2 2002 basic survey of fruit trees

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ANNEX 3

Table A: Breakdown of the various fruit species by Member State and for EU-15, 2002

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Table B:Breakdown of the various fruit species by Member State and for EU-15, 1997 (

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Table C: EU-15, 2002 (EU-15, 1997 ( = 100%)

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[1] OJ L 13 of 16.1.2002, p. 21.

[2] OJ L 16 of 18.1.2002, p. 35.

( 1997: data was recalculated from gross into net area for Finland, France and Spain.

( 1997: data was recalculated from gross into net area for Finland, France and Spain.