ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(81)610
Vol.1981/0186

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITSE
COM(81)610 final
Brussels ,15october1981
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"CTo*Xp"'A% –I
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OLIVEOU
(Communication fromtheCommission totheCouncil)
C0M(8l)610final

Cow\
'.'.'MEMORANDUM -
1.Introduct ion'
»
TheIhtroduct icnofthecommonmarketorgameati&n forfats&oilsin
Spainwillgiveriseinthiscountrytothedutyfreeimportorimportatre­
latively lowratesofdutyofvegetable oils.andoilseedsandwillreducethere­
foretheconsumption ofoliveoil-TheCommission hasalready madeclearthat,
-onthebasisofactualproduction andconsumption ,theenlarged Community^of •;
twelvewouldbe'inasurplusforoliveoil-
ThecurrentSpanishnational systemiseffective inrestraining thecom­
petition ofotheroils(e-g-soyaoil)andinmaintaining theconsumption of
oliveoil-Thedismantling ofthissystemwillmodifyinSpainthepricerelation-
J .. . .....shipbetweenoliveoilandthecompeting vegetable oilforwhichtheCommunity
isdeficient -Itwillhaveconsequences inrelation toproducers' "incomes,the
balanceofsupplyanddemandintheoliveoilmarket,;theCommunity budgetand
willaffectCommunity relations withthirdcountries-
2-Financial aspects i
Ifnootheractionistakenandtheexisting Community importarrangements
areapplied inthefuturememberstates,theoliveoilsurplusisestimated to
beoftheorderof200,000tonnesayear-Thedisposal cfsuchasurptuscoupled
'withtheCommunity determination tosafeguard producers' incomeswouldleadto
aconsiderable increase inCommunity budgetexpenditure -Itisestimated that
itimplies anadditional annualcosttotheCommunity budgetoftheorderof
720million ECU(seetableinannex),atcurrentprices.
3-Producers' incomes andpricestoconsumers '
Itisessential thatthemechanism available fordisposing ofsurplus
oliveoilshouldbeeffective andthatitshouldbeabletoachieveitspur­
posewithoutdamagingtherevenuesofexistingproducers-Thisimpliesthatin
thefixingoftheaidforconsumption itshouldberequired thattherelation­
shiptheconsumer levelbetweenthepriceofoliveoilandofthecompeting
seedoilsshouldnotexceed2:1--TheCommission willpropose nowachangein.
thebasicmarketregulation tothiseffect,thechangetobe.fullyeffective
atthelatest,atthebeginning ofthetransition periodchosenforoliveoil-

Measures affecting production
Such measures asarepracticable forthe reconversion ofolive production
toother cultures -andwhich would therefore beuseful foradapting supply
tothemarket -should bestarted even before theaccession ofSpain and
Portugal -Jhepossibilities ofreconversion from traditional olive oilpro­
duction' ,are hot great ,inthe Community ofTen,however ,since theaverage
size ofholding producing olives foroilproduction intheexisting Community
is5hectares ofwhich'only 1hectare isdevoted toolive production .Nonethe­
less ,modest changes may bepossible onavoluntary basis incertain regions
ofthepresent Community andtheCommission will make proposals tothis effect ,
atthesame time astheproposal referred toinparagraph 3.
Inthemeantime ,weshould foresee inthepresent negotiation with Spain
andPortugal theextension tothose countries ofthe present rule which limits
thepayment ofproduction aid tothose areas which were planted with olive
trees before 1November 1978 intheCommunity of9-This measure ,bydiscou­
raging theextension ofthe land area devoted tootive production ,should avoid
any increase ofthat production -
Transition penod
i
Theperiod andconditions ofadaptation ofthe import regime inSpain
tothe .Community 'ssystem should bechosen soastotake account oftheneed
toavoid abrutal change inpatterns ofconsumption -This implies theperiod
should bethemaximum compatible with theenlargement - '

6.Relations with third countries
The Commission should right away explore with the third countries
concerned ,both bilaterally andmulti laterally ,ways andmeans ofpreserving
thepresent balance between consumption ofolive oilandofother oils ,with
dueregard forthe lawful interests ofthird countries supplying vegetable
/
oils generally and ofthenecessity toavoid that the next enlargement
translates itself into concession for them without return .
Later ,after Spain 'saccession ,theCommunity will negotiate under
Article XXIV .6ofGATT achange intheexisting tariff arrangements .
This could take the form of :
-.institution oftariff arrangements inrespect ofoil andoilseed imports
inexcess oftheamounts imported atpresent ;
.institution of*oiI^and oiIseed import arrangements representing themean
oftheexisting tariff protection intheCommunity and inSpain ;
.oranyequivalent measure ..
7.Taxe
Themeasures tobetaken depend onthe results oftheaction envisaged at
4,5and 6above .Thecomplete financial consequences will only be
apparent atthe end ofthetransitional periods The Community will have
toadopt aposition before then *
Inthe light ofthe results ofthenegotiations itwill bepossible
to assess the additional budgetary cost and itmight benecessary to
introduce anon-discriminatory taxonconsumption ofvegetable oils which ,
inorder tocomply with the Community 'sinternational obligations ,should
apply both toCommunity-produced and imported vegetable oils .

TABLE 1
======== ('000tonnes )
Oliveoilsupplies
A.Static (base1975to1977)
_EEC_9_ „Greece _EEÇ_IQ__Sga|n__Portugal __EEÇ_12
Production 540 218 758 440 49 1.247
Consumpt ion 617 177 794 302 52 1.148
Self-supply rate 88% 123% 95% 146% 94% 109%
Forecast,ifnomeasures
aretaken
Production 540 218 758 440 .49 1.247
Consumpt ion 617 140 757 230 40 1.026
Self-supply rate 88% 156%100% 191% 119% 121%

TABLEII
Financial assessment
Unit
amount
<ECU/tonne)
Production aid
Consumption aid
Refunds,preserves
Exportrefunds
Totalaidandrefunds
Increasein
consumption aidrequired
tomaintainthelevelof
consumption
Grandtotal558,1
471,6
280
240"
310EEC10
quantity j/iECU
(tonnes)i
'758,000
454.000
■20.000
r15.000
454.000-■.\
423*
214'
5,6
3,6
646,2
140,7
786,9ÍSpain+Portugal
L _EL:C12
jquantity
¡(tonnes;'MECU,quantity
(tonnes)f;ECU
.489.000 272,9 1.247.000 ι:;o'"•ν*
370.000 174,4 824.000
10.000 2,8•30.000
60.000 14,4 75.000.Io
466,50■ 1.110,7
370.000 114,7.824.000• ·
7V/r
// 579,2■'
1.36".,1