Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Directive amending Council Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 66/403/EEC, 69/208/EEC and 70/458/EEC on the marketing of beet seed, fodder plant seed, cereal seed, seed potatoes, seed of oil and fibre plants and vegetable seed` (97/C 30/12)

On 26 September 1996 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Articles 43 and 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Agriculture and Fisheries, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 18 July 1996. The Rapporteur was Mr Stokkers.

At its 338th Plenary Session (meeting of 25 September 1996), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following Opinion with 94 votes in favour and five abstentions.

1. Introduction

The Directives which the proposal seeks to amend are currently in the process of being officially consolidated. The Commission has submitted proposals on this subject to the Council and these proposals have already been approved by the Committee (Opinion CES 257/96 of 28 February 1996).

The Directives which are to be amended use the abbreviation 'EEC` in their packaging and labelling provisions.

Since the Maastricht Treaty substituted 'European Community` for 'European Economic Community`, the same change should now be made to these Directives.

In order to ensure that labels bearing the 'EC` rather than the 'EEC` abbreviation are used, this purely formal amendment must be transposed into national legislation by the Member States. Once these changes have been made to these Directives, they will be incorporated in the consolidating proposal.

2. Content of the Commission proposal

The Commission proposes that the 'EEC` abbreviation be replaced by 'EC` in the relevant provisions of the Directives and that the Member States be required to comply with this Directive by 1 July 1996.

In order to limit the financial impact of having to introduce new labels straightaway, it is proposed that labels with the 'EEC` abbreviation may continue to be used until 31 December 1996.

3. Comments

3.1. Since a consolidating Directive does not have to be transposed into national legislation, the Directives in question must be brought completely into line with current terminology before they are consolidated.

For the same reason, the proposed amendment cannot be incorporated as a purely formal amendment in the consolidating proposal.

3.2. The Committee agrees with the aim and scope of the Commission proposal but would make the following comments on its actual content.

3.3. The 1 July 1996 deadline for the transposition into national legislation has been overtaken by events and is now impracticable.

The Committee would point out that the same formal amendment is made in a proposal for amending Directive 67/548/EEC on the packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.

The common position (EC) No 18/96 which the Council adopted on this matter on 4 March 1996 specifies 1 June 1998 as the deadline for transposition into national legislation.

For the sake of clarity and so as to ensure that the provisions can be effectively implemented by businesses, the Committee would urge that the same deadline for transposition into national legislation be specified in these Directives.

3.4. The Commission proposal specifies that, once the new provisions have entered into force, remaining stocks of labels bearing the 'EEC` abbreviation may continue to be used for only six months.

This transitional period is too short.

Given the financial implications for businesses, this period should cover at least one whole marketing year following the date on which the provisions are to be transposed into national legislation.

The Committee would also refer here to the aforementioned common position of the Council on the labelling of dangerous substances, under which the transitional period is to last from 1 June 1998 to 31 December 2000.

From the point of view of business transparency and efficiency, the same timeframe should be used for the transitional period in the Directives now being amended.

4. Conclusion

The Committee approves the Commission proposal subject to the objections listed in point 3 to (a) the date for transposition into national law and (b) the transitional period.

Brussels, 25 September 1996.

The President of the Economic and Social Committee

Carlos FERRER