27. 11. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 297/17 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No . .. 
of ... 
laying down general rules for implementing the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal as 
regards the compensation mechanism on imports of fruit and vegetables originating in 
Portugal 
(90/C 297/11) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, 
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Spain and 
Portugal, and in particular Article 234 (2) thereof, 
Having regard to the Commission's proposal, 
Whereas Article 318 of the Act of Accession provides that 
from the beginning of the second stage of the transitional 
period for Portugal a compensation mechanism is to be 
introduced for imports into the Community, as constituted 
on 31 December 1985, hereinafter called the 'Community 
of Ten', of fruit and vegetables for which a reference price 
is fixed with regard to third countries, according to 
Article 27 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 of 
18 May 1972 on the common organization of the market 
in fruit and vegetables ('), as last amended by Regulation 
(EEC) No 1193/90(2); 
Whereas among the measures necessary for implementing 
the mechanism, rules should be laid down in particular for 
recording the producer prices for products or varieties 
which are representative of the production marketed for 
the purpose of calculating the Community offer price; 
whereas it should be borne in mind that the prices listed 
concerned products packaged for transportation; 
Whereas, for the purpose of determining the Portuguese 
offer price calculated each marketing day on the basis of 
the representative rates recorded, the rates to be regarded 
as such should be defined; whereas, in order to obtain a 
realistic overview of the market situation, the rates to be 
used should concern a significant proportion of the goods 
presented on the markets; whereas the nature of the rates 
and the quantity of products to be taken into consideration 
(!) OJ No L 118, 20. 5. 1972, p. 1. 
(2) OJ No L 119, 11. 5. 1990, p. 43. for calculating the Portuguese offer price should therefore 
be specified; 
Whereas where the offer price of the Portuguese product is 
lower than the Community offer price, compensation is to 
be effected by levying a corrective amount in accordance 
with Article 318 (1) (d) and (e) of the Act of Accession; 
whereas in order to enable the compensation mechanism to 
operate satisfactorily under sound conditions and to ensure 
that Portuguese products are not subject to more stringent 
arrangements than those applying to products originating 
in third countries, provision should be made that a decision 
to fix a corrective amount or to discontinue it be based on 
the prices recorded for several consecutive market days, 
and the method to be applied should be defined, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
1. The Community offer price, referred to in 
Article 318 (i) (a) of the Act of Accession, applicable to the 
whole Community of Ten, shall be fixed for each 
marketing year or for each of the periods into which the 
year may be subdivided on the basis of seasonal price 
variations. It shall be fixed before the beginning of the 
marketing year. However, for the period 1 January 1991 to 
the end of the 1990/91 marketing year, it shall be fixed 
before 1 January 1991. 
2. The producer prices to be used for determining the 
Community offer price shall be those for a home-grown 
product with defined commercial characteristics, recorded 
on the representative market or markets situated in the 
production areas where prices are lowest, for the products 
or varieties which represent a considerable proportion of 
production marketed for part of the year or throughout the 
year and which fall within quality Class I and satisfy 
specified requirements as regards packaging and 
preparation. 
No C 297/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 90 
When the average of prices recorded on each representative 
market is being calculated, prices which could be 
considered excessively high or excessively low in realtion to 
normal price fluctuations on the market shall. be 
disregarded. Moreover, if the average price for a Member 
State shows excessive variations with respect to normal 
price fluctuations, it shall not be taken into account. 
3. The transport costs referred to in Article 318 (1) (a) of 
the Act of Accession may be calculated on a flat-rate 
basis. 
Article 2 
For the purpose of calculating the Portuguese offer price 
referred to in Article 318 (1) (b) of the Act of Accession, 
the Commission shall, on the basis of information supplied 
by Member States or data gathered by the Commission 
itself, regularly follow, for a product with defined 
commercial characteristics, the trend of average prices for 
products coming from Portugal on all the representative 
markets of the Community of Ten for which prices are 
available, namely the average prices on the most 
representative import markets of the Member States and 
significant prices recorded on other markets for large 
quantities of those products or, if there are no prices on the 
most representative markets, significant prices recorded on 
other markets for large quantities. 
The following shall be regarded as representative: 
— the prices of Class I products, provided that the 
qualities of this class represent not less than 50 % of 
the quantity marketed, 
— the prices Class I products, together with, where the 
products in this class represent less than 50 % of the 
total quantity, the prices, used as they stand, of Class II 
products in respect of the quantity that will cover 50 % 
if the total quantity marketed, 
— the prices, used as they stand, of Class II products, in 
cases where there are no Class I products, unless a 
decision is taken to multiply them by a conversion 
factor if, by reason of production conditions in 
Portugal, such products have not, because of their 
quality, been normally or traditionally marketed in 
Class I. Where the prices are multiplied by a conversion 
factor, customs duties shall first be deducted. 
Article 3 
For the purpose of implementing Article 318 (1) (d) and (e) 
of the Act of Accession, the following procedure shall be 
applied: 1. If the Portuguese offer price remains at least ECU 0,6 
below the Community offer price for two consecutive 
market days, a corrective amount shall be introduced, 
save in exceptional circumstances. This amount shall be 
equal to the difference between the Community offer 
price and the arithmetic mean of the last two 
Portuguese offer prices available. 
2. Where the Portuguese offer price recorded during a 
period of five to seven consecutive market days is 
alternatively higher and lower than the Community 
offer price, and where Portuguese offer prices higher or 
lower than the Community offer price are recorded 
during two consecutive market days without the 
provision contained in paragraph 1 being applied, a 
corrective amount shall be introduced, save in 
exceptional circumstances, in derogation from that 
paragraph and under the conditions laid down below: 
— the corrective amount shall be introduced where 
three Portuguese offer prices lower than the 
Community offer prices are recorded and where one 
of the Portuguese offer prices is at least ECU 0,6 
lower than the Community offer price; 
— the corrective amount shall be equal to the 
difference between the Community offer price and 
the last available Portuguese offer price at least 
ECU 0,6 lower than the Community offer price. 
3. The corrective amount introduced pursuant to 
paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be the same for all Member 
States of the Community of Ten and shall be levied in 
addition to the customs duties in force. 
4. The corrective amount introduced in accordance with 
paragraph 1 shall not be adjusted unless a change in the 
factors used in its calculation gives rise from the time of 
its actual application, during three consecutive market 
days, to an adjustment in its amount of more than 
ECU 1,2. 
The corrective amount shall be abolished where, from 
the time of actual application of that amount, the 
Portuguese offer prices for two consecutive market days 
are at least equal to the Community offer price or if the 
prices are unavailable for six consecutive working days. 
It shall also be abolished if the application of the first 
subparagraph results in a corrective amount of zero. 
5. The corrective amount introduced in accordance with 
paragraph 2 shall be levied during six days. 
27. 11. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 297/19 
It shall be abolished prior to the expiry of that period 
only if: 
the application of paragraph 1 results in the fixing 
of a new higher corrective amount, or 
from the time of actual application of the corrective 
amount the Portuguese offer prices, during three 
consecutive market days, are at least equal to the 
Community offer price. Article 4 
1. Detailed rules for the application of this Regulation 
and the Community offer price shall be adopted in 
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 33 if 
Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72. 
2. A decision to introduce, adjust or abolish the corrective 
amount shall be taken by the Commission. 
Article 5 
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1991. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member 
States. 
Done at Brussels, . . 
For the Council