EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/571

(2004/C 84 E/0648)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0305/04

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Request for PDO for ‘Sant Andrea Piemonte rice’

On 27 May 2003 the Italian Ministry for Agricultural Policy submitted to the Commission, pursuant to Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 (1), a request for registration of ‘Sant Andrea Piemonte’ rice as a PDO. By letter of 22 July I asked the Directorate-General for Agriculture for information on the progress of this application. On 14 August I received a reply from the director informing me that the application was being carefully considered by the Commission and that, if the request included all the particulars required under Community law, the Commission would, as provided for in Article 6 of the EEC regulation, publish an initial notice in the EU Official Journal.

Given that six months have elapsed since the request was submitted, i.e. the period within which, under Article 6(1), the Commission must verify whether the registration application includes all the particulars provided for in Article 4, and that no notification has been received by those directly concerned or by the Italian Ministry for Agricultural Policy from the relevant services:

The Commission:

1. Can it explain the reasons for this unjustified delay?

2. Does it not consider, given the deadline set by the regulation, that the least it can do, in terms of transparency and efficiency, is to contact those directly concerned to explain the reasons for the delay?

3. If the delay is due to staff shortages, could it not propose recruiting additional staff or using some of the hundreds of ‘stagiaires’ who work at the Commission?

4. Does it not consider that, if the European Union is to be close to its citizens, it should show itself more capable of responding to the requests of bodies, individuals and institutions for the implementation of measures provided for in EU legislation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2004)

We do not dispute the facts of the situation as described by the Honourable Member.

The time taken to process applications for registration lodged with us under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs has been increasing in recent months. Although twice as many registrations were made in 2003 as in 2002, the number of applications being processed at any one time has also been rising.

The assessment of applications involves internal consultations following one on another. Translations have to be made and the legal and technical aspects are complex. It is not suitable work for ‘stagiaires’.

We are aware that the amount of time taken to process applications annoys applicants and are considering what can be done to speed things up in future.

The registration application for Sant' Andrea Piemonte was received by the Agriculture Directorate-General on 27 May last year. Given the complexity of the questions that have to be dealt with when an application is assessed, it cannot reasonably be considered that the processing time in this case is already excessive.

DG AGRI is in ongoing contact with the Ministry for Agricultural and Forestry Policies in Italy, the Commission's official interlocutor on these matters. The reasons why applications at present take such a long time to be processed are not unknown to the Ministry. The rules allocate responsibilities between the Commission and Member States in such a way that the Commission is not empowered to enter into direct contact with the group making the application or any other person with a direct interest.

(1) OJ L 208, 24.7.1992, p. 1.