WRITTEN QUESTION E-1864/00

by Jorge Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Subject: Marketing standards applicable to avocados

A draft regulation exists seeking to amend Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/97 establishing marketing standards applicable to avocados with regard to size and dry matter content.

The second recital of the draft regulation claims that trade in small avocados is developing.

Could the Commission please explain the basis for this claim, given that in Spain for the 1999/2000 season, avocado producers have had problems selling small sizes, particularly the Hass variety?

Given that the second recital of Commission Regulation No 1167/99 of 3 June 1999, amending Regulation No 831/97 states that the Community standard for avocados should be brought into line with the corresponding UN/ECE standard, and given that UN/ECE standard FFV-42 establishes that the final sizing code is 30, and the minimum weight of avocados must not be less than 125 grams, how can the inclusion of sizes which do not appear in the UN/ECE standard be justified, when Article 2(2) of Regulation No 2200/96 establishing the COM in fruit and vegetables says that UN/ECE standards are to be taken into account when adopting standards for fruit and vegetables?

Furthermore, what measures the Commission intend to take to ensure that controls are carried out on the minimum dry matter content of non-Community avocados at the port of entry?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 July 2000)

Small avocados of the Hass variety are apparently offered for sale on the British and German markets, mainly prepacked. There is sustained demand for them from consumers, and the taste of these small avocados, virtually all of which originate in Spain, is of sufficiently high quality to show that, despite their small size, they have reached an adequate stage of development.

The Commission has therefore begun to consider, in cooperation with the experts from the Member States responsible for standards for fruit and vegetables, whether the minimum size for avocados of the Hass variety should be reduced. This discussion, which is purely technical in nature, is not yet finished, and the Commission has therefore not submitted a draft regulation to the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, in accordance with Article 46(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables(1).

The Commission would, however, point out that, at its last meeting, the fresh fruit and vegetables specialised section of the European Office of the United Nations (ECE/UN) adopted a recommendation to reduce the minimum weight of avocados of the Hass variety to 100 grams.

The possibility of including provisions on their minimum dry matter content in the marketing standard for avocados has also been raised during these technical discussions. For the moment, there is no consensus on this point, which therefore requires further examination. However, if the Community marketing standard for avocados were amended in this way, the new provisions would apply equally to avocados from outside the Community and those grown within the Community.

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996.