WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1696/96 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. World Trade Organization - Rice
Date: 1996-06-24
Institutions: AMADEO, European Parliament
Subjects: CCT duties, aid to agriculture, common organisation of markets, competitiveness, import price, market intervention, production aid, rice, tariff reduction













EUR-Lex - 91996E1696 - EN






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91996E1696

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1696/96 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. World Trade Organization - Rice  


Official Journal C 345 , 15/11/1996 P. 0098 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1696/96 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (24 June 1996)Subject: World Trade Organization - RiceIn signing the Uruguay round agreement, the European Union undertook gradually to reduce customs duties on rice. Under the GATT agreements the Union will have to move from a minimum price, based on the entry price, to a maximum price. This will mean that Europe will face keener international competition in terms of both agricultural production and industrial processing of paddy rice to produce milled rice. The Commission is therefore considering the possibility of new regulations based on:1. a reduction in producer prices;2. compensation for producers;reducing the level of producer prices will inevitably have a negative impact on the profitability of Community rice production. To maintain current income levels, it is necessary to introduce a compensation scheme, while maintaining a level of production consistent with market demand.Aid has therefore been fixed per hectare of land sown with rice, subject to a maximum guaranteed area for the Community.Since the reduction in intervention prices proposed must be compensated in full financially to maintain the level of producers incomes and to ensure their survival and the compensation must therefore be calculated on the basis of the average for the past three production years (1993, 1994 and 1995) recorded in each of the producer Member States, and bearing in mind the trend in consumption and the accession of new Member States, does the Commission not consider that it should review the penalties imposed in the event of the maximum guaranteed area being exceeded?Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (9 July 1996)Article 6(5) of Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organization of the market in rice ((OJ L 329, 30.12.1995. )) stipulates that 'where the areas given over to rice in a given year exceed one of the base areas indicated in paragraph 4, a reduction of the amount of the compensatory payment shall be applied to all producers in the base area in question for the same production year equal to:- three times the rate of overrun if it is less than 1%,- four times the rate of overrun if it is equal to or greater than 1% but less than 3%,- five times the rate of overrun if it is equal to or greater than 3% but less than 5%,- six times the rate of overrun if it is equal to or greater than 5%.'The Commission has no intention of proposing changes to the criteria used in applying the penalties since in its original proposal it considered that the reduction in the compensatory amount should have been equal to six times the rate of overrun in order to maintain a degree of proportionality between the rate of overrun and the penalty expressed as a percentage of the intervention price.