Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys of areas under vines
Date: 1998-07-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: area of holding, statistics, utilised agricultural area, vineyard, viticulture

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

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Brussels,  13.07.1998 
COM(1998) 420 final 

98/0232 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 
amending Regulation  (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical  surveys 
of areas under vines 

(presented by the Commission) 

EXPLANATORY  MEMORANDUM 

1. 

Introduction 

Regulation  (EEC) No 357/79 lays down the basic provisions  for  statistical  surveys 
of  areas  under  vines.  The  survey  results  are  used  to  determine  the  production 
potential and medium-trend in production in the Community. 

The Member States carry out basic surveys of areas under vines every ten years and 
every year in the case of intermediate  surveys relating to changes in the area under 
wine grape vines. 

It is appropriate  to revise  the  system  outlined  by  Regulation  (EEC)  No  357/79  in 
order to make it more flexible from a technical point of view and given the need to 
lighten the burden of statistical operations required of the Member States. 

This proposal for a Regulation meets the requirements of the Commission in terms of 
both  making  it  easier  for  Member  States  to  carry  out  statistical  operations  and 
achieving economies. 

2.  Vineyard register 

Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2392/86  lays  down  the  provisions  for  the 
establishment of the vineyard register in the Member States.  This register is needed 
to obtain vital information  on production potential and trends in order to ensure the 
proper  functioning  of  the  common  organization  of  the  market  in  wine,  and  in 
particular  of  the  Community  arrangements  on  intervention  and  planting,  and 
monitoring measures. 

The process of implementing this register  is not uniform  in all the Member  States. 
However, it is already operational in some Member States. 

The  vineyard  register,  which  is  already  used  in  some  countries  for  annual 
surveys, enables: 

highly  reliable  information  to  be  supplied  to  the  Commission  as  quickly 
as possible; 

survey 

the 
the 
considerable economies. 

on 

ground 

to 

be 

replaced, 

thus 

allowing 

In this proposal  for a Regulation  it is also proposed that the register be used as part of 
the  basic  survey.  In  the  medium-term  the  vineyard  register  is  therefore  intended  to 
become  the  cornerstone  of  the  survey  system,  supplying  high-quality  results  more 
cheaply and more quickly. 

3. 

Synchronizing  the  winegrowing  survey  with  the  survey  on  the  structure  of 
agricultural  holdings 

On  the  basis  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  357/79,  Member  States  carry  out  basic 
surveys  on  areas  under  vines  every  ten  years.  The  next  basic  survey  is  scheduled 
for 1999. 

In  some  Member  States,  the  Community  Survey  on  the  structure  of  agricultural 
holdings  is also planned  for  1999, whereas  in  other  Member  States  it  will  be  the 
year 2000. 

Given  that  both  surveys  call  upon  considerable  human  and  financial  resources,  it 
seems  appropriate  to  give  Member  States  the  possibility  of  carrying  out  both 
surveys simultaneously, even if the survey year is not the same. 

In the latter case, in particular,  it is appropriate  to give Member  States  which  will 
be carrying out the structural survey in the year 2000 the possibility of carrying out 
at the same time the survey of areas under vines. 

4.  Exemption for Portugal 

Portugal alone has been granted an exemption for the  1999 survey, because  of the 
technical difficulties  it faces in carrying out this survey. 

Such an exemption is to be considered exceptional, as these difficulties  should tend 
to  disappear  in  the  next  three  to  four  years  as  the  vineyard  register  becomes 
operational in Portugal. 

Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 
amending Regulation  (EEC) No 357/79 on statistical surveys 
of areas under vines 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article 43 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament2, 

(EEC)  No  357/793,  as  last  amended  by  the  Act  of 
Whereas  Council  Regulation 
Accession of Austria, Finland  and  Sweden, lays down the basic provisions for  statistical 
surveys of areas under vines and the survey results are used to determine  the production 
potential and medium-term trend in production in the Community; 

Whereas  it  is  appropriate  to  give  greater  flexibility  to  the  system  established  by 
Regulation  (EEC)  No 357/79,  not  only  because  of  developments  in  techniques  and 
computer  technology  but  also  because  of  the  need  to  lighten  the  burden  of  statistical 
operations required of the Member States; 

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 provides that the Member  States concerned are to 
carry out basic  surveys  of  areas under  vines  every ten years; whereas,  for  technical  and 
practical reasons, certain Member  States, however, consider that  it would  be appropriate 
to  link  up  this  operation  with  the  Community  survey  on  the  structure  of  agriculture 
holdings  provided  for  by  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No 571/884,  as  last  amended  by 
Commission Decision 98/377/EC5; 

it  would  be  appropriate  to  give 
Whereas  as  part  of  a  flexible  methodology, 
the  vineyard  register  provided  for  by 
Member States  the  possibility  of  using 
Council Regulation (EEC)  No  2392/866,  as 
(EC) 
No  1596/967, as a source of information  on the basic survey, given that developments in 
computer technology  enable increasingly  accurate  and comprehensive  information  to be 
obtained from reliable data in a updated register, 

last  amended  by  Regulation 

i  OJ 
2  OJ 
3  OJL 54, 5.3.1979, p. 124. 
4  OJ L 56,2.3.1988, p. 1. 
5  OJL 168, 13.6.1998, p. 29. 
6  OJ L 208, 31.7.1986, p. 1. 
7  OJL 206,  16.8.1996, p. 38. 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 is amended as follows: 

1. 

In Article 1 ( 1 ), the following fourth paragraph is added: 

"If a Community  survey on the  structure  of  agricultural  holdings  on the  basis  of 
Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  571/88 
is  scheduled  within  a  maximum  of 
twelve months in relation to the basic  survey provided  for  in the  first  paragraph, 
first  indent,  both  surveys  may  be  carried  out  simultaneously.  Member  States 
shall inform  the  Commission  in  advance  of  their  intention  to  make  use  of 
this provision. 

OJ L 56, 2.3.1988, p. 1." 

2. 

In Article 2(3)(A), the following second paragraph is added: 

"However, as regards the 1999 basic survey, Portugal may transmit information on 
vine  varieties  which  together represent  at least  53% of  the  total  area under wine 
grape vines." 

3. 

In Article 3, the following paragraph 4 is added: 

"4.  Member  States  which  have  completed  the  establishment  of  the  vineyard 
register at national level or in certain regions and which update it annually, in 
accordance  with  Regulation  (EEC)  No  2392/86,  may  use  the  data  in  the 
vineyard  register  as  a  source  for  communicating  to  the  Commission  the 
basic-survey information." 

Article 2 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  twentieth  day  following  that  of  its 
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. 

This  Regulation  shall  be  binding  in  its  entirety  and  directly  applicable  in  all 
Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the Council 
The President 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(98) 420  final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

17  03  06 

Catalogue  number  :  CB-CO-98-427-EN-C 

ISBN  92-78-37833-X 

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