Commission Regulation (EC) No 2248/98 of 19 October 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91 on the characteristics of olive oil and olive-residue oil and on the relevant methods of analysis and the additional notes in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff
Date: 1998-10-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: analytical chemistry, common customs tariff, international standard, olive oil, product quality, tariff nomenclature

20. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 282/55

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2248/98

of 19 October 1998

amending Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91 on the characteristics of olive oil and
olive-residue oil and on the relevant methods of analysis and the additional notes
in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical
nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Oils and Fats,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation No 136/66/EEC of
22 September 1966 on the establishment of a common
organisation of the market in oils and fats (1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1638/98 (2), and in
particular Articles 35 and 35a thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87
of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature
and on the Common Customs Tariff (3), as last amended
by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1048/98 (4), and in
particular Article 9 thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91 (5),
as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 282/98 (6), defines
the characteristics of olive oil and olive-residue oil and
the relevant methods of analysis; whereas Regulation
(EEC) No 2568/91 also amends Additional Notes 2, 3 and
the Combined Nomenclature
4 to Chapter 15 of
contained in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87;

Whereas, on the basis of the results of analyses of olive oil
produced in Morocco, the linolenic acid content of virgin
olive oil from that country should be adjusted to take
account of the natural characteristics of those products,
arising in particular
from the variety and specific
harvesting conditions;

in order

to harmonise the conditions

Whereas,
for
preparing samples of olive oil for analysis as provided for
in Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91, that Regulation should
require the international standard EN ISO 661 to be used;

Whereas, therefore, Regulations (EEC) No 2568/91 and
(EEC) No 2658/87 should be amended;

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2568/91 is amended as follows:

1. the following paragraph is added to Article 1:

‘8. However, for the 1998/99 to 2000/01 marketing
years, oil in bulk or put up in immediate packaging
with a net content of 100 kilograms or more, origin-
ating entirely in Morocco, the characteristics of which
comply with those set out in Annex I(1), (2), (3) and (4)
to this Regulation and, notwithstanding paragraphs 1
and 2, with a linolenic acid content of not more than
1 %, shall also be deemed to be virgin olive oil within
the meaning of point 1(a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Annex
to Regulation No 136/66/EEC.';

2. the following paragraph is added to Article 2:

‘3.
Samples for determining the characteristics of oil
as provided for in Annex I shall be taken in accord-
ance with international standard EN ISO 661 for
preparing samples for tests.'

Article 2

Table I in Additional Note 2 to Chapter 15 of
the
Combined Nomenclature contained in Annex I to Regu-
lation (EEC) No 2658/87 is replaced by the table in the
Annex to this Regulation.

(1) OJ 172, 30. 9. 1966, p. 3025/66.
(2) OJ L 210, 28. 7. 1998, p. 32.
(3) OJ L 256, 7. 9. 1987, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 151, 21. 5. 1998, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 248, 5. 9. 1991, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 28, 4. 2. 1998, p. 5.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 November
1998.

L 282/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

20. 10. 98

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

Done at Brussels, 19 October 1998.

For the Commission
Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

ANNEX

‘TABLE I

Fatty acid composition as percentage of total fatty acids

Fatty acids

Percentages

Myristic acid

Linolenic acid (1)

Arachidic acid

Eicosenoic acid

Behenic acid (2)

Lignoceric acid

@ 0,05

@ 0,9

@ 0,6

@ 0,4

@ 0,3

@ 0,2

(1) @ 1,0 for virgin olive oil (subheadings 1509 10 10 and 1509 10 90 ori-

ginating in Morocco, until 31 October 2001).

(2) @ 0,2 for oil under heading 1509.'