Common Position (EC) No 16/2000 of 24 January 2000 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of aerial-survey and remote-sensing techniques to the agricultural statistics for 1999 to 2000
Date: 2000-01-24
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: agricultural statistics, area of holding, crop yield, data collection, management information system, remote sensing

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 16/2000

adopted by the Council on 24 January 2000

with a view to adopting Decision No .../2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of ... on the application of aerial-survey and remote-sensing techniques to the agricultural
statistics for 1999 to 2003

(2000/C 83/02)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 285 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1) Council Decision 94/753/EC of 14 November 1994 on
the continued application of remote sensing to agricul-
tural statistics during the period 1994 to 1998 (3) lapsed
on 31 December 1998.

(2) There is an especially felt need to have information on
land use and on the condition of crops in the context of
new developments in the common agricultural policy
and with a view to enlargement, in particular for the
analysis of interactions between agriculture, the environ-
ment and the countryside.

(3) The detailed rules for implementing the measures con-
tained in Decision 94/753/EC should be adjusted and
reorganised in the light of the experience gained and the
results achieved.

(4)

(5)

In cooperation with the Member States concerned, an
aerial-survey system should be introduced to collect the
necessary data on land use and other variables of interest.

Since the agrometeorological system for forecasting yields
and the monitoring of crop condition are now at the
operational stage, they should be separated from those
measures requiring further research.

(1) OJ C 396, 19.12.1998, p. 25.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 January 1999 (OJ
C 104, 14.4.1999, p. 43) Council Common Position of 24 January
2000 and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet
published in the Official Journal.

(3) OJ L 299, 22.11.1994, p. 27.

(6) The remote-sensing activities requiring further research
and development in the period 1999 to 2003 are covered
by the fifth framework programme in the field of research
and development (4).

(7)

(8)

Provision should already be made to incorporate into the
operational activities covered by this Decision, where
appropriate, the developments in methodology that may
result from that research.

It is also appropriate to provide that the Commission
should be able to delegate the implementation of these
measures, under
to Community or
its supervision,
national bodies responsible for the production of agricul-
tural statistics or to bodies recognised by them.

(9) The statistical measures employing aerial-survey and
remote-sensing techniques comply with the principle of
subsidiarity, to the extent that the Member States and the
Commission share the responsibility and implementation
of the various measures in accordance with criteria of
efficiency and feasibility.

(10) These measures contribute to improving the Com-
tools for framing, managing and

munity’s statistical
monitoring the common agricultural policy.

(11) This Decision lays down,

for the entire duration of
the programme, a financial framework constituting the
principal point of reference, within the meaning of
point 1, second subparagraph, of the Declaration by the
European Parliament, the Council and the Commission
of 6 March 1995 (5), for the budgetary authority during
the annual budgetary procedure.

(12) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for the exercise of
implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (6),

(4) OJ L 26, 1.2.1999, p. 1.
(5) OJ C 102, 4.4.1996, p. 4.
(6) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

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HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 3

Article 1

1.
Over a five-year period starting on 1 January 1999, an
aerial-survey project shall be implemented at Community level
in agricultural statistics. The use of remote-sensing shall also
be continued,
in particular with the agro-meteorological
system being made operational.

2.
Taking into account data already collected by the Mem-
ber States, the measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be
designed, at Community level and if possible in areas of
interest to the Community, more specifically to:

— collect data needed to implement and monitor the com-
mon agricultural policy and analyse interactions between
agriculture, the environment and the countryside,

— provide estimates of the areas under the principal crops,

— ensure that the condition of crops is monitored until
harvesting, so as to enable early estimates of yields and
production to be made.

3.
After a three-year period starting on 1 January 1999, it
shall be decided, in the light of experience and under the
procedure laid down in Article 5(2), whether to continue with
the measures, amend them for the remaining two years or
terminate them.

Article 2

The Commission shall ensure that
implemented within available funding limits.

these measures are

National bodies responsible for the production of agricultural
statistics or bodies recognised by them may be involved on a
voluntary basis in the implementation of these measures.

In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5(2),
the Commission shall report annually to the Member States
on the implementing arrangements, the methods used, the
utilisation of appropriations, the evaluation of the results and
the work programme for the following year.

framework for the implementation of

The financial
this
programme for the period 1999 to 2003 is hereby set at
EUR 12,5 million.

The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary
authority within the limits of the financial perspective.

Article 4

this
The measures necessary for the implementation of
Decision shall be adopted in accordance with the management
procedure referred to in Article 5(2).

Article 5

The Commission shall be assisted by the Standing

1.
Committee on Agricultural Statistics.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4
and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to
the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

Article 6

By 31 July 2003 at the latest, the Commission shall present a
report to the European Parliament and the Council on the
implementation of these measures and on the use of the
resources made available, accompanied, where appropriate,
by any proposals on how aerial-survey and remote-sensing
techniques may continue to be used for agricultural statistics.

Article 7

This Decision shall
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

take effect on the day following its

It shall apply from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2003.

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

The President

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 13 November 1998, the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal for a Decision,
the EEC Treaty, on the application of aerial-survey and

based on former Article 43 of
remote-sensing techniques to the agricultural statistics for 1999 to 2003.

2. The European Parliament was consulted in accordance with the legal basis proposed by the
Commission and approved this proposal on 13 January 1999 without proposing any amendment.

3. Following entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Council thought that this proposal for
a Decision now had new Article 285 TEC as its legal basis; the latter stipulates that the Council,
acting in accordance with the co-decision procedure, shall adopt measures for the production of
statistics where necessary for the performance of the activities of the Community.

4. On 16 September 1999 on a first reading in the course of the codecision procedure, the European
Parliament confirmed the text of the proposal concerned which it had approved on 13 January
1999.

5. At its meeting on 24 January 2000, the Council adopted its Common Position in accordance with

Article 251 of the EC Treaty.

II. AIM OF THE PROPOSAL

6. The aim of this proposal for a Decision is to reorganise and continue measures using aerial-survey
and remote-sensing techniques for the period 1999 to 2003. The activities are reorganised under
three main headings:

— the setting up at European level of a system of ground surveys (aerial surveys) of the kind
already carried out under the MARS project (surveys by sites on a representative sample at
national level),

— the transition from the experimental phase to the operational phase of the agro-meteorological

system,

— the provisional suspension of estimating crop areas by remote sensing, as research on
alternative methods is currently under way. Activity could however be resumed without prior
modification of this proposal.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

7. Taking account of the above aim, the Council approved the substance of the Commission
proposal while making a number of modifications of which the following are the most important:

Second recital

8. The wording has been slightly modified to take account of analysis of interactions between

agriculture, the environment and the countryside.

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11th and 12th recitals

9. Two new recitals have been added, the 11th referring to the financial framework for the entire
duration of the programme and the 12th making the point that the measures necessary for the
implementation of the programme are adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC
on the committee procedure.

Article 1

10. Changes have been made in order to encourage a better understanding of the three objectives
pursued. A new form of words has accordingly been adopted dividing the first paragraph of the
Article into three separate sentences and indicating in order the various statistical instruments
adopted (aerial survey, remote sensing and agro-meteorological system). The text also makes
provision for the Commission to take into account data collected at national level for the pursuit
of these aims in order to avoid any duplication of information-gathering at Community and
national levels.

In the case of aerial surveys, the text provides that a survey project will be implemented at
European level over a five-year period and may be continued, amended or terminated after a
period of three years.

Article 2

11. The main modification consists of specifying that national bodies responsible for the production
of agricultural statistics or bodies recognised by them may be involved on a voluntary basis in the
implementation of the Community measures; a work programme for the following year will also
be submitted annually to the Member States by the Commission.

Article 3

12. The new text provides for indication of the financial framework for the implementation of the

programme during the period 1999 to 2003.

Article 4 and new Article 5

13. As regards the procedures for adoption of the implementing measures, the text of the Common
Position is prompted by the criterion in Article 2(a) of Council Decision 1999/468/EC (1) whereby
management measures, such as those relating to the application of the common agricultural and
common fisheries policies, or to the implementation of programmes with substantial budgetary
implications, should be adopted by use of the management procedure.

IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION

14. The Council adopted as a Common Position the Commission proposal in the form approved by
the European Parliament, subject to the above modifications which the Commission accepts.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.