Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning statistical surveys in order to determine the production potential of plantations of certain species of fruit trees (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)
Date: 2001-11-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: arboriculture, fruit-growing, plantation, statistics

C 51 E/344

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.2.2002

Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning statistical surveys
in order to determine the production potential of plantations of certain species of fruit trees (1)

(2002/C 51 E/22)

COM(2001) 649 final (cid:151) 2000/0291(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty on 8 November 2001)

1. Background

(cid:151) By virtue of Council Directive 76/625/EEC, concerning stat-
istical surveys to determine the production potential of
plantations of certain species of fruit trees (2), it has been
possible for the Member States to conduct five five-yearly
surveys on the above theme.

(cid:151) The experience acquired in implementing the Directive has
revealed the urgent need to introduce greater flexibility into
the practical aspects of conducting the surveys.

(cid:151) In response to this need the Commission felt it advisable to
draft a new Directive which would be simpler and more
straightforward to read and to implement than the old,
repeatedly amended, text.

(cid:151) At the plenary session on 13 June 2001, the European
Parliament approved the Commission proposal with 2
amendments. The Commission is prepared to accept these
amendments in part.

(cid:151) The (cid:145)Working Party on Agricultural Statistics(cid:146) and the
(cid:145)Special Committee on Agriculture(cid:146) of
the Council,
meeting in September 2001, delivered an opinion which
is very close to that outlined in this document.

2. Examination of the amendments

the plenary session on 13 June 2001,

At
Parliament
amendments. The Commission is prepared to accept
amendments in part.

the European
approved the Commission proposal with 2
these

(cid:151) The flexible elements introduced in the proposed text

mainly concern the following points:

Amendment 1 (Article 1 (2)):

(cid:151) Survey methodology: the rigid threshold is replaced by
an objective which relates to the representativeness of
the sample (Article 3 of the proposed text).

The Commission agrees to eliminate the example of small-
fruited citrus.

The Commission accepts the point relating to the possibility of
using (cid:145)Committee procedure(cid:146) to amend the table of species to
be surveyed which is appended to the proposal. Indeed this
amendment introduces a useful degree of flexibility into the
proposed text.

Amendment 2 (Article 2(1)):

The Commission agrees to the deletion of references to (cid:145)double
grafting(cid:146) and to the (cid:145)net area(cid:146). This will permit more reliable
results.

3. Conclusion

Pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty, the Commission
hereby amends its proposal
for a Directive along the lines
stated above.

the

(cid:151) Timetable for conducting the survey: the former fixed
period (spring) has been eliminated. The only constraint
is
to the
Commission (Article 4 of the proposed text). This flexi-
bility allows Member States to choose the most appro-
priate date for conducting the survey.

transmitting

deadline

results

for

(cid:151) On 23 November 2000 the Commission adopted a
proposal for a new Directive (COM(2000) 753) (1) which
it
transmitted to the European Parliament and to the
Council.

(cid:151) The (cid:145)Working Party on Agricultural Statistics(cid:146) and the
(cid:145)Special Committee on Agriculture(cid:146) of
the Council,
meeting in December 2000 and January 2001 respectively,
examined the text proposed by the Commission and did
not make any substantial amendments.

(1) OJ C 96 E, 27.3.2001, p. 212.
(2) OJ L 218, 11.8.1976, p. 10.