CELEX: 51990PC0686(02)
Language: en
Date: 1991-02-20
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION SETTING UP A PROGRAMME OF OPTIONS SPECIFIC TO THE REMOTE AND INSULAR NATURE OF THE CANARY ISLANDS ( POSEICAN )

No C 67/12                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 15. 3. 91
              Proposal for a Council Decision setting up a programme of options specific to the remote and
                                         insular nature of die Canary Islands (Poseican)
                                                          (91/C 67/14)
                                                        COM(90) 686 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 20 December 1990)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas, for the purposes of implementing this
                                                                   programme, the necessary legal acts will be adopted
                                                                   either by the Council or by the Commission, as appro-
                                                                   priate, before 31 December 1992; whereas the duration
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              of the application of the measures to be adopted could,
Economic Community,                                                in certain cases, be linked to the process of strengthening
                                                                   the integration of the Canary Islands into common
                                                                   policies, or extend beyond this process, given the
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No               /..     permanent constraints which are a particular feature of
on the application of the provisions of Community law              the Canary Islands;
to the Canary Islands, and in particular Article 9 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   Whereas this programme must be based on the twofold
                                                                   principle that the Canary Islands form an integral part of
                                                                   the Community and that the regional reality deriving
Having regard to the opinion of the European                       from their particular geographical situation and their
Parliament,                                                        historical economic and fiscal system must be
                                                                   recognized;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                   Whereas, for this reason, the special measures laid down
                                                                   by the programme of operations must be part of the
Whereas the Canary Islands suffer from a serious
                                                                   process of including the Canary Islands in the customs
structural lack of development aggravated by a number
                                                                   territory of the Community and extending to these
of constraints (remoteness, isolation, small size, difficult
                                                                   Islands other provisions of Community law as stipulated
terrain and climate) whose unchanging nature and
combined impact have serious effects on their economic             in Regulation (EEC) No              / . . ; whereas these
and social development; whereas these special constraints          measures must accordingly take into account the special
make it necessary to step up Community support in                  characteristics and constraints of the Canary Islands
order to ensure that the Canary Islands are fully involved         without undermining the integrity and coherence of the
in the dynamic of the internal market; whereas this                Community legal order;
Community support takes the form of operations under
the reformed Structural Funds (enjoying the priority
given to the Objective 1 regions), but must also ensure
that the special constraints affecting the Canary Islands
are taken into account in the application of common                Whereas the economic effects of specific measures must
policies, in accordance with the Community approach to             remain limited to the territory of the Canary Islands
the remoter regions, of which the adoption and                     without affecting directly the functioning of the common
implementation of the Poseidom programme for the                   market;
French overseas departments is the first practical
example;
Whereas to achieve this, the Council, pursuant to Article          Whereas Community rules must take account of the
9 of Regulation (EEC) No . . . . / . . , must adopt a multi-       specific nature of the Canary Islands and permit their
sector programme of operations involving legislative               economic and social development, particularly in those
measures and financial commitments to allow for the                areas where the fragile nature of island territories is
special constraints on the Canary Islands in the                   particularly acute, such as transport, taxation, the social
application of common policies;                                    sector, research and development, or the protection of
 ---pagebreak--- 15.3.91                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 67/13
the environment in view of the vulnerability of the            Whereas Spain and the region must take account of the
Canary Islands to the increasing pressures of tourism;          measures and operations under this programme in
                                                               drafting future regional development plans; whereas the
Whereas the exceptional geographical situation of the          Commission, within the scope of its powers, will take
Canary Islands in relation to sources of supply for            steps to ensure that this programme is consistent with the
products used as inputs in certain food sectors, which are      operations of the Structural Funds and other Community
essential for current consumption or processing in the         financial instruments,
archipelago, entails costs that are a severe handicap for
this area; whereas there is a need, in this connection, to
make special arrangements for the supply of these               HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
products within the limits of local market needs and
taking account of local production and traditional trade
flows;
                                                                                                Article 1
Whereas, for the same reasons and as part of the phased         1.         Pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No
introduction of the common customs tariff, there is a           . . . / . . . , an action programme for the Canary Islands,
need to create the possibility of special tariffs or dero-      known as Poseican (programme of options specific to the
gations from the common commercial policy for certain           remote and insular nature of the Canary Islands) and set
sensitive products; whereas customs arrangements may            out in the Annex, is hereby established. This programme
also prove to be appropriate for the regime applicable to       shall          cover   legislative    measures and   financial
the Canary Islands free zones;                                  commitments.
Whereas the special production conditions in the Canary
Islands require that particular attention be paid to            2.         Within the context of the powers conferred upon it
applying the common agricultural policy to this region;         by the Treaty, the Council shall adopt the provisions
whereas appropriate measures are needed to assist the           necessary for the execution of this programme and invite
development of the fruit and vegetable and flowers and          the Commission to submit the relevant proposals as soon
live plant sectors; whereas these measures will have to         as possible.
promote the growing of tropical products in particular;
whereas it will also be necessary to introduce other
measures to support domestic production intended for                                            Article 2
local consumption;
                                                               The financial resources required to implement the
                                                                measures relating to agricultural structures appearing in
Whereas certain flanking measures are required to
                                                                this programme shall be determined in the annual
accompany the application of the common fisheries
                                                                budgetary procedures.
policy to the Canary Islands in order to take account of
the particular features of local production;
Whereas the preparation, implementation, monitoring                                             Article 3
and evaluation of the measures provided for in this            This Decision shall take effect on . . . 1991.
programme require a partnership between                the
Commission and the competent national and regional
authorities; whereas this partnership must permit
                                                                                                Article 4
complementarity between the measures laid down in the
programme and those applied at national and regional           This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of
level;                                                          the European Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 67/14                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                   15. 3. 91
                                                            ANNEX
               PROGRAMME OF OPTIONS SPECIFIC TO THE REMOTE AND INSULAR NATURE OF THE
                                                CANARY ISLANDS (POSEICAN)
                          TITLE I                                 4.      The measures and operations contained in Poseican
                                                                  fall within the framework of the inclusion of the Canary
                     General principles                           Islands in the customs territory of the Community and
                                                                  the extension to these Islands of Community law in force
                                                                  and should enable the specific nature and constraints of
 1.    Poseican will be based on the twofold principle that       the Canary Islands to be taken into account without
the Canary Islands form an integral part of the                   undermining the integrity and coherence of the
Community and that the regional reality, characterized            Community legal order.
by the special features and constraints specific to the
region concerned as distinct from the Community as a
whole, must be recognized.
                                                                                              TITLE II
2.     Implementation of the measures and operations set
out in the Poseican programme will in principle be                  Application of common policies in the Canary Islands
carried out before 31 December 1992, through the
adoption either by the Council or by the Commission, as
appropriate, of the necessary legal acts, in accordance
                                                                   5.     Directives or other measures adopted in connection
with the provisions and procedures laid down in the
                                                                  with the internal market and other common policies will
Treaty.
                                                                  have to take account of the special characteristics of the
                                                                   Canary Islands and promote their economic and social
3.1.     The Poseican programme will help attain the              development, particularly in the fields of transport and
general aims of the Treaty by contributing to the                 taxation, social matters, research and technological
achievement of the following specific objectives:                 development (without prejudice to the Community
                                                                  framework programme on this topic) and protection of
— the realistic integration of the Canary Islands into the        the environment.
     Community       by    establishing    an     appropriate
     framework for the application of common policies in
     this area,
                                                                                              TITLE III
— the full involvement of the Canary Islands in the
     dynamic of the internal market by making optimum             Specific measures to mitigate the effects of the excep-
     use of existing Community regulations and                                      tional geographical situation
     instruments,
— assisting the Canary Islands to catch up economically           6.1.       Within six months from the date on which this
     and socially, principally through            Community       Decision takes effect, the Council or the Commission, as
     financing of the specific measures contained in              appropriate, will adopt the measures laid down in this
     Poseican.                                                    Article which are intended to alleviate the impact of the
                                                                   additional costs involved in maintaining supplies of agri-
3.2.     The Member State and the region will take into            cultural products resulting from the remote and insular
account the specific measures and operations contained             nature of the Canary Islands.
in Poseican when drawing up future regional devel-
opment plans. Within the scope of its powers, the
Commission, for its part, will take steps to ensure that           6.2.      In the case of essential agricultural products for
the operations conducted under Poseican are consistent            consumption or processing in the archipelago, this
with the operations of the Structural Funds and other              Community action will consist, within the limits of local
Community financial instruments.                                  market requirements and taking into account local
                                                                  production and traditional trade flows, in:
3.3.     The drafting, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of the operations and measures contained in
Poseican will be carried out in partnership by the                — exempting from levies and/or customs duties
Commission and the national and regional authorities                    products originating in non-member countries; in this
concerned. Efforts will be made to ensure that Poseican                 connection special attention will be paid to the possi-
operations and those conducted at national and regional                 bilities of supplying the Canary Islands from nearby
levels complement each other as far as possible.                        developing countries,
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 3. 91                              Official journal of the European Communities                             No C 67/15
— permitting, in parallel and in competition with                6.6. Imports of raw or other tobaccos for use in the
    products from non-member countries and on equi-              manufacture of tobacco and originating in non-member
    valent terms, the supply of Community products               countries will be exempt from customs duty up to the
    taken into intervention storage or available on the          amount required by the tobacco industry in the Canary
    Community market.                                            Islands to cater for local consumption and existing trade
                                                                 flows in manufactured tobacco and with due account for
                                                                 supply possibilities offered by the ACP States.
The principles underlying the application of this system
will be as follows:
                                                                 6.7. To promote the development of stockfarming to
                                                                 meet local market needs, a system of aid for the
(a) With regard to the supply of inputs needed to sustain        purchase of breeding animals originating in the
     certain processing and/or packaging industries              Community will be set up. Until such time as local
     making products for the local market, this system           production has developed to a satisfactory level, this
     should allow these industries to obtain supplies direct     system may be accompanied by temporary measures,
     from markets in non-Community or Community                  with a phased reduction in quantities, to facilitate the
     countries, up to the amounts stipulated in forecast         purchase of animals for fattening (cattle and pigs) and
     supply balances, so that the goods produced can             the procurement of certain processed meat-based
     meet the requisite specifications, notably as regards       products (pigmeat, beef/veal or poultry). These measures
     quality. In the case of sugar in particular, the system     will combine exemption from levies for the products in
     must allow traditional trade flows to be maintained.        question originating in non-member countries and aid
                                                                 for the procurement of such products from other parts of
                                                                 the Community, to give such products access on equi-
(b) In the case of supplies of other basic products, in          valent terms. The situation will need to be reviewed after
     order to ensure that these measures have an impact          the system has been in operation for four years.
     on the level of production costs and consumer prices,
     a system will be set up to monitor this impact up to
     the end-user stage. Should the impact be judged
                                                                 7.1. At the request, with supporting documents, of the
     inadequate, the supply of unprocessed cereals may be
                                                                 competent Spanish authorities, specific tariff measures or
     replaced, in quantities to be determined at the appro-
                                                                 derogations from the common commercial policy may be
     priate time, by the equivalent in flour form.
                                                                 adopted on a case by case basis for certain sensitive
                                                                 products:
(c) In view of the complexity and diversity of supply
     circuits in the Canary Islands, the Commission will
     be required to review the operation of the provisions       — measures to take account of particular problems in a
     adopted on the basis of the principles set out above            given sector of local production intended for local
     with a view to making any adjustments needed. The               consumption or tourism, with a view to maintaining
     first review will be carried out at the end of the first        an exemption equivalent to that applied prior to the
     year of application of these provisions.                        entry into force of Council Regulation (EEC) No
                                                                     .../...,
To help maintain local cereal production, no co-respon-          — measures to allow access for consumer goods such as
sibility levy will be charged.                                       textiles, clothes, optical and electronic equipment or
                                                                     means of transport.
6.3. Temporary restrictions may be applied to imports
of potatoes to the Canary Islands at sensitive times, with       7.2. The measures referred to in paragraph 7.1 must
provision for the gradual widening of the quota until it is      be carefully tailored to the Canary Islands' domestic
finally abandoned after seven marketing years.                   market to avoid any deflection of trade. The application
                                                                 of such measures must, in principle, be limited to the
                                                                 transitional period provided for under Article 6 of
6.4. Community aid to olive oil consumption will                 Council Regulation (EEC) No . . . / . . . for the gradual
apply to the Canary Islands on the terms in force in the         adoption of the Common Customs Tariff to the Canary
Community as constituted on 31 December 1985.                    Islands. In the year preceding the expiry of this period
                                                                 the Commission will evaluate the measures adopted and
                                                                 review the situation.
6.5. To avoid any deflection of trade, products
covered by the measures referred to in paragraphs 6.2
and 6.4 may not be re-dispatched, whether in the                 8. Inward processing operations carried out in the
unaltered state or processed, to other parts of the              Canary Islands free zones will not be subject to the
Community.                                                       economic conditions attaching to these arrangements.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 67/16                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   15. 3. 91
                           TITLE IV                                     the context of      a market organization       for  this
                                                                        product,
   Specific measures to support Canary Island products
                                                                    — to satisfy the consumer habits for wines produced in
                                                                        the archipelago, exemption from compulsory distil-
9.     In view of the economic and social importance of                 lation and non-application of voluntary distillation
bananas for the Canary Islands and the objective of a                   laid    down     by    Community      legislation    and
fair standard of living for producers, the Commission                   non-application of the grubbing premium,
will, without waiting for the adoption of common rules,
decide on structural action to assist this sector. With a
view to improving the conditions of production and                  — in the dairy sector, the setting of the quota at a level
competition, such action will include measures                          which will allow reasonable development of
concerning research, harvesting, presentation and                       production in the Canary Islands without, however,
processing, transport, storage, marketing and commercial                disrupting traditional trade flows,
promotion.
                                                                    — in the case of animal products for the local market,
The Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission,                  specific aid for producers' groups or organizations
will lay down provisions for bananas before 31                          for training and technical assistance programmes,
December 1992 with a view to the completion of the
single market.
                                                                    — specific aid to support products of traditional Canary
                                                                        Island stockfarming and intended for local
                                                                        consumption.
 10.1     Within six months from the date on which this
Decision takes effect the Council or the Commission, as
appropriate, will adopt the measures referred to in this
article.                                                            10.4.    To encourage farmers in the     Canary Islands to
                                                                    supply high-quality products and         to promote the
                                                                    marketing of these products, the         Community may
                                                                    finance the design and promotion of     a logo.
 10.2.    Measures for the fruit and vegetable and flowers
and live plants sectors may take the form of:
                                                                    10.5.    Directive 77/93/EEC on protective measures
— temporary aid per hectare for programmes carried                  against the introduction into the Member States of
     out by producers and producer groups or organiz-               harmful organisms of plants or plant products will be
     ations to diversify production and/or improve                  adapted to accommodate the specific plant health
     product quality; these programmes, from which                  situation in the Canary Islands.
     tomato-growing would be excluded, should serve to
     develop tropical products in particular. Additional aid
     may be granted in cases where these programmes                 10.6.    Special exceptions may be made, on the basis of
     include technical assistance measures,                        duly substantiated requests from the Spanish authorities,
                                                                   to provisions restricting or preventing the granting of
                                                                   ceruin types of structural aid to reflect the special
— aid for the marketing of tropical products where the             characteristics of agriculture in the Canary Islands.
    volume of trade does not exceed 10 000 tonnes for
    each product, under marketing season contracts
    between Canary Island producers and operators in                11.1.    In the case of fishery products, a reinforced
    other parts of the Community,                                  system of aid will be established in favour of producers'
                                                                   organizations, which must be set up within five years of
                                                                   the date on which Council Regulation (EEC) No . . . / . . .
— the funding of an economic analysis and forward                  enters into force; this aid will apply for five years
    planning study of the processed fruit and vegetable            following the date on which these organizations are
    sector (particularly tropical fruit and vegetables).           recognized.
10.3.     Other measures to help support domestic                   11.2.    In view of the special situation of the sardine
product for local consumption may take the form of:                market and the problem of the price of this product in
                                                                   the Canary Islands, a conversion factor specific to
                                                                   sardines marketed within the Canary Islands will be
— specific aid per hectare for potato-growing, within              applied in accordance with Article 12 (2) of Regulation
    the limits of the present areas under cultivation, irres-      (EEC) No 3796/81. Within two years following the
    pective of any measures which might be adopted in              introduction of the market organization in the Canary
 ---pagebreak--- 15. 3. 91                             Official Journal of the European Communities                      No C 67/17
Islands, the Commission will investigate the possibility of     improvements from its partners in order to facilitate
applying arrangements to bring prices into line. As the         Community exports of cephalopods to the countries
Community price system can only apply if the products           concerned.
put on sale are accessible to all the operators concerned,
the Member State and the Community will take the
necessary steps to ensure that the sardine marketing                                  TITLE V
structures in the Canary Islands are adapted to meet this
condition.                                                                         Final provision
                                                                 12. The Commission will report annually to the
11.3. The Community will endeavour, within the                  Council on progress in the implementation of the
scope of its powers in international trade, to obtain           Poseican programme.