COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2377/1999
of 9 November 1999
laying down the marketing standard for asparagus
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables(1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999(2), and in particular Article 2(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) asparagus are among the products listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 for which standards must be adopted. Commission Regulation (EEC) No 454/92 of 26 February 1992 laying down quality standards for asparagus(3), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 888/97(4), shall be amended on several points. In order to ensure legal clarity, Regulation (EEC) No 454/92 should be abrogated and the rules in question should be recast. To that end and in the interests of preserving transparency on the world market, account should be taken of the standard for asparagus recommended by the Working Party on Standardisation of Perishable Produce and Quality Development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE);
(2) the system for sizing asparagus should be simplified to make it compatible with developments in production and marketing conditions, especially as regards wholesale and consumer requirements. This simplification involves removing the provisions fixing a maximum length for asparagus, relaxing the conditions on diameter in the size table for asparagus and reducing the minimum diameter of green and violet/green asparagus to 3 mm. These amendments will enable thin green asparagus and "triguero" asparagus to be marketed under the same conditions as all other asparagus;
(3) the result of applying these standards should be to remove products of unsatisfactory quality from the market, to bring production into line with consumer requirements, to facilitate trade relationships based on fair competition, and thereby to help make production more profitable;
(4) the standards are applicable at all stages of marketing. Carriage over a great distance, storage for a certain length of time and the various handling operations which the products undergo may bring about deterioration due to the biological development of the products or their perishability. Account should be taken of such deterioration when the standards are applied at marketing stages following dispatch. As products in the "Extra" class have to be particularly carefully sorted and packaged, only lack of freshness and turgidity is to be taken into account in their case;
(5) the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,
The marketing standard for asparagus falling within CN code 0709 20 00 shall be as set out in the Annex.
This standard shall apply at all marketing stages, under the conditions laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2200/96.
However, at stages following dispatch, the products may show in relation to the provisions of the standard:
- a slight lack of freshness and turgidity,
- for products graded in classes other than the "Extra" class, slight deteriorations due to their development and their tendency to perish.
Regulation (EEC) No 454/92 is hereby repealed.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 January 2000.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.