EC on statistical surveys of milk and milk products - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2003)158 - Amendment of Council Directive 96/16/EC on statistical surveys of milk and milk products.
source	COM(2003)158
date	02-04-2003

Council Directive 96/16/EC concerns statistical surveys of milk and milk products. This Directive is implemented by Decision 97/80/EC laying down provisions for the implementation of the above-mentioned Council Directive on statistical surveys of milk and milk products.

Article 8 of the above Directive states that 'No later than 1 July 1999, the Commission shall submit to the Council a report on experience acquired in implementing this Directive. At the same time it shall submit, in particular, the results of the analysis referred to in Article 4 i accompanied, where appropriate, by proposals regarding the definitive period.'

A final report was drawn up following an initial interim report of 27 September 2000 (COM (2000)600 final) covering the whole context of the drafting and implementation of the legislation concerned.

This final Commission report to the Council and the European Parliament gives a technical assessment of the various aspects of the implementation of Directive 96/16/EC.

In the light of the conclusions of this report and of the experience acquired, the legislation on milk statistics needs to be amended so that it responds better to the present needs of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Account is taken, in particular, of the increasing importance of milk protein, since the changes in milk and milk products call for reliable and comparable information on the protein content of the main milk products.

However, the increasing importance of data on the regional production of cow's milk is also taken into account. From a general point of view, regional statistics are important because the Common Agricultural Policy is increasingly becoming a territorial policy, which requires detailed information at regional or local level.

With specific reference to the milk sector, in most Member States milk quotas are allocated at regional level for practical reasons, even if decision-making and the management of the milk quota scheme remain the prerogative of the Member State. It is therefore very useful to know the level of production in the various European regions. This information is a major input for the analyses conducted under the Common Agricultural Policy.

Another important subject is the definition of the survey units. The milk industry is undergoing rapid change towards the concentration of enterprises. Comparable milk statistics can only be produced on the basis of comparable survey units and at a sufficiently detailed level to avoid the problems of confidentiality but also to better define the information on the structure of milk enterprises.

Lastly, particular attention should be paid to improving the methodology used to compile milk statistics, in particular by using standard annual questionnaires compiled by the Member States on the basis of a model drawn up by the Commission.