Brussels, 15/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - By adopting, on Wednesday in Strasbourg, the report by Encarnacio Redondo Jimenez (EPP-ED, Spanish) on the statistical studies determining the potential production of certain trees, the Parliament modified the draft Directive in order for these investigations to also cover nuts and carobs. The MEPs also demanded, concerning the technical parameters to determine the age of plantations, for the removal from the reference text of the double grafting date and to replace it with the object of the plantations, or root stock (which allows to determine certain characteristics such as resistance to certain diseases). This proposal is aimed at introducing a certain level of flexibility to the provisions of the 1976 Directive on the methodology and the time for the undertaking of the studies.