Brussels, 25/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission adopted the regulation laying down the requirements for the approval of these organisations and determines the work programmes that can be financed by Community aid. The Commission considers that this is further progress in the European strategy on the quality of olive oil, allowing operators to take on greater responsibility to ensure the future of the sector.
Taking a broad view of what quality entails (covering the whole chain of operations from growing the olives themselves to the sale of olive oil and table olives ready to be used by the consumer), the regulation adopted establishes the activities that are eligible for Community funding, broken down into four areas: - market follow-up and administrative management of the sector; - improving the environmental impact of olive-growing; improving production quality; traceability, certification and quality protection for olive oil and table olives. The new rules also define the minimum approval conditions for producer organisations and their unions, for the other operator organisations and for the inter-professional organisations of the sector. In order to allow correct adjustment to the national characteristics of the oil sector, the text leaves Member States the choice of adjusting the modalities of application as they think fit.
A recent proposal (still to be adopted by the Council) fixes the limit to the production aid reduction (per Member State) to ensure the financing of work programmes of oil operator organisations. For each producer Member State, this limit is 3% of the amount given by multiplying the aid rate by the national guaranteed quantity (NGQ). The Commission also specifies that with the Council regulation of July 2001 on the prolongation of the aid scheme attributed to oil operators a key role in the sector's move towards greater quality. The regulation granted member States the possibility to finance, from November 2002, work programmes of operators' organisations in the olive sector, by means of a deduction from the production aid.
also outline that the regulation formulated by the Council in July 2001 on the extension of the aid system to olive producers (that's already in force) gives them a key role in the orientation of the sector towards greater quality. This regulation gave all Member States the possibility of funding, as from 1 November 2002, activity programmes for olive producer organisations, which would involve a deduction in production-linked aid.