PURPOSE : to present the new organisation of the common market in olive oil and table olives.

LEGISLATIVE ACT : Council Regulation 865/2004/EC on the common organisation of the market in olive oil and table olives and amending Regulation 827/68/EEC. (Corrigendum of the Regulation published in OJ L 161 of 30 April 2004).

CONTENT : the Council has adopted two Regulations aiming to reform the common agricultural policy on cotton, olive oil and table olives, tobacco and hops with a view to enhancing competitiveness, creating a stronger market-orientation, improved environmental respect, stabilising incomes for farmers and having a higher regard for the situation of producers in least favoured areas. (Please refer to CNS/2003/0278). Two Regulations were adopted, one amending the general support scheme in Regulation 1782/2003/EC ("horizontal legislation") on the implementation of the Single Farm Payment (SFP), and the other amending the Common Market Organisation in the olive oil sector. To recall, Regulation 136/66/EEC on the establishment of a common organisation of the market in oils and fats covers not only olive oil and table olives but also oilseeds, oil cakes and other vegetable oils. It shall expire on 1 November 2004, this instrument must be repealed and replaced this Council Regulation on the common organisation of the market in olive oil and table olives. The new Regulation provides that the marketing year for the products concerned shall begin on 1 July and end on 30 June of the following year. However, the 2005/06 marketing year shall begin on 1 November 2005.

More specifically, this Regulation stipulates that :

- the use of the descriptions and definitions of olive oils and olive-pomace oils set out in Annex I shall be compulsory as regards the marketing of the products concerned within each Member State, in intra-Community trade and, as long as compatible with international compulsory rules, trade with third countries; - the characteristics of the olive oil justify an interest of the consumers in spite of the high price of that oil as compared with other oils and fats. To avoid abuses as regards the quality and authenticity of the products presented to the consumers and the important disturbances on the market they may involve, special measures are needed to develop and protect the quality of olives and olive oils; - the information given on labels should be guaranteed by up-to-date methods of analysis and other measures to determine the characteristics of each olive oil standard; - to make provision for appropriate measures to be taken in order to stabilise the internal market; - the contribution of olive oil and table olive operators to improve and guarantee the quality of the products in question and so to develop the consumers' interests and keep the balance in the market should be encouraged and organised by a Community scheme;

- that Community finance, consisting of the percentage of direct aid that Member States are allowed to withhold in accordance with Regulation 1782/2003, is required to encourage approved operators' organisations to draw up work programmes for the purpose of improving the production quality of olive oil and table olives. Community support should be allocated in accordance with the priorities given to the activities undertaken within the work programmes in question;

- in order to monitor the volume of olive oil trade with third countries while aiming at a simplification of administrative procedures, provision should be made for an import licence scheme with the lodging of a security to ensure that the transactions for which such licences are requested are effected. If market developments made necessary a closer follow-up of exports of olive oil from the Community, the Commission should be authorised to introduce a system of export licences; - the customs duty system makes it possible to dispense with all other protective measures at the external frontier of the Community. The internal market and duty mechanism could, in exceptional circumstances, prove deficient. In such cases, in order not to leave the Community market without defence against disturbances that might ensue, the Community should be able to take all necessary measures without delay. All such measures should comply with the obligations arising from the WTO agreements; - the provisions of the Treaty State aid should apply to the products covered by this common market organisation;

- Member States and the Commission shall send each other any information necessary for the application of this Regulation and for complying with the international obligations concerning olive oil and table olives.

ENTRY INTO FORCE : 07/05/2004. It shall apply from the marketing year 2005/2006.