2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) in order to set up a School Fruit Scheme - Main contents

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier	COM(2008)442 - Amendment of Regulations (EC) No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy and (EC) No 1234/2007 ...
source	COM(2008)442
date	08-07-2008

Council Regulation (EC) No 1182/2007, which lays down specific rules as regards the fruit and vegetable sector, provided for a wide-ranging reform of the fruit and vegetables sector to promote the competitiveness and market orientation of this sector and bring it more closely in line with the rest of the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). One of the key objectives of the reformed regime is to reverse the declining consumption of fruit and vegetables.

The objectives of the CAP set out in Article 33 of the Treaty include the stabilisation of markets, assuring the availability of supplies and ensuring that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices. The provision of Community aid under a School Fruit Scheme to supply fruit and vegetable and banana products to pupils in educational establishments would meet these objectives. Further, the Scheme should bring young consumers to appreciate fruit and vegetables.

Given the above, the overall objective of a School Fruit (and vegetables) Scheme at EU level is specified as to provide a policy and funding framework for Member State initiatives aimed at durably increasing the share of fruit and vegetables in the diets of children, at the stage when their eating habits are formed. This would represent an investment in the future, by helping to avoid or reduce health expenditure resulting from poor diet. Furthermore, the positive impact on consumption could contribute to meeting CAP objectives.

As obesity tends to cluster in social disadvantaged groups, the School Fruit Scheme would also have a positive social impact, reducing health inequalities.

The importance of fruit and vegetables consumption as part of a healthy diet is advocated by the Commission White Paper A strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity and related health issues, which stresses the need for coherent action at European level and draws attention to the role the CAP could play in shaping the European diet, especially to combat obesity and overweight. It states that “a School Fruit Scheme would be a step in the right direction”. In this context, Article 152 i of the Treaty requires that 'a high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Community policies'.

When approving the CMO Fruit and Vegetables reform, the Council issued the following declaration: "In light of the dramatic increase in obesity amongst schoolchildren, which has been highlighted in the recently published Commission White Paper (…) the Council invites the Commission to come forward with a proposal for a school fruit scheme as soon as possible based on an impact assessment of the benefits, practicability and administrative costs involved".

In its report on the EU's draft general budget for the 2008 financial year, the European Parliament "re-emphasises its strong commitment to the proper budgetary endowment of funds for school fruit and vegetables…expresses its astonishment that the Council did not implement their political commitments…by creating a new line and a reserve in the budget, pending establishment of the legal base; calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal…as laid down in the June 2007 Agriculture Council conclusions".

In accordance with the commitment made to better regulation, the Commission assessed the impact of four possible options for a School Fruit Scheme: 'Status quo' comprising no additional action from the Community; 'Networking' comprising exchange of experience and know how, information and communication measures; 'Supporting Initiatives' comprising initiatives for the promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption in schools with provision of produce being excluded from EU-financing; 'Driving Initiatives' establishing a single, flexible EU framework for provision of produce to pupils, monitoring and evaluation as well as accompanying measures. The Impact Assessment concluded that the 'Driving Initiatives' (option 4) appears the most suitable to achieve the objectives pursued.

In this context the Commission proposes to set up a School Fruit Scheme which, for maximum effectiveness, brings together the three options in a mutually supportive package. It comprises the following elements:

– free distribution of fruits and vegetables in schools (as part of option "driving initiatives). Community aid should be granted to co-finance the supply of fruit and vegetables to pupils of the 6-10 core age group in educational establishments (schools), the related logistics and monitoring and evaluation. For this purpose, it is proposed to provide for a budgetary allocation of a total amount of EUR 90 million under Title I of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. It would allow for the extension of existing SFS in some Member States, and the establishment of programmes in MS without such programmes, often due to limited budgetary means.

The Community co-financing rate would be at the level of 50% and 75% in convergence regions.

– accompanying measures. An obligation for Member States, at national or regional level, to develop a strategy in consultation with public health and education authorities, industry and interested stakeholders. The strategy should lay down in which manner a School Fruit Scheme could be best implemented and integrated into the school curriculum. As part of the implementation it would be an obligation to highlight the EU involvement. The accompanying measures would primarily be nationally financed;

– networking activities, in order to motivate the exchange of information and knowledge among SFS actors and stimulate public awareness (as presented in option 2 'networking'). This allocation should amount to EUR 1.3 million;

– promotion of agricultural products, which could be supported in the framework of the EU promotion of agricultural products (as presented in option 3 'supporting initiatives'). In particular, MS could use this framework to carry out the necessary accompanying measures aimed ad raising awareness on the beneficial effects of fruit and vegetables consumption. The recent fruit and vegetables reform increased the indicative the indicative budget for the promotion of these products by EUR 6 million;

– monitoring and evaluation. With the purpose of establishing solid data for further research on the effectiveness of a School Fruit Scheme in its different variants and for the exchange of 'best practices', monitoring and evaluation should form an integral part of an EU scheme.

All schemes would consequently include the three elements:

· the free distribution of fruit (and/or vegetables) in educational establishments (schools),

· a series of accompanying measures,

· monitoring and evaluation.

The proposal is accompanied by an Impact Assessment, drafted by an Inter-service Group to ensure compatibility between the relevant Community policies.