Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2002)560 - Prolongation of the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives, 1986

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1. The International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives of 1986, of which the Community is a member, entered into force on 1 July 1986. It was amended in 1993 and its application prolonged to 1998. It has been prolonged twice for further periods of two years until 31 December 2000 and 31 December 2002. It will expire on 31 December 2002. However, under Article 61 of the International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives of 1986 and Article 9 of the Protocol amending and prolonging the Agreement, the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) may decide to prolong the Agreement for successive periods not exceeding two years on each occasion.

2. The IOOC is planning to take the decision to prolong the Agreement for a further period of two years, until 31 December 2004, in the course of its 87th session which will take place between 25 and 29 November 2002.

3. The budgetary implications are as follows:

4. The European Community participation share pertaining to the Administrative Budget amounts to 781/1000, i.e. 78.1 %, which is paid under budget-item B 7-8210. The Community share of the IOOC budget for 2003 as foreseen in the Draft General Budget of the European Communities for the financial year 2003 has been estimated at € 3 923 000. Starting from the assumption of an increase of a maximum of 4 % for the year 2004 the Community share could, at the most, increase to € 4 080 000 for that financial year.

5. Moreover, the Agreement foresees an obligatory contribution of € 500 000/year to the Promotion Fund to be paid under budget line B 1-3811. The European Community share is 809,7/1000, i.e. 80,97 % and, therefore, amounts to € 404 850/year. This amount is fixed and will stay the same for the years 2003 and 2004.

6. The mission-man-day-involvement of Commission staff for the participation in IOOC-sessions twice per year and in the various committees can be estimated at around 70 man-days/year.

7. The purpose of this proposal is to authorise the Commission on behalf of the Community to vote in favour of the prolongation of the Agreement until 31 December 2004. However, the Commission reserves its right to review this proposal in the light of the results of a forthcoming audit into the entire financial management of the IOOC, which are scheduled to become available later this year.