WRITTEN QUESTION E-2102/96 by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission (26 July 1996)

Subject: Quotas for milk producers

The current milk quota arrangements are in force for one year, from 1 April each year to 31 March of the following year.

However, leasing - the temporary transfer of milk quotas between producers - is possible only for a nine-month period, from 1 April to 31 December each year.

Dairy cattle farmers are increasingly asking for more flexibility and for the leasing period to be equivalent to the period for the milk quota itself.

1. Is the Commission prepared to follow up this suggestion?

2. Can the Commission provide reasons for its reply?

Answer given by Mr Franz Fischler on behalf of the Commission (11 September 96)

At the time of the 1992 revision of the milk quota scheme, leases - the temporary transfers of milk quotas between producers - for a twelve-month period were authorized until 31 December, that is to say, three months before the end of the quota year. However, the Member States were also authorized to decide against implementing the temporary transfers in response to the need to facilitate structural evolution and adaptation or to accommodate pressing administrative needs.

The temporary transfers constitute a means to make the quota use profitable, either on a national level or on an individual basis. However, the Commission considers that too wide an application of this principle could impede structural modifications in the event that the majority of producers that do not entirely use up their quota might prefer to receive income by temporarily transferring, rather than selling, quota-bearing land to other farms that would like a structural improvement.

Furthermore, the authorization for temporary transfers until 31 March would complicate administrative procedures by threatening the scheme's proper management and with particular reference to the buyer's duty to communicate the data concerning individual producers by 15 May of every year.

In conclusion, the Commission considers that a modification of the cut-off date for the temporary transfers would not benefit the management of the quota scheme.