(1)

Reporting requirements play a key role in ensuring proper monitoring and correct enforcement of legislation. However, it is important to streamline those requirements in order to ensure that they fulfil the purpose for which they were intended and to limit the administrative burden.

(2)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 (2) lays down the rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as regards the obligations on Member States to notify relevant information and documents to the Commission. That Implementing Regulation contains a number of reporting requirements in the field of agricultural and food markets transparency, which should therefore be simplified, in line with the Commission’s Communication on ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ (3).

(3)

Ensuring the quality of the collected and disseminated data is essential to monitor and ensure adequate market transparency. Member States are therefore obliged to notify the Commission of the data needed to pursue these aims.

(4)

While it remains the responsibility of the Member States to take the necessary steps to ensure that the information notified to the Commission is relevant for the market concerned, accurate and complete, the Commission is to make use of its sectoral expertise to determine which data are to be published and under which form or aggregation level.

(5)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 had been amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1746 (4) which introduced new notification obligations for Member States, to improve the collection of statistical data necessary for the analysis of price formation mechanisms along the agricultural and food supply chain, to assist economic operators and public authorities in making more informed choices.

(6)

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 had been amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/791 (5) which introduced new notification obligations to Member States as regards levels of stocks of cereals, oilseeds and rice, including production and levels of stocks of certified seeds.

(7)

After over 3 years of application of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 as amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1746 and one and a half year of application of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 as amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/791, it appears that certain provisions of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 need to be clarified or adapted to improve the quality of the data collected and the efficiency of the data collection process.

(8)

The publication of the Union sugar production figures at Member State level for all Member States, including the ones with less than three economic operators, would increase market transparency by giving farmers, including beet growers, access to information necessary for them to better interpret market signals and cope with increased market volatility. It would also reduce information asymmetries and improve the position of these farmers in the context of their negotiations of delivery contracts with the sugar producers. To avoid any risk in terms of confidentiality of the data and in terms of distortion of competition, in particular the risk of collusion between economic operators, the production data should be published after the relevant decisions on production levels for the following marketing year have been taken.

(9)

The deadlines for Member States to notify the methodologies used to determine the information provided should be clarified.

(10)

The collection of retail buying prices has proven to be difficult for a significant number of Member States. While the information remains relevant, in particular in the context of the recent farmer protests and the discussions on strengthening the position of the farmers on the food supply chain, monthly notifications should be sufficient for the purpose of prices monitoring. The weekly notifications mandated for some products should therefore be changed to monthly notifications, thereby harmonising the notification periodicity for all retail buying prices. Member States that wish to provide additional information in the form of weekly buying prices should be allowed to do so.

(11)

An insufficient alignment with the reporting requirements laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 (6) and between methodologies applied by Member States does not ensure a sufficient comparability of data, undermining the value of the information notified for fruit and vegetables. It is therefore necessary to improve the clarity of the data to be provided along the whole supply chain in order to improve market transparency and to complete the reporting of fruit and vegetable prices up to the end of the supply chain, including the requirement to notify the prices at retail selling prices. To limit the administrative burden on Member States, the frequency of the notifications of buying and selling retail prices should be limited to once per month.

(12)

Due to the importance of ware potatoes on the Union market and as they form an important part of the diet, ware potatoes should also be added as a new product for which prices should be notified. An important part of the overall production of certain fruits and vegetables is destined to processing. Getting up-to-date information about the produced quantity destined for fresh consumption is key to ensure market transparency due to the impact of the produced quantity on available quantities and prices. Therefore, it is necessary to add such production information to the required notifications.

(13)

To enable the publication of a weighted average buying price for sugar at Union level, it is necessary that the buying prices for sugar notified to the Commission under point 3 of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 are accompanied by information on the sugar quantities purchased by the different types of economic operators corresponding to these prices.

(14)

The hemp sector should benefit from the same level of market transparency as the other fibre crops sectors, namely flax and cotton. To alleviate the workload corresponding to the new notifications for the hemp sector, the monthly notification of the average ex-factory prices for flax should become annual.

(15)

The market relevance of certain grapevine products other than those referred to in point (1) of Part II of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 requires expanding the grapevine products subject to price monitoring and notification to also cover certain ‘sparkling wines’, as referred to in points (4), (5) and (6) of that Part II. Furthermore, the growing extension of the vineyard area under organic farming in the Union, in line with the ambition and targets set for organic production in the Union, which represented 13 % of total vineyard area in 2020, and the increasing importance of organic products for producers and consumers, demand that prices of representative organic wines be monitored and notified by producing Member States.

(16)

In view of the specificities of the rice market, the notification requirements should be reviewed. In most Member States, the small size of the rice sector in some cases makes data collection overly cumbersome. To alleviate the burden on stakeholders and Member State statistical offices, it is therefore necessary to limit notifications to monthly total stock levels for ‘Japonica’ and ‘Indica’ rice, without making differences on the basis of CN codes. In addition, it should no longer be necessary to make a difference between imported and domestically produced rice.

(17)

The period of notification for certified seed stocks captures data when these stocks are at their maximum level, post-harvest and pre-sowing. During this period, these data are most relevant and complete, giving clear information on the availability of certified seeds for the purpose of assessing the status of the Union’s food security. The February period of notification does not raise an issue in this regard. The mid calendar year reporting deadline however should reflect the variations in sowing and harvesting dates between Member States and crops, which can be significant around this period. To ensure data is relevant, accurate and complete, Member States should therefore notify mid calendar year certified seed stocks as soon as possible after harvesting concludes, and before sowing starts for each crop. Member States should, as part of their notifications of the methodology used to determine the information provided, communicate to the Commission the expected reporting date for these mid calendar year certified seed stocks, for each crop. The reporting date should not be later than September each year.

(18)

The content of the notification of the sugar and isoglucose stocks should be further clarified to indicate that the imported quantities need to be incorporated.

(19)

Data on wine production and other market information, including stocks, are currently reported annually by Member States. Production and stocks notified are based on the declarations by producers and other operators referred to in Articles 31 and 32 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/273 (7) and the specific rules laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/274 (8). While this yearly frequency is suitable to monitor production, it is not sufficient to monitor the evolution of the level of stocks, which strongly influences the situation of the market along the marketing year. A more detailed notification breakdown of the production and the stocks by colours and types of wine would facilitate the assessment of disparate market situations at Union level, facilitating the consideration of policy measures that are fit for particular needs.

(20)

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(21)

It is appropriate to provide for a date of application of this Regulation that would give Member States the possibility to adapt to the new reporting obligations. To this purpose, modifications to existing notification obligations should apply from 3 months after entry into force of this Regulation. For new notification obligations, the date of application should depend on the complexity for the Member States to develop the appropriate data collection methodology and arrangements. New notification obligations on ware potatoes and fruit and vegetables retail selling prices should apply from 6 months after entry into force of this Regulation. New notification obligations on hemp prices should apply from 1 October 2025. New notification obligations on fruit and vegetables produced quantities for fresh consumption should apply from 1 March 2026. The modified notification system on wine production and market situation should apply from 1 July 2025, and the new system of notifications on wine prices should apply from 1 October 2025.

(22)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets,

(1)

in Article 4, the following paragraph 5 is added:

(2)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(3)

Annexes I, II and III are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

(a)

the notification obligation on ware potatoes referred to in point 5(a) of Annex I and the notification obligation on retail selling prices referred to in point 8(e) of Annex II shall apply from 18 March 2025;

(b)

the notification obligation on wine prices referred to in point 6 of Annex II and the notification obligation on hemp prices referred to in point 3(i) of Annex III shall apply from 1 October 2025;

(c)

the notification obligation on wine production and market situation referred to in point 7 of Annex III shall apply from 1 July 2025;

(d)

the notification obligation on fruit and vegetables produced quantities for fresh consumption referred to in point 7a of Annex III shall apply from 1 March 2026.