Article 6 F1

For the purposes of fixing the olive yields and oil yields referred to in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 2261/84, not later than 31 May of the marketing year in question, producer Member States shall provide the Commission with:

The regional areas are set out in the Annex.

Without prejudice to Article 28, a sample of 100 holdings shall be monitored in each regional area in order to check the crop declarations and to record:

• the total number of olive trees harvested for olives for oil,

• the quantities of olives delivered to mills.

The data shall be be recorded on the spot at an appropriate time. Where a holding carries out several deliveries, at least one of those deliveries shall be subject to an on-the-spot check. A system for the quality control of data shall be introduced. Unreliable data shall be excluded from calculations.

The sample of holdings to be monitored shall be selected at random from all agricultural holdings that have lodged an aid application in one of the two marketing years preceding that for which the yields are to be estimated. The holdings shall be stratified by:

• homogenous zone as referred to in paragraph 3,

• size,

• possibly other criteria judged necessary by the Member State.

Preparation and drawing of the samples at national level shall take place in the presence of experts from several national bodies and, where appropriate, from the Commission.

For the purposes of granting aid, olive growers shall be obliged to collaborate in assessing yields where required.

The homogenous zones shall be determined by the Member States taking account in particular of:

• the geographical location and the agronomic characteristics of the terrain,

• the predominant varieties and the age of olive trees and the most common type of shape pruning,

• the need for a limited number of zones that remain constant over time and do not go beyond the boundaries of a regional area.

The Member States shall notify the Commission before 1 January of the marketing year concerned of the list and description of the homogenous zones laid down or of any amendments, duly justified, to the list previously laid down.

Within each homogeneous zone, the Member States shall establish a sampling plan and a method allowing experts to estimate the average olive yield per olive tree harvested for olives for oil.

Where the aggregated average yields estimated by experts for the homogenous zones do not coincide at the regional-area level with the confidence interval for the average yield based on the monitoring of the holdings provided for in paragraph 2, the experts' estimates shall be adjusted accordingly.

The average yield of all virgin olive oils per kilogram of olives and the percentages of the various categories of virgin olive oil shall be established on the basis of the results provided for the marketing year concerned by the approved mills subject to in-depth checks under the first subparagraph of Article 30(1).

The results for each regional area shall be calculated on the basis of the aggregate data for the mills checked, taking account of the quantities of olives processed by those mills in the area in question.

The Member States shall notify the Commission before 1 January of the marketing year concerned, on the basis of experts' estimates and information relating to previous marketing years, of an initial estimate of the olive and olive oil yields within each regional area.