As regards provisions governing the cases of olive oil which does not comply with classification standards, it was agreed that there is an urgent need for a procedure to adjust and check, at the level of the mills, olive oil which falls naturally outside the standards (Commission competence under Regulation (EEC) No 2366/98).

Irrespective of whether any comparable input taxation of mineral oils or natural gas exists in the other Member States of the Community, the Commission considers that a distortion of intra-Community trade and competition is possible, given that the tax exemption favours certain domestic firms over others in a sector in which there is trade between Member States.

(9) Whereas consumption aid cannot be increased without a risk of fraud and is ineffective at its present level; whereas in the past it was reduced sharply without adverse effect on the consumption of olive oil in the Community; whereas abolishing it would enable checks on the production aid scheme to be stepped up, in particular by the inspection agencies provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2262/84 of 17 July 1984 laying down special measures in respect of olive oil (5); whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3089/78 of 19 December 1978 laying down general rules in respect of aid for the consumption of olive oil (6) must therefo ...[+++]re be repealed;

Whereas the purpose of the organization of the market in olive oil is to maintain the level of consumption of that product in the Community, having regard to the competition from other vegetable oils, and to ensure that producers receive a fair income for the quantity of olive oil actually produced;

You cannot have prices of oilseeds in Canada moving that far out of whack because ADM and Cargill want to set the price of seed or the price of oil at a certain level, because the competition from soybean oil and soybeans and the production centre in the U.S. or in South America is always there to take market share.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Accession for Spain and Portugal in 1986, there was "a standstill agreement" to maintain the price differential of olive oil as compared to other vegetable oils at the same level (2 : 1 in Spain).