COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 3238/94 of 21 December 1994 providing for the determination and the administration of the variable component for certain goods originating in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Lilthuania, Latvia and Estonia resulting from the processing of agricultural products referred to in the Annexes of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6 December 1993, laying down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products (1), and in particular in the second paragraph of Article 7 thereof,
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Poland of the other part (2), provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex II to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex I to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Hungary of the other part (3), provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex II to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex I to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Interim Agreement between the European Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Romania of the other part (4), on trade and related matters provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex A to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex B to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Interim Agreement between the European Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria of the other part (5), on trade and related matters provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex I to said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex II to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Interim Agreement between the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Czech Republic of the other part (6), on trade and related matters provides that account shall be taken of the measures adopted pursuant to Article 14 of the Interim Agreement; whereas the said measures provide in particular for a levy reduction applicable to milk powder, butter and barley; that in consequence reductions in the variable components are provided for certain goods referred to in Table I of the Annex to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Article 1 to Council Regulation (EC) No 315/94 (7);
Whereas Protocol 3 of the Interim Agreement between the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Slovak Republic of the other part (8), on trade and related matters provides that account shall be taken of the measures adopted pursuant to Article 14 of the Interim Agreement; whereas the said measures provide in particular for a levy reduction applicable to milk powder, butter and barley; that in consequence reductions in the variable components are provided for certain goods referred to in Table I of the Annex to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Article 1 to Council Regulation (EC) No 316/94 (9);
Whereas Protocol 2 of the Agreement on free trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Lithuania of the other part (10), provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex 1 to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex 2 to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 2 of the Agreement on free trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Latvia of the other part (11), provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex 1 to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex 2 to the same Protocol;
Whereas Protocol 2 of the Agreement on free trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Estonia of the other part (12), provides for reductions in the variable components for certain goods referred to in Annex 1 to the said Protocol within the limit of quotas fixed in Annex 2 to the same Protocol;
Whereas the decision for the opening of Community quotas should be taken by the Community, in the execution of its international obligations, in the case of the goods listed in Annexes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX to this Regulation; whereas particular care should be taken to ensure that all Community importers have equal and continuous access to those quotas and that the charges laid down for the quotas are applied to all imports of the goods in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; that, to ensure the efficient common administration of these quotas, there are no obstacles to authorizing the Member States to draw from the quota-volumes the necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas, however, this method of administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and the latter must in particular be able to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are united within, and jointly represented by, the Benelux Economic Union, any operation concerning the administration of these tariff measures may be carried out by any one of its members;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee on horizontal questions concerning trade in processed agricultural products not listed in Annex II,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. From 1 January to 30 June 1995, goods originating in Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which are listed in Annexes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX to this Regulation shall be subject to a reduced variable component determined in accordance with Article 2, within the limits of the annual quotas and under the conditions set out in those Annexes.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation, 'originating goods' means goods meeting the conditions established by Protocol 4 of the European Agreement and Interim Agreement between the European Communities, of the one part, and respectively Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, of the other part, and by Protocol 3 attached to the Agreements with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Article 2
The reduced variable components applicable from 1 January to 30 June 1995 shall be calculated as follows:
(a) Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic: the difference, established in accordance with Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 between the average threshold price and the average cif price or free-at-frontier price for each basic product shall be reduced by 30 %. However, the differences established, for common wheat, as far as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are concerned; for the basic products falling within Chapter 4 of the combined nomenclature, as far as Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic are concerned, shall be reduced by 60 %.
(b) Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia: the difference, established in accordance with Article 3 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 between the average threshold price and the average cif price or free-at-frontier price for each basic product shall be reduced by 10 %; however, the differences established for the basic products falling within Chapter 4 of the combined nomenclature shall be reduced by 20 %.
(c) the amounts thus obtained shall apply to the quantities of basic products considered to have been used in the manufacture of the goods concerned in accordance with Article 13 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93.
Article 3
The variable components to be applied to those goods which are mentioned in Annex B to Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 but not mentioned in, respectively, Annexes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX to this Regulation, and to those goods which are mentioned in the said Annexes in amounts exceeding the quotas laid down in them, shall be those which are established by direct application of Article 4 (4) of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93.
Article 4
1. The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 shall be administered by the Commission, which may take all appropriate measures in order to ensure efficient administration thereof.
2. Where an importer declares a product covered by this Regulation for free circulation in a Member State and applies to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and that declaration is accepted by the customs authorities, the Member State concerned shall, by notifying the Commission, draw an amount corresponding to its requirements from the quota volume.
Requests for drawings, indicating the date of acceptance of the said declarations, must be sent to the Commission without delay.
The drawing shall be granted by the Commission by reference to the date of acceptance of the declaration for free circulation by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned, to the extent that the available balance so permits.
3. If a Member State does not use the quantities drawn, it shall return them to the corresponding quota volume as soon as possible.
4. If the quantities requested are greater than the available balance of the quota volume, the balance shall be allocated on a pro rata basis. The Commission shall inform the Member States of the drawings made.
Article 5
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1995.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 21 December 1994.