COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 856/98 of 23 April 1998 amending Annexes I, II, III, V, VII, VIII and IX of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 on common rules for imports of certain textile products from third countries
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 of 12 October 1993 on common rules for imports of certain textile products from third countries (1), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 339/98 (2), and in particular Article 19 in conjunction with Article 17 thereof,
Whereas, some errors in the Customs Nomenclature for category 76 have occurred in the last updating of Annex I (list of textile products), which need to be corrected;
Whereas the Council has decided by Decision of 18 December 1997 (3) to apply on a provisional basis additional protocols to the Free Trade and Europe Agreements with the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania concerning trade in textiles;
Whereas the Council has decided by Decision of 18 December 1997 (4) to apply on a provisional basis the agreement in the form of an exchange of letters amending the agreement between the European Community and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on trade in textile and clothing products initialled on 15 December 1992, as last amended by the agreement in the form of an exchange of letters initialled on 1 August 1995;
Whereas the Council has decided by Decision of 18 December 1997 (5) to apply on a provisional basis the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Community and the Arab Republic of Egypt on trade in textile products;
Whereas, following Mongolia's accession to the WTO and the termination of application of quantitative restrictions on one category of products originating in that country, it is necessary to establish provisions reflecting the maintenance of double-checking arrangements on that category of products;
Whereas, following a request from European industry, it is appropriate to establish quantitative limits for 1998 on re-importation into the Community of certain textile products (categories 159 and 161) originating in the People's Republic of China after outward processing operations in that country; whereas direct imports of textile products falling within categories 159 and 161 are subject to the quantitative limits laid down in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93;
Whereas all the above elements make it necessary to amend the relevant portions of Annexes I, II, III, V, VII, VIII and IX to Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 to take into account the changes introduced applicable on the importation into the Community of certain textile products originating in certain third countries within the meaning of Article 19 of Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Textile Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 is amended as follows:
1. Annex I is amended as indicated in Annex I to this Regulation.
2. Annex II is replaced by Annex II to this Regulation.
3. In Annex III, Article 28 is replaced by the following text:
'Article 28
1. The export licence referred to in Articles 11 and 19 and the certificate of origin may include additional copies duly indicated as such. They shall be made out in English, French or Spanish.
2. If the documents referred to above are completed by hand, entries must be in ink and in block letters.
3. In the export licences or equivalent documents and certificates of origin shall measure 210 × 297 mm. The paper shall be white writing paper, sized, not containing mechanical pulp (6) and weighing not less than 25 g/m2. Each part shall have a printed guilloche pattern background making any falsification by mechanical or chemical means apparent to the eye (7).
4. Only the original shall be accepted by the competent authorities in the Community as being valid for import purposes in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.
5. Each export licence or equivalent document and the certificate of origin shall bear a standardised serial number, whether or not printed, by which it can be identified (1).
6. This number shall be composed of the following elements (2):
- two letters identifying the exporting country as follows:
- Argentina = AR
- Armenia = AM
- Azerbaijan = AZ
- Bangladesh = BD
- Belarus = BY
- Brazil = BR
- China = CN
- Egypt = EG
- Estonia = EE
- Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia = 96
- Georgia = GE
- Hong Kong = HK
- India = IN
- Indonesia = ID
- Kazakhstan = KZ
- Kyrgyzstan = KG
- Latvia = LV
- Lithuania = LT
- Macao = MO
- Malaysia = MY
- Moldova = MD
- Mongolia = MN
- Pakistan = PK
- Peru = PE
- Philippines = PH
- Singapore = SG
- South Korea = KR
- Sri Lanka = LK
- Taiwan = TW
- Tajikistan = TJ
- Thailand = TH
- Turkmenistan = TM
- Ukraine = UA
- United Arab Emirates = AE
- Uruguay = UY
- Uzbekistan = UZ
- Vietnam = VN
- two letters identifying the intended Member State of destination as follows:
- AT = Austria
- BL = Benelux
- DE = Federal Republic of Germany
- DK = Denmark
- EL = Greece
- ES = Spain
- FI = Finland
- FR = France
- GB = United Kingdom
- IE = Ireland
- IT = Italy
- PT = Portugal
- SE = Sweden
- a one-digit number identifying the quota year or the year under which exports were recorded, in the case of products listed in Table A of this Annex, corresponding to the last figure in the year in question, e.g. "5" for 1995. In the case of products originating in the People's Republic of China listed in Appendix C to Annex V this number should be "1" for the year 1995, "2" for the year 1996, "3" for the year 1997 and so on,
- a two-digit number identifying the issuing office in the exporting country,
- a five-digit number running consecutively from 00001 to 99999 allocated to the specific Member State of destination.
(6) This is not obligatory for Hong Kong.
(7) This is not obligatory for Hong Kong and Egypt.
(1) In the case of Hong Kong, this is obligatory only for the export licence.
(2) In the case of Peru and Egypt, this provision will enter into force at a later date.`4. Table A to Annex III is replaced by Annex III to this Regulation.
5. The specimen of the certificate of Hong Kong origin appended to Annex III is replaced by the specimen in Annex IV to this Regulation.
6. The specimen of the Hong Kong export licence appended to Annex III is replaced by the specimen in Annex V to this Regulation.
7. In Annex V, the table at Annex VI to this Regulation is added at the end.
8. In Annex VII, the table for China is replaced by the table at Annex VII to this Regulation and the table for Vietnam at Annex VII is added at the end.
9. Annex VIII is replaced by Annex VIII to this Regulation.
10. Annex IX is replaced by Annex IX to this Regulation.
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 23 April 1998.