COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1981/94 of 25 July 1994 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain products originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the Occupied Territories, Tunisia and Turkey, and providing detailed rules for extending and adapting these tariff quotas
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas the relevant Articles of the Additional Protocols to the Agreements between the Community, of the one part, and the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria (1), the Arab Republic of Egypt (2), the State of Israel (3), the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (4), Malta (5), the Kingdom of Morocco (6), the Republic of Tunisia (7), of the other part, and of the Protocol defining the conditions and procedures for the implementation of the second stage of the Agreement establishing an association between the Community and the Republic of Cyprus and adapting certain provisions of the Agreement (8), provide for the opening by the Community of Community tariff quotas;
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 4115/86 of 22 December 1986 on the import into the Community of agricultural products from Turkey (9) provides for the opening of annual Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products originating in that country;
Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1134/91 (10) provides for the opening of an annual Community tariff quota for strawberries originating in the Occupied Territories;
Whereas the volumes of the tariff quotas relating to Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia must be increased in equal tranches of 3 or 5 % per year according to the product concerned, pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1764/92 of 29 June 1992 amending the arrangements for the import into the Community of certain agricultural products originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia (11); whereas the increases established by Regulation (EEC) No 1764/92 are applicable until 31 December 1995; whereas the volumes of the tariff quotas relating to Cyprus must be increased each year by virtue of Articles 18 and 19 of the said Protocol and Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 1764/92;
Whereas the tariff concessions relating to roses with large or small flowers and carnations of the unifloral or multifloral types originating in Cyprus, Israel, Jordan and Morocco are applicable only to those imports complying with the price conditions laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 4088/87 (12);
Whereas the agreements concerned are of indeterminate duration; whereas the agreements and the abovementioned Regulation (EEC) No 1764/92 have already established the annual rates of increase of the relevant quota volumes; whereas they also set out the conditions required for granting tariff advantages in the context of the said tariff quotas; whereas, therefore, in the interests of rationalizing implementation of the measures concerned, the provisions relating to tariff quotas currently included in various regulations covering each of the abovementioned countries should be grouped together in a single regulation, applicable for an indeterminate period;
Whereas the Cooperation Agreement with the Republic of Tunisia provides that certain prepared and preserved sardines originating in Tunisia may be imported into the Community free of duty; whereas the detailed arrangements must be fixed by an exchange of letters between the Community and Tunisia; whereas, since that exchange of letters has not yet taken place, the Community arrangements should be renewed for an annual quantity of 100 tonnes;
Whereas wines of designated origin from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are subject to compliance with free-at-frontier reference prices; whereas in order that such wine may benefit from tariff quotas, Article 54 of Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16 March 1987 on the common organization of the market in wine (13) must be complied with; whereas the wine must be put up in containers holding two litres or less; whereas the wine must be accompanied either by a certificate of designation of origin in accordance with the model in Annex D to the Agreement or, by way of derogation, by document VI 1 or a VI 2 extract annotated in compliance with Article 9 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3590/85 of 18 December 1985 on the certificate and analysis report required for the importation of wine, grape juice and grape must (14);
Whereas, in respect of liqueur wines originating in Cyprus, eligibility for the Community tariff quota in question is subject to compliance with the free-at-frontier reference prices and to the condition that the wines be designated as 'liqueur wines' in document VI 1 or the VI 2 extract provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 3590/85;
Whereas the Community tariff quotas listed in the Annexes to this Regulation should be opened now for the periods indicated; whereas tariff quotas may not be carried over from one period to the next; whereas, since the period of validity of all the tariff quotas lies between 1 July 1994 and 31 December 1996, they should be grouped together in this Regulation in the interests of clarity;
Whereas it is necessary, in particular, to ensure that all Community importers have equal and continued access to the said quotas and that the rates laid down for the quotas apply continuously to all imports of the products concerned into all Member States until the quotas have been used up;
Whereas the decision for the opening of the tariff quotas should be taken by the Community in the execution of its international obligations; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of the quotas, there is no reason why the Member States should not be authorized 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 amendments to the combined nomenclature and Taric codes and extension of tariff measures laid down by this Regulation or, where applicable, by Council Decision do not require changes of substance; whereas, in the interests of simplicity, provision should be made for the Commission to make the necessary amendments and technical adaptations to this Regulation after first having obtained the opinion of the Customs Code Committee and without prejudice to the specific procedures laid down by 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 (15);
Whereas this procedure can apply, for the same reasons, where existing agreements between the Community and these countries are amended, in so far as the amendments thus agreed specify the products eligible for tariff quotas, the quota-volumes, duties and tariff periods and any eligibility criteria,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
The customs duties applicable to imports into the Community of the products listed in the Annexes originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the Occupied Territories, Tunisia and Turkey shall be suspended or reduced during the periods, at the levels and within the limits of the tariff quotas shown in the Annexes in respect of each product.
Article 2
1. Imports of wines of designated origin and liqueur wines originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Morocco or Tunisia shall be subject to the free-at-frontier reference price.
They shall qualify for the tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 only if Article 54 of Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 is adhered to.
2. Each wine of designated origin in question, when imported, shall be accompanied either by a certificate of designation of origin issued by the relevant Algerian/Moroccan/Tunisian authority in accordance with the model set out in Annex XI or, by way of derogation, by a document VI 1 or a VI 2 extract annotated in compliance with Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 3590/85.
3. Liqueur wines originating in Cyprus shall qualify for the tariff quota only if they are designated as 'liqueur wines' in the VI 1 document or VI 2 extract provided for by Regulation (EEC) No 3590/85.
4. The Commission requests that the list of competent authorities be forwarded so that the certificates referred to in paragraph 2 may be issued.
Article 3
In the case of large-flowered or small-flowered roses and unifloral or multifloral carnations, application of the tariff quotas relating to fresh cut flowers and flower buds originating in Cyprus, Israel, Jordan and Morocco may be interrupted it is found at Community level that the price conditions laid down by Regulation (EEC) No 4088/87 are not being observed.
In that event, the Commission shall adopt regulations re-establishing the normal duties applicable to the products in question under the Common Customs Tariff. Imports into the Community of products on which customs duties have been re-established during the period in which such re-establishment remains in force shall be excluded from the quantities drawn from the tariff quota concerned.
The Commission may, where appropriate, re-apply the tariff quotas referred to in this Article by means of a Regulation.
Article 4
The tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be managed by the Commission, which may take any appropriate administrative measure to ensure that they are managed efficiently.
Where an importer presents products covered by this Regulation for release for free circulation in a Member State, applying to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and the 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 on which the declarations were accepted, must be sent to the Commission without delay.
Drawings shall be granted by the Commission in chronological order of the dates on which the customs authorities of the Member State concerned accepted the declarations for release for free circulation, to the extent that the available balance so permits.
If a Member State does not use a drawing in full, it shall return any unused portion to the corresponding quota volume as soon as possible.
If the quantities requested are greater than the available balance of the quota volume, the balance sheet be allocated among applicants pro rata. The Commission shall inform the Member States of the drawings made.
Article 5
Each Member State shall ensure that importers of the products in question have equal and uninterrupted access to the quotas for as long as the balance of the relevant quota volumes so permits.
Article 6
1. Without prejudice to the specific provisions laid down in Article 3 and subject to the procedure laid down by Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 the provisions necessary for the application of this Regulation, in particular:
(a) the amendments and technical adaptations in so far as they are necessary arising from amendments of the combined nomenclature and Taric codes;
(b) the extension of tariff measures in accordance with the provisions contained in the agreements referred to in this Regulation;
(c) the necessary adaptations arising from the conclusion of Protocols or exchanges of letters between the Community and the countries in question under the agreements referred to in this Regulation; and
(d) amendments of this Regulation necessary for the implementation of any other act adopted by the Council under the agreements referred to in this Regulation,
shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 7 (2).
2. The provisions adopted pursuant to paragraph 2 do not authorize the Commission to:
- carry over preferential quantities from one quota period to another,
- amend the timetables laid down in the Agreements or protocols,
- transfer quantities fro one quota to another,
- open and administer quotas resulting from new agreements,
- adopt legislation affecting the administration of quotas subject to import certificates.
Article 7
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee set up by Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (16).
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be adopted. The Committee shall deliver its opinion of the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
The Commission shall adopt the measures, which shall apply immediately. However, if those measures are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event:
- the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided upon for three months from the date of such communication,
- the Council, acting by qualified majority, may take a different decision within the period referred to in the first indent.
3. The Commission may examine any question concerning the application of this Regulation which is raised by its chairman either on his own initiative or at the request of a Member State.
Article 8
1. The Member States and the Commission shall cooperate closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied with.
2. The Commission shall draw up each year, within three months of the end of the period of application of the tariff quotas, a summary by product and country of drawings on the quotas set out in the Annex to this Regulation. This summary shall be forwarded to the Council after receipt of the opinion of the Customs Code Committee.
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following 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, 25 July 1994.