COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1798/94 of 18 July 1994 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products originating in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these quotas (1994-97)
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 Europe Agreements between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Poland, of the other part, were signed on 16 December 1991 and entered into force on 1 February 1994; whereas Interim Agreements on trade and trade-related measures have been applied between the Community and the two countries concerned from 1 March 1992 pending the entry into force of the Europe Agreements (1) (2); whereas the Europe Agreements between the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR), Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the other part, were signed on 16 December 1991, 1 February 1993 and 8 March 1993 respectively; whereas, pending the entry into force of the latter three Agreements, the Community has concluded Interim Agreements on trade and trade-related measures with those countries (3) (4) (5), which were signed on the same day and which entered into force, respectively, on 1 March 1992, 1 May 1993 and 31 December 1993;
Whereas the Additional Protocols (6) to the said Agreements signed with the countries in question in the light of the conclusions of the Copenhagen European Council of 21 and 22 June 1993 are intended to improve access to the Community market for products originating in those countries; whereas, in the agriculture sector, this improvement consists in bringing forward by six months the tariff concessions due to be opened on 1 January of each year; whereas, therefore, it is necessary to open on 1 July 1994 the tariff quotas granted to the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (Annex XIII b of the Interim Agreement for products falling within tariff heading 1210), Poland (Annex X c of the Europe Agreement) and Hungary (Annex X c of the Europe Agreement) in respect of the fourth year of application, and the tariff quotas granted to Romania (Annex XII b of the Interim Agreement) and Bulgaria (Annex XIII b of the Interim Agreement) in respect of the third year of application;
Whereas the Additional Protocols concluded between the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community, of the one part, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, of the other part, initialled in Brussels on 18 July 1993, provide, inter alia, for the tariff quotas and ceilings granted by the Community to the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic to be shared between the successor states to the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic as from 1 January 1994;
Whereas the Agreements in question provide through a transitional period ending on 30 June 1996 or 30 June 1997 the opening of tariff quotas; whereas the Agreements also set out the conditions required for granting the tariff advantages in the context of the said tariff quotas; whereas, therefore, in the interests of rationalizing implementation of the measures concerned, the provisions currently contained in the various regulations covering each of the abovementioned countries should be grouped together in a single regulation, applicable for a specific period, by including in Annexes I, II and III to this Regulation the tariff quotas to be opened for the periods 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1995, 1 July 1995 to 30 June 1996 and 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997;
Whereas tariff quotas may not be carried over from one period to the next;
Whereas the quotas provided for in the agreements concerned are of determinate duration; whereas the agreements 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 for agricultural products should be grouped together in a single regulation, applicable for a determinate period;
Whereas the decision to open Community tariff quotas should be taken by the Community in execution of its international obligations in the case of the products listed in Annexes I, II and III hereto; whereas it is necessary, in particular, to ensure that all Community importers have equal continuous 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, to ensure the efficiency of the 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 adaptations of quota volumes and rates arising from decisions of the Council or Commission do not involve 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 the Annexes of this Regulation after having obtained the opinion of the Customs Code Committee;
Whereas the application of this Regulation must not be prejudiced by the amendment of agreements existing between the Community and these countries, insofar as any amendments thus agreed provide details of the products eligible for the benefit of tariff quotas, their volumes, rates of duty and quota periods, and in some cases the respective conditions for granting that benefit; whereas provision should therefore be made for the Commission to make corresponding amendments to the provisions and Annexes of this Regulation, after having obtained an opinion from the Customs Code Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
From 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1997, goods originating in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia which are listed in Annexes I, II and III to this Regulation shall be subject to Community tariff quotas, according to the provisions contained within those Annexes.
Article 2
1. The tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be administered by the Commission, which may take all appropriate administrative measures in order to ensure efficient administration thereof.
2. 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 concerned.
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.
3. 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.
4. If the quantities requested are greater than the available balance of the quota volume, the balance shall be allocated among applicants pro rata. The Commission shall inform the Member States of the drawings made.
Article 3
1. The Member States and the Commission shall cooperate closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied with.
2. Each year, within three months of the end of the application period of the tariff quotas, the Commission shall prepare a summary, by product and country, of the allocations of the quotas appearing in the Annex to this Regulation. The summary shall be communicated to the committee referred to in Article 6.
Article 4
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 5
1. The provisions necessary for the application of this Regulation, in particular:
(a) the amendments and technical adaptations, insofar as necessary, arising from amendments of the combined nomenclature and Taric codes, and
(b) the necessary adaptations arising from the conclusion by the Council of protocols, exchanges of letters within the framework of existing agreements, of agreements between the Community and these countries within the framework of the agreements referred to in this Regulation.
shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6 (2).
2. Provisions adopted pursuant to this Regulation shall not authorize the Commission to:
- carry over preference quantities from one quota period to another,
- transfer quantities from one quota to another,
- open and manage quotas under new agreements.
Article 6
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee set up by Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (7).
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid 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 apply immediately. However, if these 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 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 previous paragraph.
3. The Committee 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 7
The Protocol concerning the definition of the concept of originating products and methods of administrative cooperation annexed to the Agreements in question concluded between the Community and each of the Republics shall apply.
Article 8
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 July 1994.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 18 July 1994.