COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1401/98 of 22 June 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas bound in GATT and certain other Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural, industrial and fisheries products and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these quotas, and amending Regulation (EC) No 764/96
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,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 of 24 July 1995 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas bound in GATT and certain other Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural, industrial and fisheries products and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these quotas (1),
(1) Whereas the Agreement with Canada on newsprint (Order No 09.0015) in the form of an exchange of letters provides for a mandatory 5 % increase in the quota reserved for imports from Canada in the event of its being exhausted before the end of a given year; whereas the adoption of a regulation considerably delays importers' access to the increased tariff quota; whereas to ensure greater efficiency and continuity in the administration of quotas, provision should be made for an automatic increase as soon as the quota of 600 000 tonnes is exhausted;
(2) Whereas the term 'handmade products` needs to be defined in order to ensure that Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 operates smoothly;
(3) Whereas in recent years textile products have taken up the bulk of the tariff quota for handmade products; whereas part of the preferential advantage should be secured to other products by replacing the single tariff quota with two new ones, one for textile products and the other for other products;
(4) Whereas Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 should therefore be amended to ensure a better distribution of the tariff quotas by including new products and increasing the volume of the tariff quota for products other than textiles in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation;
(5) Whereas a new system is required for updating the government authorities authorized to issue certificates of authenticity; whereas the second column 'competent authority` in Annex IV(d) and Annex IV(f) to Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 should therefore be deleted;
(6) Whereas proper application of the arrangements to both handmade products and fabrics, pile and chenille woven on handlooms requires that provision be made for the possibility of temporarily withdrawing entitlement, in whole or in part, to tariff quotas in the event of irregularities or lack of administrative cooperation, and that procedures for administrative cooperation be set up to check on the issuing of certificates of authenticity;
(7) Whereas the Community must apply the tariff quotas correctly in accordance with its international obligations; whereas the description and tariff classification of the tariff quota opposite Order No 09.0046 should be amended;
(8) Whereas the volume laid down for the tariff quota for non-textile products opposite Order No 09.0104 consists in an increase in the volume of the current tariff quota; whereas, until the end of 1998, provision should be made for the possibility for these non-textile products to benefit from the tariff quota;
(9) Whereas, in view of the specific nature of trade in jute and coconut, the relevant arrangements should be extended until 31 December 1999; whereas Regulation (EC) No 764/96 (2) should therefore be amended,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 1808/95 is amended as follows:
1. in Article 2(2), the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the following:
'Where the bound quota of 600 000 tonnes from Canada has been exhausted and no autonomous quota of more than 30 000 tonnes has been opened for the remainder of the calendar year, the bound quota shall be increased by the Commission by an additional 5 %. The Commission shall publish the increase in the quota in the Official Journal, C series.`;
2. Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:
'Article 4
1. The customs duties for the products referred to in Annex IV, Part A shall be suspended within the limits of the tariff quotas laid down in Part A.
2. Access to these quotas shall, however, be restricted to products accompanied by a certificate of authenticity recognized by the relevant authorities in the Community conforming to one of the models in Annex IV(c) certifying that the goods in question have been handmade. The certificate must be issued in accordance with the procedures for administrative cooperation specified in Article 5a. The Commission shall publish in the Official Journal, C series, the names of the authorities in the countries of manufacture able to issue such certificates of authenticity.
3. For the purposes of applying this Regulation to products listed in Annex IV, A, 'handmade products` shall mean:
(a) cottage industry products made entirely by hand;
(b) cottage industry products which have the character of products made by hand;
(c) garments or other textile products obtained manually from fabrics woven on looms operated solely by hand or foot and essentially sewn by hand or sewn by sewing-machines operated solely by hand or foot.`;
3. Article 5(3)(a) shall be replaced by the following:
'(a) accompanied by a certificate of authenticity recognized by the relevant Community authorities and conforming to one of the models in Annex IV(e), stamped by one of the authorities notified by the beneficiary countries to the Commission;`
4. in Article 5, the following paragraph shall be added:
'5. The certificate of authenticity referred to in paragraph 3 must be issued in accordance with the procedures for administrative cooperation specified in Article 5a.`;
5. the following Articles shall be inserted:
'Article 5a
1. Entitlement to the tariff quotas provided for in Articles 4 and 5 may at any time be temporarily withdrawn, in whole or in part, in the event of irregularities or of a lack of the administrative cooperation required for the checking of certificates of authenticity.
2. The decision to withdraw temporarily, in whole or in part, entitlement to the tariff quotas referred to in paragraph 1 shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10(2), following appropriate prior consultations undertaken by the Commission with the beneficiary country in question.
3. (a) Should the procedure be applied to withdraw temporarily, in whole or in part, entitlement to the tariff quotas, the Commission shall publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Communities, C series, indicating that there are well-founded doubts about the entitlement to application of this Regulation and listing the goods, producers and exporters concerned;
(b) a customs debt shall be deemed not to have arisen up to the amount of the reduction granted in accordance with this Regulation insofar as it did not arise after publication of the notice in accordance with subparagraph (a) and does not concern goods, producers and exporters expressly mentioned in the notice and insofar as the conditions do not exist for justifying application of the second sentence of Article 221(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (*).
(*) OJ L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 82/97 (OJ L 17, 21. 1. 1997, p. 1).
Article 5b
1. The beneficiary countries shall inform the Commission of the names and addresses of the customs authorities or, failing that, of any other governmental authorities situated in their territory which are empowered to issue certificates of authenticity, together with specimens of stamps used by those authorities, and the names and addresses of the relevant governmental authorities responsible for the control of the said certificates. The stamps shall be valid from the date the Commission receives the specimens. The Commission shall forward this information to the customs authorities of the Member States. When such information is updating a previous communication, the Commission shall indicate the date when the new stamps become valid according to the instructions given by the competent authorities of the beneficiary countries. This information is confidential; however, when goods are presented for free circulation, the customs authorities in question may allow the importer or his duly authorised representative to consult the specimen impressions of stamps mentioned in this paragraph.
2. The Commission shall publish in the Official Journal of the European Communities, C series, the date on which the new beneficiary countries met the obligations referred to in paragraph 1.
3. Subsequent verification of certificates of authenticity shall be carried out at random or whenever the customs authorities in the Community have reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the document or as to the accuracy of the information regarding the products in question.
4. For the purposes of applying paragraph 1, the customs authorities in the Community shall return a copy of the certificate of authenticity to the competent governmental authority in the exporting beneficiary country, giving, where appropriate, the reasons of form or substance for an inquiry. The invoice or a copy thereof, as well as all other relevant documents, shall be attached to the copy of the certificate of authenticity.
The customs authorities shall also forward any information that has been obtained suggesting that the particulars given on the certificate of authenticity are inaccurate.
If the said authorities decide to suspend the granting of the tariff quotas pending the results of the verification, they shall offer to release the products to the importer subject to any precautions judged necessary.
5. When an application for subsequent verification has been made in accordance with paragraph 1, such verification shall be carried out and its results communicated to the customs authorities in the Community within a maximum of six months. The results shall be such as to establish whether the certificate of authenticity in question applies to the products actually exported and whether these products were in fact eligible to benefit from the tariff quota.
6. If, in cases of reasonable doubt, there is no reply within the six months specified in paragraph 5 or if the reply does not contain sufficient information to determine the authenticity of the document in question or the accuracy of the information relating to the products concerned, a second communication shall be sent to the competent authorities. If after the second communication the results of the verification are not communicated to the requesting authorities within four months, or if these results do not allow the authenticity of the document in question to be determined, the requesting authorities shall, save in exceptional circumstances, refuse entitlement to the tariff measures.
7. Where the verification procedure or any other available information appears to indicate that the provisions of this Article are being contravened, the exporting beneficiary country shall, on its own initiative or at the request of the Community, carry out appropriate inquiries or arrange for such enquiries to be carried out with due urgency to identify and prevent such contraventions. For this purpose the Community may participate in the inquiries.
8. For the purpose of subsequent verification of certificates of authenticity, copies of the certificates as well as any export documents referring to them shall be kept for at least three years by the competent governmental authority of the exporting beneficiary country.`;
6. Annex IV shall be replaced by Annex I to this Regulation;
7. in Annex I, the tariff quota opposite Order No 09.0046 shall be replaced by the tariff quota in Annex II to this Regulation;
8. in Annex IV(d) and (f), the second column headed 'competent authority` shall be deleted;
9. in Annex V, in the fifth column entitled 'quota period`, the date of 31 December 1998 shall be replaced by 31 December 1999.
Article 2
If the tariff quota opposite Order No 09.0105 is exhausted during 1998, the tariff quota set out in Annex I to this Regulation opposite Order No 09.0104 shall be opened for the remainder of that year.
Article 3
The second subparagraph of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 764/96 shall be replaced by the following:
'It shall apply with effect from 1 July 1995`.
Article 4
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply with effect from 1 January 1999, except for Article 1(7) and Article 2, which shall apply with effect from 1 January 1998.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Luxembourg, 22 June 1998.