COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1808/95 of 24 July 1995 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas bound in GATT for certain agricultural, industrial and fisheries products and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these 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 Community has undertaken, within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to open each year, subject to certain conditions, Community tariff quotas at reduced or zero duty for a certain number of agricultural, industrial and fisheries products;
Whereas the Community has concluded with Canada an Agreement on newsprint (Order No 09.0015) in the form of an exchange of letters providing for the opening of a tariff quota of 650 000 tonnes, 600 000 tonnes of which is reserved, in accordance with Article XIII of the GATT, until 30 November of each year for products from Canada alone; whereas that Agreement also provides for a mandatory 5 % increase in the share of the quota reserved for imports from Canada in the event of that share being exhausted before the end of a given year;
Whereas, under the Agreement with the United States on the Mediterranean preferences, citrus and pasta, the community has undertaken to suspend provisionally, within the limits of Community tariff quotas of appropriate volumes and varying duration, part of the customs duties applicable to certain fruits and fruit juices;
Whereas eligibility for these tariff quotas is, however, subject to presentation to the Community customs authorities of a certificate of authenticity issued by the competent authorities of the country of origin certifying that the products comply with the specifications laid down;
Whereas by its Decision of 9 March 1993 the Commission approved the agreements negotiated between the Community and the United States of America on the permanent importation, free of custom duties and agricultural levies, of certain mixtures of malt sprouts and barley screenings, within the limit of Community tariff quotas;
Whereas, in the context of the Uruguay Round, it has been agreed to maintain the possibility for exports to the Community market of chemically pure fructose originating in countries not bound by a preference agreement with the Community;
Whereas the Community has, in the context of its external relations, undertaken to open each year, from 1 July to 31 December and 1 September to 31 August of the following year respectively, a Community tariff quota for 5 000 tonnes of frozen hake fillets presented in the form of industrial blocks with bones ('standard`) at a duty of 10 %, and, after various adjustments, another, at zero duty, for ECU 1 870 000 of value added for various forms of processing work carried out on textiles under the outward processing arrangements;
Whereas the Community has declared its readiness to open each year, for certain handmade products, a zero-duty Community tariff quota for an overall annual amount of ECU 10 540 000, with a maximum value of ECU 1 200 000 for each group of products covered; whereas eligibility for these Community tariff quotas is nevertheless subject to presentation to the Community customs authorities of a certificate issued by the recognized authorities of the country of manufacture certifying that the goods in question are handmade;
Whereas the Community has declared itself ready to open zero-rated annual Community tariff quotas for certain fabrics of silk, silk waste or cotton, woven on handlooms, up to an annual value (customs value) of ECU 2 316 000 for silk fabrics and ECU 2 069 000 for cotton fabrics; whereas eligibility for these Community tariff quotas is nevertheless subject to the presentation of a certificate of manufacture recognized by the relevant Community authorities, the presence of a stamp approved by those authorities at the beginning and end of each piece, and direct transport from the country of manufacture to the Community;
Whereas it is for the Community, in the performance of its international obligations, to open Community quotas for the products listed in Annexes I to IV to this Regulation; whereas all Community importers should be guaranteed equal and continuous access to the said quotas, and the rates of duty laid down for the quotas should be applied without interruption to all imports of the products concerned into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; whereas there is, however, no reason why the efficiency of the common administration of these quotas should not be ensured by authorizing the Member States to draw from the quota volumes the requisite quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas this method does, however, require close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, which must, in particular, be able to monitor the rate at which quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas Council or Commission Decisions amending the combined nomenclature and Taric codes or adjusting the volume and rate of quotas result in no substantive changes; whereas, in the interests of simplification, provision should be made to empower the Commission, after consulting the Customs Code Committee, to make amendments and technical adjustments to the Annexes to this Regulation;
Whereas this Regulation must be applicable in the case of amendment of existing agreements within the framework of the GATT in so far as the amendments adopted specify the products eligible for tariff quotas, the volume, rate of duty and duration of quotas, and, where relevant, the respective terms of access; whereas provision should therefore be made to empower the Commission, after consulting the Customs Code Committee, to make the relevant amendments to the provisions of this Regulation, including the Annexes thereto;
Whereas quota volumes may not be carried over from one year to the next;
Whereas, however, the opening by means of a Regulation of tariff quotas for the agricultural products referred to in Annexes I and II to this Regulation must be restricted to 1995 in order to take into account the powers delegated to the Commission under Council Regulation (EC) No 3290/94 (1);
Whereas the tariff quotas laid down in these agreements are for an unspecified period; whereas, moreover, they lay down the conditions for access to tariff benefits under the tariff quotas in question; whereas certain quotas entail specific conditions, which should be laid down in the Annexes to this Regulation; whereas, therefore, in the interests of rationalizing the implementation of these measures, the provisions governing the tariff quotas for the products in question, which are set out in the different Regulations in force at present, should be gathered together in a single Regulation applicable to certain products, for an unspecified duration;
Whereas the Council has adopted Regulation (EC) No 3280/94 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas bound in GATT for certain agricultural, industrial and fisheries products (2); whereas this Regulation completes and replaces the said Regulation,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. The products listed in Annexes I, II, III, IV and V shall be eligible for reduced rates of duty under Community tariff quotas during the periods and according to the provisions set out in the said Regulation and Annexes.
2. For the calculation in national currencies of amounts expressed in ecus, Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (3) shall apply.
Article 2
1. Without prejudice to the Community's international obligations, the Member States may charge against the tariff quotas referred to in Annex I under Order Nos 09.0015 and 09.0017 other types of paper conforming, save as regards the criterion relating to watermarks, to the definition of newsprint given in Additional Note 1 to Chapter 48 of Part Two of the combined nomenclature and falling within CN code 4801 00 90.
2. From 30 November each year, any part of the quota volumes for newsprint referred to in Annex I not used on 29 November and unlikely to be used by 31 December may be used to cover imports of the products in question from Canada or another third country.
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, an additional amount equivalent to 5 % of the bound quota shall be opened by 1 December at the latest, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10.
3. The variable component until 30 June 1995 and the specific duty as from 1 July 1995 laid down for chemically pure fructose, originating in a third country not bound by a trade preference agreement with the Community shall be suspended within the limits of a tariff quota bearing Order No 09.0091.
Article 3
For the purposes of applying the tariff quota referred to in Annex III under Order No 09.2501:
(a) 'Processing work` shall mean:
-for points (a) and (c) of the third column of Annex III: bleaching, dyeing, printing, flocking, impregnating, dressing and other work which changes the appearance or quality of the goods, without however changing their nature,
- for point (b) of the third column of Annex III: twisting or throwing, cabling and texturing, whether or not combined with reeling, dyeing or other work which changes the appearance, quality or finish of the goods, without, however, changing their nature.
(b) 'Value added` shall mean the difference between the customs value, as defined in Community legislation on the subject, at the time of reimportation and the customs value which would be established if the products were reimported in the state in which they were exported.
Article 4
1. Customs duties on the products referred to in Annex IV, Part A, shall be suspended within the limits of a tariff quota bearing Order No 09.0105, a customs value determined according to the provisions of the custom code and representing a volume equivalent to ECU 10 540 000, with a maximum of ECU 1 200 000 for each six-digit CN code.
2. Access to this quota shall, however, be restricted to products accompanied by a certificate recognized by the relevant authorities in the Community conforming to one of the models in Annex IVc, issued by a recognized authority of the country of manufacture listed in Annex IVd and certifying by the relevant Community authorities that the goods in question have been handmade.
Article 5
1. The customs duties for the products referred to in Annex IV, Part B shall be suspended within the limits of the tariff quotas laid down in Part B.
2. For the purposes of applying this Regulation to products listed in Annex IV, Part B:
(a) 'handlooms` shall mean looms for the manufacture of cloth which are moved exclusively by hand or foot;
(b) 'customs value` shall mean the value as defined in the relevant Community legislation.
3. Access to these quotas shall, however, be reserved for fabrics, pile and chenille:
(a) which are accompanied by a certificate of manufacture recognized by the relevant Community authorities and conforming to one of the models in Annex IVe, stamped by one of the recognized authorities of the country of manufacture listed in Annex IVf;
(b) which bear, at the beginning and end of each piece, a stamp approved by the said authorities or, by way of derogation, a seal approved by the authorities of the country of manufacture and affixed to each piece;
(c) which are transported direct to the Community from the country of manufacture.
4. The following shall be considered to have been transported direct:
(a) goods which have been transported without entering the territory of a country not a Member State of the Community; calls at ports in countries not members of the Community shall not be held to breach direct transport, provided the goods are not transhipped in the course of such a call;
(b) goods which have been transported via, or transhipped in, the territory of one or more non-member countries, provided such transit or transhipment is covered by a single transport document drawn up in the country of manufacture.
Article 6
1. The tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be administered by the Commission, which may take all appropriate measures to ensure their effective administration.
2. Where an importer enters a product covered by this Regulation for release for free circulation in a Member State, applying to take advantage of the tariff quota, and the entry is accepted by the customs authorities, the Member State concerned shall, by notifying the Commission, draw an amount corresponding to its needs from the volume of that quota.
Requests for drawings, showing the date on which such entries were accepted, shall be sent to the Commission without delay.
In so far as the available balance permits, drawings shall be granted by the Commission on the basis of the date of acceptance of entries for release for free circulation by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned.
3. If a Member State does not use the quantities drawn, it shall return them to the relevant quota volume as soon as possible.
4. If the quantities requested exceed the available balance of the quota volume, the balance shall be allocated among applicants in proportion to their requests. The Commission shall keep the Member States informed of the quantities drawn.
Article 7
The Member States and the Commission shall cooperate closely to ensure compliance with this Regulation.
Article 8
Each Member State shall guarantee importers of the products in question equal and continuous access to the quotas in so far as the balance of the quota volumes permits.
Article 9
1. The provisions necessary for the application of this Regulation, namely:
(a) amendments and technical adjustments necessitated by changes in the combined nomenclature and Taric codes;
(b) adjustments made necessary by:
- the conclusion by the Council of agreements or exchanges of letters within the framework of the GATT,
or - compliance with the Community's contractual obligations to certain countries within the framework of the GATT,
shall be adopted according to the procedure provided for in Article 10 (2).
2. The provisions adopted under paragraph 1 shall not empower the Commission to:
- transfer preferential quantities from one quota period to another,
- change timetables provided for in the agreements or exchanges of letters,
- open and administer quotas under new agreements,
- adopt legislation which affects the administration of quotas subject to import certificates.
Article 10
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee set up under Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92.
2. The Commission representative 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 measures which shall 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 a period of three months from the date of this communication.
The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within the time limit referred to in the preceding subparagraph.
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 11
Regulation (EC) No 3280/94 is hereby repealed and replaced by this Regulation.
Article 12
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 January 1995.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 24 July 1995.