1995R2178 — EN — 16.10.1998 — 002.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

Amended by:

▼B

▼M3

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2178/95

of 8 August 1995

opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain industrial and fishery products originating in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these quotas

▼B

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 Free Trade Agreements between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one hand, and the Republics of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, of the other hand, signed on 18 July 1994, stipulate that certain products originating in these countries may attract a reduced or zero rate of duty on import into the Community, within the limits of tariff quotas or ceilings; Whereas the decision for the opening of Community quotas should be taken by the Community, in the execution of its international obligations, in the case of the products listed in Annexes I, II and III to this Regulation; whereas particular care should be taken to ensure that all Community importers have equal and continuous access to those quotas and that the rates laid down for the quotas are applied uninterruptedly to all imports of the products in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these quotas, there is no obstacle to authorizing the Member States 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 in the case of the products listed in Annex IV to this Regulation, which are subject to Community tariff ceilings, Community surveillance may be achieved by means of an administrative procedure based on charging imports of the products in question against the ceilings at Community level as and when products are entered with the customs authorities for free circulation; Whereas this administrative procedure requires close and particularly rapid cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, and the latter must in particular be able to monitor quantities charged against the ceilings and inform the Member States accordingly; whereas this cooperation has to be particularly close, since the Commission must be able to take appropriate measures to re-establish customs duties once a ceiling is reached; Whereas the tariff quotas and ceilings laid down in the Agreements in question relate to a period of several years; whereas the agreements have already fixed the level of the annual increase in the volume of the tariff quotas and ceilings; whereas the agreements also set out the conditions required for granting the tariff concessions within the limits of the said tariff quotas and ceilings; whereas, therefore, in the interests of rationalizing implementation of the measures concerned, the provisions relating to tariff quotas and ceilings for agricultural or industrial products currently contained in the various regulations covering each of the abovementioned countries should be grouped together in a single regulation, applicable for a period of several years; 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 to this Regulation after first having obtained the opinion of the Customs Code Committee; Whereas, for the same reasons, this procedure can be applied in case of amendment to the agreements existing between the Community and these countries, in so far as any amendments thus agreed specify the products eligible for the benefit of tariff quotas or ceilings, their volumes, rates of duty and quota periods and any conditions for granting that benefit; whereas provision should therefore be made for the Commission to make corresponding amendments to the provisions and annexes to this Regulation, after obtaining the opinion of the Customs Code Committee, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

From 1 January to 31 December of each year goods originating in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which are listed in ►M1 Annexes I to VIII ◄ to this Regulation shall be subject to tariff quotas ►M3 ————— ◄ in accordance with 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 declares a product covered by this Regulation for free circulation in a Member State and applies to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and that 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 of acceptance of the said declarations, must be sent to the Commission without delay.

The drawings shall be granted by the Commission by reference to the date of acceptance of the declaration for free circulation by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned, to the extent that the available balance so permits.

3. If a Member State does not use the quantities drawn, it shall return them 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 on a pro rata basis. The Commission shall inform the Member States of the drawings made.

▼M3 —————

▼B

Article 4

In order to ensure compliance with this Regulation, the Commission shall take all appropriate measures, in close cooperation with the Member States.

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. The provisions required for the implementation of this Regulation, and in particular:

(a) any amendments and technical adaptations rendered necessary by amendments to 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, or agreements between the Community and these countries under the agreements referred to in this Regulation;

1. shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 7 (2).

2. Provisions adopted pursuant to this Regulation shall not authorize the Commission to:

— carry over preferential quantities from one quota period to another,

— transfer quantities from one Community tariff quota ►M3 ————— ◄ to another,

— open and manage tariff quotas ►M3 ————— ◄ under new agreements.

Article 7

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Customs Code Committee established by Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 ( 1 ).

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 chair 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 chair 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 chair either at the latter's initiative or at the request of a Member State.

Article 8

The protocol concerning the definition of the concept of originating products and methods of administrative cooperation annexed to the Free Trade Agreements concluded between the Community and each of the Republics referred to in Article 1 shall apply.

Article 9

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply with effect from 1 January 1995.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I



List of products originating in Estonia subject to reduced or zero-duty tariff quotas Order number CN code Taric subdivision Designation of merchandise Quota duty Quota volume (in tonnes) 09.6401 03019200 03026600 03037600 Eels (Anguilla spp.), live, fresh, refrigerated or frozen 0 % 100 09.6403 030250 03026935 030360 03037941 Cod (Gadus morhua, Gadus ogac, Gadus macrocephalus) and fish of the species Boreogadus saida, fresh, refrigerated or frozen 6 % 2 500 09.6405 03026919 03037919 Other fish, fresh, refrigerated or frozen 4 % 1 000 09.6407 ex030410 19 *20 *90 Other fish fillets, fresh, frozen, excluding carps 4,5 % 500 ex030420 19 *20 *30 *90 09.6409 ex160413 90 *91 *92 Brisling or sprats (Sprattus sprattus), prepared or preserved 10 % 350 09.6411 ex160419 94 *10 Hake (Merluccius spp.), prepared or preserved 10 % 60 ex160419 95 *10 Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma), prepared or preserved

ANNEX II



List of products originating in Lithuania subject to reduced or zero-duty tariff quotas Order number CN code Taric subdivision Designation of merchandise Quota duty Quota volume (in tonnes) 09.6413 03019200 03026600 Eels (Anguilla spp.), live or fresh 0 % 20 09.6415 03019919 03026919 Other fish, live or fresh 4 % 200 09.6417 03022200 03033200 Plaice (Pieuronectes platessa), fresh or frozen 7,5 % 60 09.6419 030250 03026935 030360 03037941 Cod (Gadus morhua, Gadus ogac, Gadus macrocephalus) and fish of the species Boreogadus saida, live, fresh or frozen 6 % 1 800 09.6421 0303 31 30 Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), frozen 4 % 150 09.6423 0303 71 99 Brisling or sprats (Sprattus sprattus) from 16 June to 14 February, frozen 6,5 % 500 09.6425 ex030379 55 *10 Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma), frozen 7,5 % 1 000 09.6427 0303 79 83 Blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou or Gadus pontassou), frozen 7,5 % 500 09.6429 ex160419 91 *20 Cod raw fillets, merely coated with batter or breadcrumbs, whether or not prefried in oil, deep frozen 7,5 % 100 09.6431 1604 19 92 Other prepared or preserved cod, whole or in pieces, but not minced 10 % 65

ANNEX III



List of products originating in Latvia subject to reduced or zero-duty tariff quotas Order number CN code Taric subdivision Designation of merchandise Quota duty Quota volume 09.6301 03025020 03026935 03036019 03036090 03037941 Cod (Gadus ogac, Gadus macrocephalus) and fish of the species Boreogadus saida, fresh or frozen 6 % 750 tonnes 09.6303 03025010 03036011 Cod (Gadus morhua), fresh or frozen 6 % 250 tonnes 09.6305 03026199 03037199 Brisling or sprats (Sprattus sprattus) from 16 June to 14 February, fresh or frozen 6,5 % 1 600 tonnes 09.6307 ex16041998 ex16042090 *10 *35 *50 Prepared and preserved brislings and lamprey, minced or not 10 % 350 tonnes 09.6309 2301 20 00 Flours, meals and pellets, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates 0 % 4 000 tonnes 09.6311 ex030270 00 *31 *33 Fish eggs and roes of salmon 0 % 300 000 pieces 09.6313 ex03019911 ex03019919 *20 *10 Young salmon 0 % 100 000 pieces 09.6315 ex030270 00 *41 Roe of pike 4 % 1 000 000 pieces 09.6317 ex030199 19 *20 Young pike perch 4 % 300 000 pieces

▼M3 —————

▼M1

ANNEX V



List of products originating in Estonia subject to autonomous common tariff quotas on the basis of an annual quota period, commencing on 1 January 1995 Order No CN code Taric subdivision Description Quota duty Quota volume (tonnes) 09.6435 0302 50 10 Cod (Gadus morhua) fresh or refrigerated 0 % 870 09.6436 ex030269 19 *10 Perch, pike and perch pike fresh or refrigerated 0 % 220 09.6437 03041011 to 1038 030420 Fresh, refrigerated or frozen fish fillets 0 % 360 09.6438 1604 20 10 Prepared and preserved salmon 0 % 270 09.6439 1604 20 70 Prepared and preserved tuna, skipjack and other fishes of the genus Euthynnus 0 % 150 09.6440 1604 20 90 Other prepared and preserved fishes 0 % 1 360

ANNEX VI



List of agricultural products originating in Estonia subject to reduced or zero-duty tariff ceilings Order No CN code Taric subdivision Description Quota duty 1995 1996 Further years 09.6448 07011000 07019010 07019051 07019059 07019090 Potatoes, fresh or refrigerated 40 % of the normal rate 800 900 1 000 09.6449 07121000 07129005 (1) Dried potatoes, whole, cut, sliced but not further prepared 6 % 60 60 60 (*) CN code as from 1996.

ANNEX VII



List of products originating in Latvia subject to autonomous common tariff quotas on the basis of an annual quota period, commencing on 1 January 1995 Order No CN code Taric subdivision Description Quota duty Quota volume (tonnes) 09.6441 0302 50 10 Cod (Gadus morhua) fresh or refrigerated 0 % 570 09.6442 ex030221 00 *10 Rainbow trout frozen (Oncorhynchus mykiss) 0 % 50 09.6443 0304 20 29 Cod fillets frozen 0 % 190

ANNEX VIII



List of products originating in Lithuania subject to autonomous common tariff quotas on the basis of an annual quota period, commencing on 1 January 1995 Order No CN code Taric subdivision Description Quota duty Quota volume (tonnes) 09.6444 ex030321 00 *10 Rainbow trout frozen (Oncorhynchus mykiss) 0 % 30 09.6445 0304 20 29 Cod fillets frozen 0 % 150

( 1 ) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.