COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1014/93 of 26 April 1993 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas and ceilings for certain agricultural and industrial products originating in Romania (1993)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Romania, of the other part, was signed on 1 February 1993; whereas, pending the entry into force of the said Agreement, the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community have concluded an Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related measures with the said country, which shall enter into force on 1 May 1993;

Whereas the Interim Agreement stipulates, inter alia, that certain products originating in the country in question may attract a reduced or zero rate of duty on import into the Community, within the limits of tariff quotas or ceilings; whereas, pursuant to the provisions annexed to the said Agreement, the volumes of the tariff quotas and ceilings established when the Association Agreement was signed must be increased from the date on which the Interim Agreement enters into force by a percentage specific to each category of products; whereas, in accordance with Protocol 7 attached to the Interim Agreement, provision must furthermore be made for deduction of any quantities which have already benefited from generalized preference measures between 1 January 1993 and the date of entry into force of the said Agreement and for pro rata adjustments to the quantities of the agricultural products listed in Annex II to this Regulation;

Whereas the quantities in question will be known only on the day preceding the entry into force of the Interim Agreement; whereas the Commission should be made responsible for informing the Member States and economic operators as rapidly as possible of the quantities actually available under the tariff measures described in this Regulation by means of publication in the 'C' series of the Official Journal of the European Communities;

Whereas it seems advisable, in the interests of clarity, to divide the products into two groups, in Annexes I and II to this Regulation, one for industrial products and one for agricultural products, specifying for each product the volume of its quota or ceiling and the rate of customs duty applicable;

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 and II 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 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 I 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 those 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 keep the Member States informed; whereas its cooperation has to be particularly close since the Commission must, under certain conditions, be able to take appropriate measures to reintroduce customs duties once a ceiling is reached;

Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are united within, and jointly represented by, the Benelux Economic union, any operation concerning the administration of these tariff measures may be carried out by any one of its members,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1. From 1 May to 31 December 1993 imports into the Community of certain products originating in Romania which are listed in Annexes I and II shall be subject to Community tariff quotas or ceilings.

Annexes I and II provide a description of the products concerned, (combined nomenclature codes), and the rates of customs duty applicable.

Once the Interim Agreement enters into force, the volumes of the tariff quotas and ceilings indicated in the Annexes shall if necessary be reduced to take account of the volume of goods imported from Romania from 1 January 1993 under other preferential tariff arrangements, in accordance with Protocol 7 to the Interim Agreement.

The Commission shall inform the Member States and economic operators of the reduction in quota and ceiling volumes attributable to generalized preferences as rapidly as possible, by publishing them in the 'C' series of the Official Journal of the European Communities.

2. Protocol 4 to the Interim Agreement concerning the definition of the concept of originating products and methods of administration cooperation, shall apply.

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 concerned.

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 dues 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.

Article 3

1. Quantities shall be charged against the ceilings as and when products are declared to the customs authorities for free circulation.

Goods may be charged against a ceiling only if the movement certificate is presented before the date on which levying of customs duties is reintroduced.

2. The level of utilization of the ceilings shall be determined at Community level on the basis of the imports charged against them in accordance with paragraph 1.

Member States shall send the Commission, not later than the 15th day of each month, statements of the quantities charged in respect of imports during the preceding month.

3. As soon as the ceilings have been reached, the Commission may adopt a Regulation reintroducing the customs duties applicable to the third countries in question until the end of the calendar year.

When the adoption of such a Regulation is requested by a Member State, the Commission shall examine the request within the following five days and inform the requesting Member State of the action it considers it should take as a result of the request, in the light, in particular, of the statements provided for in paragraph 2.

Article 4

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

Article 5

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 from 1 May 1993 or from the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement, whichever is the later.

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

Done at Luxembourg, 26 April 1993.

For the Council

The President

B. WESTH

ANNEX I

List of industrial products subject to zero-duty tariff quotas or ceilings (1)

/* Tables: see OJ */

(1) The wording for the description of the products covered by this Annex is that of the combined nomenclature (OJ No L 267, 14. 9. 1992, p. 1).

(a) The following products with a Taric code are defined as follows:

8703 33 11 * 10: Motor caravans, new, of a cylinder capacity exceeding 2 500 cm3 but not exceeding 3 000 cm3,

8703 33 19 * 10: Other vehicles, new, with compression-ignition internal combustion piston engine (diesel or semi-diesel), of a cylinder capacity exceeding 2 500 cm3, but not exceeding 3 000 cm3,

8703 90 90 * 11: Vehicles other than with electric motors, new, of a cylinder capacity not exceeding 3 000 cm3.

ANNEX II

List of agricultural products subject to reduced duty tariff quotas (a)

/* Tables: see OJ */