24.12.77 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities NoL332/7
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)No2877/77
of20December 1977
opening ,allocating andproviding fortheadministration ofaCommunity tariff
quotaforpreparedorpreserved sardinesfallingwithinsubheading 16.04Dof
theCommon CustomsTariffandoriginating inTunisia (1978)
againsttheimportsintotheCommunity fromTunisia
oftheproductsconcerned :
Member State 1974 1975 1976
Benelux
Denmark —
Germany—
France 100 100 100
(=36t)(=33t)(=14t)
Ireland — — —
Italy— — —
UnitedKingdom.—— —
Whereasthesedatacannotbeconsidered asrepresen­
tativetoserveasabasisforallocation ofthequota
volumeamongtheMemberStates;whereasitisdiffi­
culttoestimateimportsbyMemberStatesfor1978
becauseoftheabsenceofanypatterninprevious
years;whereas,toallocatethequotavolumeonafair
basis,theinitialquotasharesmaybefixedapproxi­
matelyatthefollowingpercentages :THECOUNCIL OFTHEEUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishing theEuropean
Economic Community ,andinparticular Articles43
and113thereof,
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission ,
HavingregardtotheopinionoftheEuropean Parlia­
ment(J),
Whereas on20December 1977theCouncildecided
toopenaCommunity tariffquotaforpreparedor
preservedsardinesfallingwithinsubheading 16.04D
oftheCommon CustomsTariffandoriginating in
Tunisia ;whereasthisquotaisforaquantityof100
tonnesfreeofduty;whereasthistariffquotaisto
applyfrom1January1978untiltheconclusion ofthe
exchange oflettersprovidedforinArticle18ofthe
Cooperation Agreement betweentheCommunity and
Tunisia,untilsuchtimeasCommunity arrangements
forimportsoftheproductsinquestionareappliedor
until31December 1978,whichever shallbethe
earliest;whereasthisCommunity tariffquotashould
thereforebeopened ;
Whereasitisinparticular necessary toensureim­
portersoftheMemberStatesequalanduninterrupted
accesstothequotaanduninterrupted application of
theratelaiddownforthatquotatoallimportsofthe
productsinquestionintotheMemberStatesuntilthe
quotahasbeenusedup;whereashavingregardtothe
aboveprinciples theCommunity natureofthequota
canberespectedbyallocating thetariffquotaamong
theMemberStates;whereastoreflectmostaccurately
theactualdevelopment ofthemarketintheproducts
inquestion ,suchallocation shouldbeinproportion
totherequirements oftheMemberStates,assessedby
reference bothtothestatisticsrelatingtoimports
fromTunisiaoverarepresentative referenceperiod
andtotheeconomic outlookforthequotaperiod
concerned ;
Whereas ,duringthelastthreeyearsforwhichstatis­
ticsareavailable ,thecorresponding importsofeach
MemberStaterepresentthefollowing percentages asBenelux 10%
Denmark 3%
Germany 15%
France 50%
Ireland 3%
Italy 4%
UnitedKingdom 15%
Whereas ,totakeaccountoffutureimporttrendsin
thevariousMemberStatesfortheproductsconcerned ,
thequotavolumeshouldbedividedintotwoinstal­
ments,thefirstinstalment beingallocatedamongthe
Member Statesandthesecondheldasareserve
intendedtocoveratalaterdatetherequirements of
MemberStateswhichhaveuseduptheirinitialshare;
whereas,inordertoensureacertaindegreeofsecurity
toimporters ofeachMemberState,thefirstinstal­
mentoftheCommunity tariffquotacouldbefixedat
80%ofthequotavolume;
(!)OJNoC299,12.12.1977,p.60.Whereastheinitialsharesmaybeusedupatdifferent
times;whereas ,inordertotakethisfactintoaccount

NoL332/8 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities24.12.77
theendoftheperiodspecifiedinArticle 1,shallbeas
follows :
(tonnes)
Benelux 8
Denmark 2
Germany 12
France 40
Ireland 2
Italy 4
UnitedKingdom 12andtoavoidanybreakincontinuity ,itisimportant
thatanyMemberStatewhichhasusedupalmostall
ofitsinitialshareshoulddrawasupplementary share
fromthereserve;whereasthismustbedonebyeach
MemberStateifeachofitssupplementary sharesis
almostusedup,andasmanytimesasthereserve
allows;whereaseachinitialandsupplementary share
mustbevaliduntiltheendofthequotaperiod;
whereasthisformofadministration requiresclose
collaboration between Member Statesandthe
Commission ,andtheCommission mustbeinaposi­
tiontofollowtheextenttowhichthetariffquotas
havebeenusedupandinformtheMemberStates
thereof ;
Whereas if,atagivendateinthequotaperiod,a
considerable quantityoftheinitialshareremainsin
anyMemberState,itisessentialthatthatStateshould
returnasignificant proportion tothereserveinorder
toavoidpartoftheCommunity quotaremaining
unusedinoneMemberStatewhenitcouldbeusedin
others;
Whereas ,sincetheKingdom ofBelgium ,the
KingdomoftheNetherlands andtheGrandDuchyof
Luxembourg areunitedwithinandjointlyrepresented
bytheBeneluxEconomic Union,anymeasure
concerning theadministration ofthequotasharesallo­
catedtothateconomic unionmaybecarriedoutby
anyoneofitsmembers ,
HASADOPTED THISREGULATION :3.Thesecondinstalment of20tonnesshallconsti­
tutethereserve .
Article3
1.If90%ormoreofanyMemberState'sinitial
share,aslaiddowninArticle2(2),or90%ormore
ofthatsharelesstheamountreturned intothe
reserve,whereArticle5hasbeenapplied,hasbeen
exhausted ,thatMemberStateshallwithoutdelay,by
notifyingtheCommission ,drawasecondshareinthe
quotaequalto15%ofitsinitialshare,roundedupto
thenextunit,whereappropriate ,totheextentthatthe
amountinthereserveallows.
2.If,afteritsinitialsharehasbeenexhausted ,
90%ormoreofthesecondsharedrawnbya
MemberStatehasbeenused,thatMemberStateshall,
inaccordance withtheconditions laiddowninpara­
graph1,drawathirdshareequalto7-5%ofits
initialshare.
3.If,afteritssecondsharehasbeenexhausted ,
90%ormoreofthethirdsharedrawnbyaMember
Statehasbeenused,thatMemberStateshall,inaccor­
dancewiththesameconditions ,drawafourthshare
equaltothethird.
Thisprocessshallbeapplieduntilthereserveis
exhausted .
4.Bywayofderogation fromparagraphs 1,2and
3,MemberStatesmaydrawsmallersharesthanthose
fixedinthoseparagraphs ifthereisreasontobelieve
thatthesesharesmightnotbeusedup.Theyshall
informtheCommission oftheirreasonsforapplying
thisparagraph .
Article4
Eachoftheadditional sharesdrawnpursuant to
Article3shallbevaliduntiltheendoftheperiod
specifiedinArticle 1.
Article 5
TheMember Statesshall,notlaterthan1October
1978,returntothereservetheunusedportionoftheir
initialsharewhich,on15September 1978,isin
excessof20%oftheinitialamount .Theymayreturn
agreaterportioniftherearegroundsforbelieving
thatsuchportionmaynotbeusedinfull.Article 1
From1January1978untiltheconclusion ofthe
exchange oflettersreferredtoinArticle18ofthe
Cooperation Agreement betweentheCommunity and
Tunisia,untilsuchtimeasCommunity import
arrangements areappliedoruntil31December 1978,
whichever shallbetheearliest,aduty-freeCommu­
nitytariffquotaof100tonnesshallbeopenedfor
importsintotheCommunity ofpreparedorpreserved
sardinesfallingwithinsubheading 16.04Dofthe
Common CustomsTariffandoriginating inTunisia .
Article 2
1.ThetariffquotareferredtoinArticle 1shallbe
dividedintotwoinstalments .
2.Afirstinstalment ,amounting to80tonnesof
theCommunity tariffquotareferredtoinArticle 1,
shallbeallocatedamongtheMemberStates;the
shares,whichsubjecttoArticle5shallbevaliduntil

24.12.77 OfficialJournaloftheEuropean Communities NoL332/9
TheMember Statesshall,notlaterthan1October
1978,notifytheCommission ofthetotalimportsof
theproductsconcerned effectedundertheCommu­
nityquotauptoandincluding 15September 1978,
andwhereappropriate ,theproportion oftheirinitial
sharesthattheyarereturning tothereserve.
Article6
TheCommission shallkeepaccountoftheshares
openedbytheMemberStatesinaccordance withArti­
cles2and3andshallinformeachofthemofthe
extenttowhichthereservehasbeenusedassoonasit
receivesthenotifications .
TheCommission shall,notlaterthan5October1978,
notifytheMemberStatesofthestateofthereserve
afterthereturnofsharespursuanttoArticle5.
TheCommission shallensurethatanydrawingwhich
usesupthereserveislimitedtothebalanceavailable
and,forthispurpose,shallspecifytheamountthereof
oftheMemberStatewhichmakesthefinaldrawing .
Article7
1.TheMember Statesshalltakeallmeasures neces­
sarytoensurethatsupplementary sharesdrawnpursuanttoArticle3areopenedinsuchawaythat
chargesmaybemadewithoutinterruption against
theiraccumulative sharesoftheCommunity quota.
2.MemberStatesshallensurethatimporters ofthe
saidproductsestablished intheirterritoryhavefree
accesstothesharesallocated tothem.
3.TheextenttowhichaMemberStatehasusedup
itsshareshallbedetermined onthebasisofthe
importsoftheproductsinquestionoriginating in
Tunisiawhenenteredforhomeuse.
Article8
AttheCommission 'srequestMemberStatesshall
informitoftheproductsconcerned actuallycharged
againsttheirshares.
Article9
TheMemberStatesandtheCommission shallcoop­
eratecloselyinordertoensurethatthisRegulation is
observed .
Article10
ThisRegulation shallenterintoforceon1January
1978.
ThisRegulation shallbebindinginitsentiretyanddirectlyapplicable inallMember
States.
DoneatBrussels ,20December 1977.
FortheCouncil
ThePresident
H.SIMONET